Chapter SEVEN

Even before they even got to school, Shikamaru knew that he had found yet another side to Sakura's personality. She glued himself to his arm and showed no signs of moving.

That slowed them down more than it should.

And she kept getting distracted by everything going on around them and Shikamaru noted that while she had been outside, she had been accompanied by Ibiki. Shikamaru had met the man once or twice, and he had been pretty scary.

Chouji kept shooting the two of them uncertain glances and Shikamaru thought that if his life was shortened by a minute every time he sighed, he would be dead by now.

He glanced down at Sakura who was looking wide eyed at a park, he decided that maybe it wasn't that bad.

Somehow, they were still early in their arrival.

The open ceremony had been held a few days ago and Sakura had been with Ibiki, so it was the first time she had come to school.

Shikaku pulled his son to the side before he could enter. "The Hokage put Sakura in our care." He said seriously. "While she may seem like not too much of a threat at the moment, we can't be too careless yet. There are ANBU tailing her and if she does happen to snap, spike your chakra, okay?"

Shikamaru sighed. "How troublesome."

His father cuffed him lightly.

"She won't kill me." Shikamaru said, sounding sure. "She's like...a kitten." His brows furrowed at the line. "I'll just keep her entertained and she won't do much." He sighed. "I'm more worried about the others." He said. "Like Ino. Sakura doesn't take very well to being insulted." He paused. "But's she's a good girl." He added quickly. "She listens to me."

Shikaku chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Yes, yes." He smiled. "Get going now." He said. "Sakura's waiting for you."

Shikamaru glanced over to the school gates where Sakura was waiting impatiently beside a nervous Chouji and a smiling Chouza. "Okay."

He quickly walked back to Sakura's side. The pinkette grasped Shikamaru's sleeve and glanced down. "Can we go now?"

Shikamaru waved at his father and watched Chouji say bye to his father as well. "Yeah, sure."

Shikamaru planted Sakura by the window seat at the very back row. He sat down, then had Chouji sit on the outer side. They were one of the early ones, and there were only a few other students in the room.

Sakura glanced around the room and Shikamaru let her explore as he watched their classmates slowly file into the room.

"Hi Shikamaru, Chouji!"

The Nara looked up and nodded lazily at Yamanaka Ino. "Hey."

"Hi Ino." Chouji waved slowly.

Ino planted herself in front of Shikamaru and eyed Sakura curiously. "Who's she?"

"She's a kitten." Shikamaru said before he could stop himself. "Don't threaten her, and you'll be fine."

Ino giggled. "A kitten?"

Shikamaru blushed and was very grateful that Sakura had been zoning out the whole time. Finally, "All these seats are filled with students?" She asked curiously.

Shikamaru nodded, glad for the distraction.

"That's a lot of students." Sakura murmured. "Yuuto and I were Daigo-sama's only students."

"There were only two of you?"

"What are you-" Ino began, but Sakura cut her off.

"Yes."

Ino waved her hands. "Hang on! Don't interrupt me!" She crossed her arms, a stubborn expression on her face.

Sakura eyed the girl and opened her mouth. Shikamaru whacked her over the head before she could say anything. "Hey!"

"Be polite."

"I have yet to say anything." Sakura scowled and fixed her hair.

"But you were about to say the first thing that came to mind." Shikamaru retorted. "I could see it in your eyes."

"You want to know what first came to mind?" Sakura demanded. "I was thinking how the fu-"

There was a sharp knock at the window and Sakura whipped around. A figure in ANBU gear was hanging upside down from the roof. He nodded, then vanished again.

"Itachi-san is on duty." Sakura murmured. "How did he even hear me? In fact, is it even his job to protect the innocent minds of young students?"

"You have a filthy mouth." Shikamaru said. "How many nurses do you think fainted the moment you sprouted something form your 'creative' dictionary?"

"A countless amount." Sakura sighed. "Jashin-sama demands a sacrifice."

"And I demand you be polite for one day." Shikamaru muttered. "But we can't all get what we want, can we?"

Ino and Chouji were watching to two curiously. "Are they always like this?" Ino asked.

Chouji shrugged nervously. "I don't know. I only met Sakura-san this morning." He paused. "But when they did argue, it was just like that..."

Shikamaru leaned his head on the table and looked at Sakura from the corner of his eye. The pinkette was leaning on one hand, and was looking out the window, eyes blank. He sighed.

"Mother packed dango for lunch." He said slowly. He watched Sakura stiffen. "We can eat it later, okay?" He cracked a smile when Sakura huffed, as though she was doing him a favor.

Just then, Umino Iruka entered the room. Everyone instantly went quiet, probably nervous about their first day. Sakura eyed the man curiously, never having seen a smiling teacher. Daigo had always been frowning, and it kept deepening as the day went on.

"Hello, I'm Umino Iruka, but you can call me Iruka-sensei." The man's smile widened. "We'll start with a short introduction, okay? We'll go in order of seating, and please tell your classmates your name and something you like to do."

Shikamaru let out a soft groan.

Poor Shikamaru.

Raven: That is me when Darque's around.

Anyways, Darque isn't here today, and so, I'll be sharing a few things...(Imagine Evil cackling in the background.)

Did you know (Probably not) that Darque is the one that comes up with most of the story ideas, and that it all starts with a single 'Oh, that seems like an interesting scene!' kind of thing?

For example, Darque wondered what it would be like if two Jashinists fought it out. Hence why this story, 'The Beauty of Life' was born. Darque wants to write one scene (Hidan VS Asuma ((With a few alterations))) and she wrote a whole entire story with a plot and everything to get there.

Meh. Weird little thing, that one.

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