Eventually the group finished the assignment and they were getting ready to leave Hinata's house. They were all walking out together while commenting on the nature of the assignment. "That assignment seemed really easy almost like we didn't need four people in a group." Sakura said. "Heh I don't really care, it just means less work for me!" said Kiba with a huge grin on his face. They finally made it to the front gate of Hinata's house which seemed like quite a trek. The group said their goodbyes and made their way to their respective houses.
The next day arrived and with it the second day of school at Konoha College. It was a good half an hour or so until school began but there was a meeting adjourned amongst the members of the second group inside of school. Naruto, Temari, Sasuke and Shikamaru gathered at the entrance of school to discuss their plan of action for their assignment. "I think we should stay back in school today to complete the project." Sasuke suggested. He stood leaned up against a wall with folded arms and closed eyes as he spoke calmly.
"After school?! We'll be here super late though." Naruto protested as he nudged Sasuke in the ribs. "Why did you just elbow me in the ribs?" Sasuke asked looked extremely irked. "Uhhh sorry it's just hard to tell if you're asleep or not because your eyes are closed you know" Naruto said with his usual knuckleheaded smile. Sasuke looked at him with a grim stare for a couple seconds and then broke the silence saying "Look, this assignment seems relatively easy so it shouldn't take that long". After listening to Sasuke's reasoning Naruto assessed the data and eventually nodded in agreement. Sasuke turned to Temari and asked "And you?" "That's fine with me" she responded. Temari then turned to the bench where Shikamaru was sitting to ask his opinion. She was however unable to do so because Shikamaru was lying on the bench, with his hands clasped behind his head, taking a nap.
Temari then charged over to the bench Shikamaru was on and shouted directly in his ear "Wake up you slacker!" Shikamaru fell off the bench, startled from his surprise awakening. "Jeez, be quiet lady people are trying to sleep here" Shikamaru said as he slowly got to his feet. He then yawned and climbed back on the bench, going back to sleep with his back facing Temari. Temari was someone who did everything very efficiently and she hated wasting time so by now she was infuriated with Shikamaru's lack of action. "Grr, I knew you were a slacker. I saw you sleeping during every one of our mutual classes!" Temari shouted, directly in his ear again. "Can't a guy just sleep in peace these days? What a drag." Shikamaru said with a deep sigh. Temari grabbed him by his collar and told him "You know, you could at least pretend to be interested in what we're doing."
Sasuke then intervened, telling Temari that Shikamaru's help wasn't necessary in completing the assignment. The remaining members of the group decided to continue discussion elsewhere in a more productive environment. Sasuke and Temari took off instantly leaving Naruto behind. Naruto then turned to Shikamaru and asked if everything was okay. He responded "Yeah, but girls are so...troublesome" then subsequently went back to sleep.
Naruto then turned to follow his remaining group when he realized that they were already gone. "Those bastards!" he shouted as he sprinted off to look for them. Naruto was running around haphazardly looking in random places to find his group, he instead ran into Hinata, Neji and Hanabi. Neji was turned around looking at something in the distance when Naruto spoke "Hey good morning Hinata. I'm looking for Sasuke and Temari have you or any of your sisters seen them?" "Oh! Umm Naruto "Hinata said nervously, with a reddish tinge on her cheeks as she realized Naruto blunder.
"What did you say?" Neji asked looking incredibly annoyed at being mistaken as a girl. "Holy crap! You're a dude!" Naruto exclaimed as Neji had turned around. "Yes... I am" Neji replied with an unchanged facial expression. "Haha, I'm sorry man. It's just that you were turned around and your hair is even longer than Hinata's" Naruto explained laughingly as he put one arm around Neji and pulled him closer. "I see" Neji sighed as he released himself form Naruto's grip. "Oops where are my manners? My name's Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto stated. "I'm Neji Hyuga pleased to meet you, so you're the famous Naruto Uzumaki that Hinata's always speaking about" Neji said as he turned to her. "N-Neji" Hinata stuttered looking blushingly at the ground.
"Well I guess I'm a popular guy" Naruto laughed obliviously. "Oh right I was looking for Temari and Sasuke. Have you seen them?" Naruto enquired. "I'm sorry Naruto we've just come to school, so I don't really know. You could probably try the library though. I assume you guys are going to do your Geo assignment so the library would be a good place to start." Hinata said. "Wow how'd you know we were going to do the Geo project?" "Oh well I remembered that they were in your group" Hinata said smiling. "Oh yeah that's really smart, thanks Hinata" Naruto said as he ran off. "You're welcome, good luck finding them" she said as she saw him off.
Sasuke and Temari sat quietly discussing their assignment when Naruto came bursting through the library doors. When he caught a glimpse of them he rushed to where they were and shouted "Hey what the hell guys! You left me behind". "Well you were taking forever talking to that slacker so we left you behind. We figured you would've caught up eventually though" Temari responded calmly. "Naruto, you do realize this is a library?" Sasuke finally said in a soft tone. Naruto then looked up to see the librarian Shiho standing angrily in front of him. She told him to sit down quietly or leave the library to which he obliged to the former. The group spent the remaining time until school started discussing the project. After school the three of them assembled and they finished the assignment relatively quickly.
"That was really easy even Naruto could've done that by himself" Temari commented chuckling. "Hey!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke intervened stating "You're right that was easy, too easy. Anyway it doesn't matter we've done what we set out to do so we can leave". Each group member then left the compound awaiting the date for which the assignment was due. Eventually the promised day arrived, each group sat together with their respective assignments discussing any final details. Asuma entered the classroom accompanied with the scent of cigarettes. "Sorry I'm late guys I had some uhh business to attend to" he stuttered.
He then turned and faced the class with a perplexed look "What's with all these paper-mache volcanoes". Temari then reminded him of the assignment that he gave on the first day of class. "Oh yeah, that" he responded. "Well do you want us to put it on your desk or something?" Sakura questioned. "About that, you can keep the assignments" Asuma said. "What!?" the class shouted confusedly. "I never intended to grade this assignment. It was simply a means of fostering bonds between you guys. On the first day of school this classroom was dead silent but when I came in today all of you were talking amongst yourselves."
"I see and that's why this assignment was so short, it wasn't intended to be difficult." Sasuke added. "Bingo. Well that's that, you could put away your stuff now and let's get down to some work" Asuma said as he turned to the board and started writing. Temari, Sasuke and Naruto sat down together as they were in the same group while Shikamaru sat in his usual seat at the back of the class "What a waste of time" Sasuke said as he let out a sharp sigh. "Looks like Shikamaru was right" he added. Naruto then asked with a puzzled look on his face "What do you mean Shikamaru was right?"
"From the inception Shikamaru had little to no interest in this assignment. I now see that this was because he saw through Asuma sensei's ruse right from the start." Sasuke explained. "Wait, wait what if he was just too lazy and he didn't feel like doing any work?" Naruto asked. "It's a possibility but I don't think that it's the case. When the assignment was first given I was looking around to see the members of my group and I saw him sitting there with a thought invoked face. I didn't think much of it at first but now in retrospect I'm pretty sure that's when he figured it out" Sasuke stated. Temari then intervened "Don't you think you're giving him too much credit. I mean no one else discerned it why would he of all people be the one to figure it out". "Don't misunderstand, Shikamaru may come off as lazy but he is in all senses of the word a genius." Sasuke said as he retrieved a notebook from his bag.
Naruto was about to ask another question when he was interrupted by Sasuke "That's enough talking we've got work to do". Temari looked across at Shikamaru and sighed deeply as Naruto silently argued with Sasuke for shutting him up. Later that day during lunch Shikamaru lay down under a tree with his hands interlocked behind his head as he tended to do quite often. Temari came to his resting spot, laid down her bag and sat down next to him.
"Hey, I'm sorry for freaking out on you back then Shikamaru." Temari said as she let out a big sigh. Shikamaru opened his eyes and glanced over to where she was sitting, she then continued "It's just that growing up I had two brothers, one older and one younger. Unfortunately for me my older brother, Kankuro, was a slacker and my younger brother, Gaara, was a troublemaker. This meant that I had to play the role of the bad guy by making unpopular ground rules and ensuring these rules were adhered to. So for most of our childhood I adopted a really strict personality and I guess it kind of stuck with me."
Shikamaru then diverted his focus from Temari and looked up at the sky. "You don't have to worry about apologising for that incident, it's alright." he paused shortly and then continued "Whenever I want to clear my mind I usually just lie down and look at the clouds, it's relaxing." "I can't do that, it's a waste of time, I could be doing something productive" Temari said frowning. "Life's not all about efficiency. The reason you're like this is because it's imbued in you due to your childhood. Sometimes you just have to kick back and relax." Shikamaru stated as he yawned and shut his eyes. Temari then sat there and stared at Shikamaru who remained motionless she then thought to herself "Ugh did he really just fall asleep? How could he be so carefree and yet so insightful? Should I take his advice?"
The bell eventually rang to signal the end of lunch and it also served to wake Shikamaru up. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, letting out a big yawn and then finally beginning his usual post-nap stretch. He looked around and noticed that Temari was lying next to him still asleep. "What the-" he exclaimed with his eyes wide open as if he'd seen a ghost. His outburst woke Temari up who sat up and carried out a similar routine to Shikamaru. She looked over at him and saw his surprise filled face which caused her to laugh hysterically. "What's with that look?" she inquired still chuckling. "What can I say I took your advice" she added with a warm smile to a still speechless Shikamaru.
"Well apparently it was good advice. You're totally different from before, I told you it would work. Oh well I'm going back to sleep." Shikamaru finally said as he laid back down. "Oh no you don't, the bell rang, we have to get to class" Temari said as she grabbed Shikamaru by the ear. "Oww. Do we really have to go to class? It's such a drag" he bemoaned. "Yes we have to. We can't be slackers." She retorted.
As the two walked to their respective classes Temari came to a sudden realization, she then said "You and I have very contrasting personalities, characteristics and opinions. Therefore one would think that we wouldn't be able to get along well together." "Yeah, that seems like logical reasoning." Shikamaru stated. "I feel like it's the opposite though. I think our differences are complementary to each other. Where I fall short you excel and vice versa. So we help each other improve as individuals by our interactions." Temari said. Shikamaru after some thought nodded and accepted Temari's hypothesis but not without first describing it as troublesome.
"You find everything troublesome" she joked as they came to a halt. "Well goodbye, this is my class" Temari said as she pointed to the door. "See you later then Temari, take it easy." Shikamaru replied as he continued walking his, hands clasped at the back of his head as usual. "You better not be thinking of skipping class" she shouted out in the distance. "Wouldn't dream of it" he replied as he turned around and gave her a subtle wink. "Hmph" Temari responded as she entered her classroom, smiling brighter than ever before.
Author's Notes
I'm back guys. Sorry for the massive hiatus but good news, my exams are finished and I've got a new computer so I'll try to write more of this jazz. Anyway, about this story I wrote half of it a while ago and the other half was more recent so it might be a bit disjointed.
~Cloud .