Wheee! Hi!
So, the whole demon thing... you may not see it again for awhile! Hahahaaaaaaaa! You have to waiiit!
Ahem.
As I went back and re-read the story for ideas, I noticed a few people that haven't gotten much attention...
so this chappie is devoted to the dork of all dorks...
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"Rock Lee," said an overly dramatic voice at the head of the classroom.
"Gai-sensei," Lee said emotionally.
Temari rolled her eyes, Kankuro groaned, and Gaara looked indifferent (as usual).
"I'm afraid that Uzumaki Naruto will not be back until tomorrow... so for now... YOU HAVE THE HIGHEST GRADE IN MATH!"
Ah... thought Temari. So Naruto's a math geek.
It was common knowledge that Lee and Gai had a... strange... relationship. Gai's hair was the same (or rather, Lee's was the same) bowl cut that Lee had, and both of them were melodramatic about everything. It made the students gag.
Over in the corner, Neji blatantly ignored them and did his work, eager to beat out the stupid, goofy nerdy kids. Shikamaru slumped in the front seat.
"I wish I had Kakashi-sensei for math instead of this loser," Shikamaru grumbled. "He doesn't make the students do any work..."
Rock Lee was bowing and crying at the front of the class, obviously overwhelmed.
"I'm so proud of you, Lee! We have shown my childhood rival whose students are best!" Gai cried.
"Oh, Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
Gaara's scowl was practically murderous as the two hugged.
Lee was not your average dork. He was stubborn, resilient, polite (if overly so), and would never give up in whatever he did. However, the funky outfits, the obsessive studying, and his melodramatic nature were extremely unnerving at times.
He also didn't have friends. Unless you counted Gai.
"Embrace the power of youth!" Gai shouted, voice thick with unladen tears.
A timid knock on the classroom door was heard.
"Go... go forth and answer the knock of oppurtunity!" Gai said to Lee, and Lee obliged, wiping his tears as he did so.
"Ah... Is Hyuuga Neji in this class?" asked a very uncomfortable-looking girl. She wore her hair up in little buns, making her look like a cute Minnie Mouse.
"Yes, our tennis prodigy is indeed here," Lee said seriously. The girl looked at him as if he were crazy (which wouldn't be too far from the truth.)
"Uh... Miss Browning wants to see him about a scholarship interview..."
Lee disappeared from the doorway and came back with the pale-eyed boy in tow. The girl blushed when she saw Neji; he wasn't exactly ugly.
Neji sighed and shuffled out of the door.
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"You should be out of here soon, Mr. Uchiha," the doctor said, patting Sasuke's head. He grimaced. "And here's a prescription for pain meds." The doctor ripped off a piece of prescription paper and handed it to him. "Call if you need help... and drive home carefully," he said with false cheerfulness.
Sasuke's eye twitched.
He got dressed and pulled out his cell phone.
"Shikamaru," he grumbled. "I need to be picked up from the hospital."
"Oh... so you're out now...? Couldn't you ask Kiba... oh, fine, I'll pick you up..." came Shikamaru's voice, muttering something with the word 'troublesome' in it. Sasuke hung up with a light click of the flip phone.
He pulled on his black, thin sweatshirt and scuffed out of the little room.
Moments later, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura stepped into the front of the hospital and made their way to the front desk to ask for visitor passes. The nurse decided that she was going to give them a hard time.
"Ma'am, I don't see where you are related to this... ah, Mr. Uchiha..."
"We're not, jiji! We're his friends!" Naruto growled. Sakura bopped him on the head and glared.
Naruto, cowed, rubbed his head and pouted.
"Uh, sorry about that..." Sakura said sheepishly. "Be polite, baka, or we won't get what we want from her! "
Turning back to the lady, she smiled sweetly, batting her eyelashes. "Ma'am, we haven't had a problem so far with visitatio--"
"OI! TEME!" Naruto's voice rang through the hall, causing everyone to stare. Sakura giggled nervously. Naruto ran over to none other than Uchiha Sasuke and gave him a bone-cracking hug. "You're out of the bed!"
Sasuke let out a small, un Sasuke-ish squeak when he found that he couldn't breathe.
"Dobe, you're squashing-- my recently broken ribs..."
Naruto let go and let Sakura walk forward. Naruto couldn't wait to see her face when she greeted Sasuke fully healed; even though Naruto was insanely jealous of Sasuke, he loved to see Sakura's face light up.
This didn't happen, however.
"Why didn't you call me when you found out that you were allowed out of the hospital?" she asked, voice betraying her slight hurt.
"Do I have to call you personally every time something happens to me, Sakura?" Sasuke retorted. Sakura looked stung.
"N-no--"
"My ride is here," Sasuke said, cutting her off. "So I won't be needing you around anymore."
Naruto stepped forward. "Hey, teme, she was here every single day to check on you! Don't be rude to her," he said, frowning.
Sasuke met Naruto's eyes with indifference. "I never asked her to come," he said coldly.
Sakura made a sudden movement. "B-but what about when you said..."
She was cut off when Sasuke shot a quick glare at her. He walked past them and out of the door.
There was a brief, awkward silence between Naruto and Sakura, broken only by the bustling of nurses and visitors coming through the hospital entrance.
"Uh, well... maybe he's just..." Naruto stuttered, trying to come up with something to make Sakura feel better.
"No," Sakura said firmly, eyes sparkling. "He's not anything. He... thinks-- that I'm just some annoying girl... like all the others..." two tiny tears dropped down her cheeks.
"Sakura-chan! Don't say that... you're not annoying... and you're--well--" Naruto struggled to find a word to describe her radiance, but couldn't; he'd never been overly eloquent. "You're Sakura... you aren't like the others..." Naruto shook the sleeve of his jacket over his hand and used it to wipe her tears. "Sasuke's a jerk! I mean, sometimes he's... okay, I guess... but if he can't see that you're..." Naruto hesitated.
Sakura's brow furrowed, her eyes still slightly moist. "See that I'm what?"
Naruto's face turned slightly pink. "Well, you're smart, and you're pretty, and you're nice and fun and..." he stopped, catching the look on Sakura's face.
Her bottom lip trembled and she smiled wanly. "You really think so, Naruto-kun?" she asked self-consciously.
"Well, of course! I mean..."
Sakura's smile disappeared to be replaced with a more fierce look. "Then I'll have to make him see that! He can't ignore me forever..."
It was Naruto's turn to look confused. "What do you...?"
"I will get Sasuke to go on at least one date with me! He'll see... "
Naruto's heart felt as if it was suddenly pierced by a needle of ice. Of course. She was Sakura--she wouldn't just give up on what she wanted. It was a trait that was endearing, yet it broke his heart because the person she wanted wasn't him.
"Yeah... " he said with false enthusiasm.
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Neji didn't want to be here.
The guidance counselor set her thin mouth in a straight line as she held his paperwork in front of her.
"A's and B's," she said distastefully, as if the grades were something disgusting. "A 3.56 average. No college would even look twice at you."
Neji's expression didn't change. He simply looked bored.
This irked the counselor farther.
"Don't you understand?! With these grades--"
"I'm going on a sports scholarship," Neji said evenly, standing up. "And I don't feel like discussing my future at the moment." He threw his book bag over a shoulder and left the room, leaving the counselor speechless and white with indignance.
The girl with Minnie Mouse hair leaned against the doorway outside of the office, smirking at the boy. He's interesting, she thought.
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"So..."
Sasuke sat, arms crossed and looking out of the window. A glance was the only way he acknowledged that Kiba had said anything.
They were in Kiba's truck, on the way to the school. Kiba was driving and Sasuke was in the passenger's seat. Sasuke's car was too wrecked to be driven, so he had to bum rides off of his friends (much to his chagrin) until he could afford another car.
"You made that pink-haired girl cry again yesterday," Kiba stated bluntly, watching his friend's reaction closely.
Sasuke didn't look at him, but shrugged a shoulder noncommittally.
"She was annoying me," he answered. Kiba blinked.
"She was annoying you." Kiba couldn't help but feel a little angry for the girl that had visited his best friend in the hospital every day, even when the guys couldn't always be there.
Sasuke hesitated a moment, which didn't go unnoticed by Kiba. "Hn."
Kiba's hands gripped the steering wheel a little harder. He glanced at his friend again and was taken aback by the serene expression gracing his face.
"Do you like her?"
The question surprised Sasuke enough to turn and look at Kiba fully.
"She's... pretty, I guess... and she's..." Sasuke murmured after a pause. He stopped. "Just... nevermind." He turned and looked back out of the window.
Kiba decided not to bring it up again anytime soon.
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Arrgh! Damn writer's block...
I've got to kick my brain into gear...
I promise I'll upload soon, peeps!
Thanks to:
sasuke plushie, Lexana Fable, Kaitlyn Hatake, Flashing Silver, Tori Kay, WorldsGreatestMaLo, ilikecheese56, MiseryluvsDeath aka Fidele, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Krymsom, ManiMan, OnlyTimeWillTell, Flying Fox Of Snowy Mountain, Vengeful Beast, demons and angels, Momochikd, full-metal-souske, animeme, LonewolfBloodstorm, reichtwix, Mareku, DrendeSalkash, Shintenshin no Jutsu, AnimeGirl1000, biawutnow, queenbee12345, and OiToTheWorld for their reviews!
Also, thanks to:
sasuke plushie, alucard 24, Lexana Fable, Kaitlyn Hatake, crash and burnn, WorldsGreatestMaLo, ilikecheese56, Tori Kay, random-randomize, Vengeful Beast, ManiMan, Cloud Advent, GFOX2113, TheUnrealInsomniac, biawutnow, xXxfallenxsakuraxXx, bm631, Momochikd, SomeDude121489, Shintenshin no Jutsu, AnimeGirl1000, NaruxSaku2189, hpchick01, and meluvnaruto for favoriting my story!
By the way, if I forget to mention you, just say so in a review...
Luvs ya!