-1st Period (Earth Science)-
"So what'd you do Sunday?" Tenten asked as she doodled on her hand. She'd finished etching a barbed-wire tattoo around her wrist and was working on her fingers.
Ino yawned and rested her head on the desk. "Not much. Just watched TV and finished some homework."
"Babysitting." Sakura made a face. "I swear, my mom's like whoring me out to her friends with kids."
They laughed, but it was short-lived. Sasuke came in and sat down moodily. Sakura blushed on reflex.
"Morning Sasuke." Even though she was barely audible, he looked up at her through heavily-lidded eyes.
"Hey," he mumbled and went back to filling in the white parts of his Converse with black Sharpie. It didn't take long for his fingers to turn black.
"Are…" She bit her lip, but nodded to herself. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," was his curt response.
"Okay."
"Alright, sit down." Mr. Hatake walked into the classroom. He smiled brightly. "Sorry I'm late; this dog-" he trailed off at the looks of exasperation. "Okay, here's the deal. I have to assign you a project, or I won't have anything but labs to give you a quarter grade for! Hehe…well! Might as well see how you work with each other, so pick a partner. You may be tempted to pick a friend, but remember that this will be 75 percent of your grade. Go with someone you can work efficiently with. Once you've found someone get an instruction sheet up front."
"Ino," Sakura hissed. "Don't tell me you're going with Te- meep!" A rough hand yanked her, and she found herself facing about twelve pissed-looking girls.
"I am not partnering with any of you," Sasuke spat from off to her left. "So just…fuck off."
A few of them damn near burst into tears and the rest shot Sakura dirty looks, as if she were controlling Sasuke's vocal chords. But eventually they cleared out and he loosened his grip on her arm.
"…If that's all you need…I have to find a partner." She backed away slowly, hoping he would call her back.
"Sakura."
"Yeah?"
"You're smart, right?"
Her cheeks turned pink and she pulled her hair. "I guess."
He looked away in annoyance. Perhaps it was that she'd put him in the vulnerable position. Or he was just annoyed in general that morning. But either way, he swallowed his pride for once.
"You can work with me."
Well, some of his pride.
-SKIP, SKIPSKIPSKIP SKIIIIP!-
-(End of) 4th Period (Social Studies)
"Remember, the packet's due next class. Get it done!" Asuma called down the hall to Shikamaru. The boy raised a hand in acknowledgement.
"Hey, Asuma." The man looked up to see Ino smirking at him. Even the teachers had learned to fear this.
"What?" he said, almost afraid to ask.
"So I hear things." She sat on the corner of his desk and grinned cheekily.
Asuma sighed and looked up from grading papers. He rubbed his face tiredly. "What kinds of things?"
"Got a girlfriend, Asuma?"
"No."
"Got a boyfriend?"
"No! What kind of things have you heard?"
"Things like…you liking one of the teachers here." The skinny blonde squealed when she saw him blush. "I knew it! You like Ku-re-nai," she sang. But just as quickly her face became serious. "What are you going to do about it?"
"What's there to do about it?"
"You should ask her out! You have a chance. I mean, compared to the other guy teachers, anyway. If she already has an outside boyfriend forget it, but I don't think…"
"Ino, I know you like this sort of thing, but it's not the same if you're an adult."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh please, it's the exact same thing and you know it. You should give her flowers."
"What? Why?"
But Ino was miles away. "Yeah! She seems like the kind of person who appreciates things like that. And it could be anonymous; it's so much more romantic. I can get really nice ones too. What do you think?"
"I think you're going to miss your bus."
'Agh!" She hopped off the desk and ran out the door, then popped her head back in a second later. "Think about it, okay? I think she likes you too."
He smiled at her. "Bus. Go catch it."
"Right!" Ino rushed out the door and he sighed.
"First Kakashi, now Ino. What am I going to do?"
Outside, Ino debated stopping at her locker.
I'm sure I'll have time.
She jogged down the stairs and to the front door, finding Choji and Shikamaru sitting dejectedly on the steps.
"The bus left," Shikamaru said obviously.
"Fan-fricken-tastic!" She stamped her foot on the ground and made a muted screech of frustration. The boys cringed slightly, and had a brief flashback of her many childhood temper tantrums. "And it's too far to walk. Damnit!"
"Might as well go home," Choji said meekly.
Ino cooled down as quickly as her temper had flared. "I guess." The two of them stood, then each grabbed one of Shikamaru's arms to pull him up.
-CanTeen Bus-
"Where's Ino?" Sakura asked.
Tenten shrugged. "I dunno. She was there in Social Studies."
"Shikamaru and Choji aren't here either," Lee observed.
"Maybe they're on the other bus."
"No; we always use this one." Sakura looked around anxiously as they got off the bus. Naruto was of course the first one inside. He bounced off the walls a little bit, showing off his ADHD, until he came to the video game pile.
"Oh. My. God." He knelt in front of the TV with a look of sheer awe in his eyes. "They…they got it."
"G-got what, Naruto?"
"Look!" He held up a disc in front of her eyes for a few seconds, then whipped it into the game system. "Tekken! It's the newest one, I can't believe it's here! You gotta play!" He shoved a controller at her and pulled her down next to him.
"But…I don't-"
"Here, lemme show you." Naruto laughed and slung his arm around her so he could position her hands on the controller. "Okay, it's a fighting game, so it has all the basic moves. Jump with this, kick with this, this is punch, and combos." He pressed her fingers to each respective button. She blushed and he grinned proudly. "This could work. You teach me school stuff, and I teach you useless motor skills."
"You like it, Naruto?" Iruka smiled in satisfaction.
"Hell yeah! Thanks Iruka!"
Hinata giggled and Naruto took a controller of his own. "Now pick a person to play as." She obeyed and selected one of the girl characters. "Ready?" She nodded. "Okay, go!"
He pushed the buttons randomly and spastically, not really aiming at anything. Hinata dodged, jumped and kicked when he couldn't block. She squeaked when he came at her and took her down mercilessly.
"It was good for your first try," he said encouragingly. "But some advice, don't bother with being careful. I don't know what I'm doing more than half the time, and I still kick ass."
"Oh…okay."
"Now, play me again!"
"What are you reading?" Ino asked. Sakura held the book to her chest.
"Twilight."
She groaned. "Gawd, could you be any more transparent?"
"How'd you guys miss the bus anyway?" Ino asked.
"Well, you're always there telling us to hurry up. Without you there we didn't."
"So…technically this is all your fault," Shikamaru said with a smirk.
"Shut up," she pouted.
"Hey kid!"
The three of them looked up.
"You! The dark-haired one, with the bad attitude!"
Shikamaru whipped around to see a smirking blonde girl, sitting in a red Corvette. The smirk slipped into a grin and she leaned out the window.
"Temari?! Wh…What are you doing here?" he asked in shock.
"I go here now."
"I thought you were out of school."
"College." She turned to face the other two. "Hey Choji, Ino."
"Hi," she said, her eyes fixed on the ground.
"Dayum! Ino?" A boy smushed Temari's face so they both fit in the window. He nodded approvingly. "You look good."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah right."
"No, seriously! Maybe you could show me around Konoha…starting with your room?"
"Knock it off, Kankuro." Temari shoved him into the backseat and sighed. "Honestly, he's a fricking animal. Can't take him anywhere."
"Is Gaara in there too?" Choji asked timidly.
"Uh-huh. He'll be coming to your school. Along with Puppet-Boy."
"I told you to stop calling me that!"
Ino wrapped her finger in her hair. "So where are you guys staying?"
"I got an apartment."
"Oh. Cool."
The silence stretched on until Temari said, "I gotta go. But you should visit sometime." She took Shikamaru's hand and wrote her address across his palm. Then she smiled knowingly. "Seeya."
He grinned back. "Yeah."
-
A scream blasted through the speaker of Sakura's cell phone. She winced and held it away from her ear. Tenten giggled at the sight and stepped out of the darts game she was playing with Neji and Lee. "Give me a minute."
"What is it Ino? And where are you? Why'd you miss the bus?"
"I'm at home. But she's back!"
"Who's back?" the pink-haired girl frowned at the tone of Ino's voice.
"Temariiiii!" she wailed. Tenten froze.
"What did she say?" she whispered, but Sakura waved her away.
"Oh no. But I thought she'd be in college by now!"
"She is. Here."
"Oh no!"
"I don't know what to do!"
"Don't worry, we'll think of something. That won't happen again."
"Promise?" Her voice cracked a little.
She bit her lip. "I promise."
Mm-hm. I bet someone saw this coming. I don't want to make this some generic love triangle thing, okay? I really like Temari, and I'll be treading carefully!
Some of you may be asking yourselves, "Isn't this supposed to be a NejiTen?!?!!?!1!!"
And yes. It is. I'm building on it. Play guess the plot with me! xD
Anyway, I hope someone enjoyed this. Cupcakes all around!
-immc