Lovelies, remind me to ask I if the walk of shame from Itachi's bachelor pad was shorter this time. My guess will be no, but I've been wrong before. Thankfully for her she was dressed comfortably in her own dry clothes again. Yes, they had met up before the party. Since I'm willing to admit my mistakes, I wasn't wrong about I and Sas… or, I hear they'll be meeting up for lunch. Double brothers double trouble
XOXO
Shikamaru had seen her while walking Tenten home after breakfast. She had seen him to. She had seen Tenten clutched on his arm too. It had been like a Siberian Train had hit Shikamaru at full speed. He imagined the Siberian trains to be bigger and heavier than the American trains build for non-extreme weather.
She had been too far away to catch up with. He hadn't been able to explain himself. Not that he needed. Every advice he had gotten told him not to look past her well, past mistakes. She was to be his own past mistake. Shikamaru was uncertain if he would be able to settle with that.
How could he let his dream girl slip through his fingers for one single reason?
It wasn't like she was like her peers. She was different. She saw him and spoke to him as an equal. It was all Shikamaru ever had wanted from his fellow students from school. He had just wanted them to see him as one of them. They were no different. He was just like them. It hurt to have no one, he learned the same things as them, he bleed like them, he had… Some of the same interests as them. Still he was shut out, because he didn't have a trust fund like them.
Ino saw him behind his outdated GAP clothes.
He wanted to run after her but he had Tenten around his arm like a rock. He couldn't run away from her and he couldn't introduce them to each other. It simply wouldn't work. They were too different and both his relationships with the girls wouldn't have handled it.
He was therefor left watching her run away with a displeased expression.
This is not how great romances ended in the many classic books he read. Or started for that matter. He was doomed.
XOXO
So she had done it again. She had drunk too much. She had done horrible mistakes she already regretted.
She didn't care to go home. At home her mother would be waiting for a scolding. She would yell at her. Make her feel guilty about last night. Tell her that she was slipping up again. That she was disappointing her mother. Things were supposed to be different this time. Ino had changed. Had she really?
She needed to see the one person who would always support her.
Ino stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a familiar face.
Shikamaru.
He had some strange Brooklyn girl attached to his arm. They looked close. Too close to have met this week. Ino who actually had ended up having a decent date and no. Both their meetings had been horrid.
He seemed like the one decent guy in her life and he seemingly had dated her on the side. It was awful. Ino wondered if his girlfriend even knew.
It didn't help that she was stunning. She was so beautiful. It looked like she had short hair in a boyish style. Ino wish that she had the courage to cut her hair short. Not that short, but shorter. Ino ran a hand through her own hair. She hadn't cut it since she left for boarding school. It would reach her butt by the end of the year. All the ends were dry and split. It wasn't fair. Why did he have to have such a beautiful girl on his arm while she ran away from last night's mistakes?
Ino felt even sicker as she hailed a cab. Not only had she slept with Itachi, she had helped Shikamaru cheat on his girlfriend? How awful. Ino felt used. All men were scum and she swore not to touch one in the near future.
The nurse greeted her as she entered the clinic. She rode the elevator to the third floor. She knew she would find Naruto bummed out on his computer. It was horrible to watch her brother being caged in this facility as some gerbil for the sake of their mother's reputation.
She knocked the door and entered. She had been right. He was sitting straight on the floor with his computer on his lap playing solitaire. It was definitively ironic.
"Sister!" His whole face light up and he slapped his computer shut.
"Oh brother, I wish I could see you on the other side!"
There was a tragic laugh shared in the room. How much he wouldn't give to walk out with Ino. He knew it wasn't that easy. He had tried escaping once. They had caught him by the elevator and called his mother. She hadn't been pleased; he had interrupted her spa day.
"What is your problem today?"
Ino sat down in one of the chairs and raised her eyebrow.
"You always have some problem for me to solve. It's the highlight of my day. That and Rorschach tests. It's definitively a rabbit eating a moose."
Naruto was right. She always came to him with her problems and he solved them. He, the little brother, solved her problems. This she couldn't tell him. This she couldn't tell anyone.
"Some things you can't talk with your brother about."
Naruto shrugged. His definition of privacy had been blurred ever since he was placed in this cubicle.
"Did you the least wear protection?"
The question earned him a flying pillow and it was a hit. It felt appalling hearing those words come from the innocent mouth of Naruto. He wasn't supposed to grow up and know about such things.
"Was it anyone I know?"
Like Ino would ever tell him. It was wrong. It was almost worse than the fact that the Uchiha brothers watched her sleep with Deidara. It suddenly felt strange that Itachi had watched her sleep with someone else then start something with her less than a year later.
Well, he knew what he was getting last night.
"Let's talk about something PG13 and pleasant?" Ino suggested.
XOXO
"Somebody has to defend the Uchiha name and reputation. Oftentimes, or more like always that responsibility lands on me."
Sasuke had been angry with his brother for taking Ino with him home. It was bad enough that they had done it in the same building he was in. He had warned him about Ino and he hadn't listened.
"You don't have to fuck someone at every party you go to!"
It was totally unnecessary. Yet Itachi had taken the task upon him ever since the age of 13.
"She's also hardly 17, that's almost statutory rape."
Itachi was in no mood to get a scolding by his brother, but he keep quiet and he did it out of love. That and because the waitress and the coffee bar they were at was cute and he was eye flirting with her.
"You claim you don't want anything to do with this world. Yet everyone looks up to you, you know why? It's because you're the worst."
Itachi was so good on the weekdays. Why couldn't Sasuke be satisfied with that? His time away had definitively changed him. He was still the well-mannered and well-behaved Itachi. He just liked to mess with the rich people on the weekends. Just because he set foot in the scene of the elite didn't mean that he was part of it.
"Gosh, if you were going to act like a mother I would have never slept with her, four times. Five times including the party, but I assume you haven't gotten to that yet?"
Sasuke wasn't sure if he was to congratulate him or scold him.
"Five times?" Sasuke asked in awe.
"She left before breakfast."
The waitress slipped by their table and slipped Itachi a note with her number. He wasn't going to call her. Not today anyway.
"You're a sick man,"
Itachi shrugged.
"We were both two consenting adults, and I would have never gone if it wasn't for you."
It was true. Itachi had learned to amuse himself, but teenage bawl parties were never his thing. The only reason he went was because of Sasuke. It was a stupid rule their father had laid down years ago. It was a summer day when Sasuke had gotten drunk at the age of fourteen. Deidara had dared him to sneak into his father's office and steal some more scotch to drink. He had interrupted his father's meeting and hurled under his desk. Itachi had since then been Sasuke's faithful chaperone to parties.
He didn't go all the time. No, he didn't have time for such. If there was someone present taking pictures Itachi would hoover over Sasuke.
"Nobody hooks up with Ino without anyone getting hurt."
Itachi let out a long and mocking 'aww'. His brother was worried about him. He should have known that Itachi too lost his heart a long time ago. He didn't feel. It was his problem. Itachi was totally blatant when it came to emotions. Both physical and mentally.
"Not everything is about you… Then again, when father adores you, you have only yourself to care about."
And then they were off again.
XOXO
Sakura had awoken to an empty mind and bed. She had another argument with Deidara again. She didn't know why she even bothered. Because he was the Golden Boy. He was more worth to her in a dead relationship than he was single.
She had given him her heart and he had tossed it out. Tossed it down on in the dirt for Ino to step on it to have hot sex with her boyfriend.
Sakura could picture it. She wouldn't have to ask any of the dark brothers for details. She had played the scene in her head several times. Seen Ino toss her hair and Deidara kiss her neck. It had been surprisingly sweet at first seeing it was Deidara first time then things had gone rough. Ino was a super skanky slut and she had stolen the virginity of her boyfriend.
It was certain that Sakura couldn't stay a virgin if she wanted to win. She needed to reclaim Deidara. They were like dogs and Ino had been the last to pee on Deidara.
Deidara belonged to Sakura.
Always had, always would.
Better lock it down with Deidara, Sak. Clock's ticking.
XOXO
Sakura couldn't help but to notice someone missing in the assembly at school Monday morning. She couldn't help but to not notice the talk about it as well. Even if she wasn't present people talked more about Ino than they did Sakura. Wasn't Sakura still the Queen?
Their headmistress was going on about Ivy Week, especially the mixer. Sakura only pretended to be paying attention. Nothing the headmistress would say was news to Sakura. Sakura had been ready for this since the day her father had given her her first Yale t-shirt. It was low grade cotton and it itched. It was perfect. She had worn it for days. Sakura had been five when she set a course for the reminder of her life.
Sakura noticed her minions Shion, Pakura and Ayame buzz about Ino. She knew they were gossiping.
"I heard she had a child while she was away," Pakura said.
"I saw her at a free STD clinic downtown last week," Ayame said letting out where she was there herself.
"I heard that she's here to sell drugs she's been making at the boarding school to pay for her own drugs. That's why she was kicked out," Shion had heard some of the rumors too.
"I heard she slept with all the boys on the boarding school and kept count over her headboard. Her roommate grew tired of the screaming and smell and finally told the teachers. That's why she's back," Ayame debated.
Sakura didn't know why she was back. She was more interested in getting her back. Ino was the one who had left Sakura. She couldn't come back and everything go back and claim that things were going to go back to normal. It didn't work like that. She had broken her heart leaving.
"How am I to hear anything about myself and Yale with all this talk?"
Maybe it stung hearing these things? Maybe she felt remorse for putting out 90% of the rumors about Ino?
The girl became quiet just in time to hear that Sakura was head of the charity committee. That was no news. Everybody knew that Sakura was head of most committees at the school. It looked perfect on her transcript.
Sakura cheered up. Hearing her name always gave her a rush. She turned around to look at her boyfriend Deidara. He looked to be sneaking out with Sasuke. They were probably ditching to get high. Sakura wished that he would take school more seriously and get higher grades.
XOXO
Ino was rushing. She had fallen asleep at Naruto's again. She hadn't planned for it and hadn't packed a bag. She had rushed back home awaking her grumpy mother and couldn't find her uniform. She had tossed every uniform she could find the day before she moved to boarding school. She wasn't supposed to come back to New York.
"You know how important this week is. Yet you insist on spending time with Naruto. It's not like he won't notice if you slip out after he had fallen asleep."
Ino sighed. She couldn't find clean socks. She found a pair. Smelled them, They would have to do.
"Are you even thinking about colleges?"
"Are you even thinking about us? All I want to do is to get out of here. That means college."
Ino couldn't wait to get away from her hawk like mother and the girls at high school. Her mother yelled something about taking a cab and wet feet before she rushed out. Maybe she would make it.
There's plenty of upside to being the spawn of the fabulously wealthy. But the downside? Super successful parents expect nothing less from their offspring. And when it comes to college, that means the Ivys. It's more than just getting into college, it's setting a course for the rest of your life. And for those few who aren't legacies, the pressures are no less. When parents have sacrificed for their children's futures, what kid would want to let them down?
XOXO
Shikamaru had been stressed the last week. He was going up for the Dartmouth usher position. It was vitally important to him. He had made up so many good reasons why he deserved it and answers for the interview.
He was certain he would bank it. It didn't stop his heart from beating wild.
There was always an if.
He wasn't a rich kid like everyone else. His father couldn't buy him the spot. His father wasn't some alumni and big contributor. He only had his grades and wit.
Who knew if it was enough?
A ball of blond came running towards him in great speed. A crash was imminent. He held out his hand to soften the blow and Shikamaru ended up giving a stressed Ino some sort of odd hug.
"Please! Don't tell me it's over!"
Well, it was pretty over last time they meet. Shikamaru went against his better judgement.
"You were there, it was pretty over… But I'm willing to look past it and try again."
Ino furrowed her brows. He shouldn't have said that. He wasn't in a position to give Ino second chances. She had given him one and he had blown it. Bad mistake.
"No, the assembly."
"Oh… Yes, it's over."
Ino stumped her foot and cursed. She had missed it. She was clueless on what would happen later that night.
"And I'm trying to have some just me time…"
Shikamaru nodded and moved on. There was no reason to listen to her go on about fake reasons she wouldn't date him.
"She's just a friend!" he turned around and yelled.
She was just a friend? Ino asked herself. They looked more than friendly, why would he tell her that and not try again? Perhaps they were just friends? Maybe they were in some sort of open relationship? Ino didn't know how they did it down in those boroughs.
"Oh, so bad you missed it." It was Sakura's sweet poisoned voice.
"I'm not in the mood," Ino really wasn't she had to beg her mother to release her brother for the night after school. Seeing she had wakened her this morning she was going to be in a bed mood. She also had the Itachi situation in her lap. He should have called her, right?
"Brown doesn't offer a degree in slut! Anyway, it seems like you already have your professorate."
Spotted: S. Not so fashionably late and dressed down by B. Game on, ladies.
XOXO
Deidara didn't want an usher position. His father wanted this for him. To go to law school and marry Sakura. Deidara wanted to check out the West Coast. UCLA was his wet dream. He would spend his days on the beach studying international politics and take breaks surfing. Then he would take a hot girl home with him from the beach. Someone who wasn't Sakura.
"If there's someone else trying out for this position, give it to him. Really."
Someone else certainly was trying out for the position. Shikamaru almost regretted not bringing a clean shit to school. He was beyond nervous when Deidara walked out and he was called in. If he was up against Deidara he certainly would get the spot.
Shikamaru stumbled through his interview but he felt that he gave good answers. He should have. He had spent hours practicing with his father. Asuma had given him both thumbs up. He was beyond tired when he went to bed last night. Having an insecure genius son wasn't always easy.
Sasuke had decided to up one on Sakura and found a way to spend the night with her. He was going for the Yale spot. He knew he would get it. His brother went there. He was the teacher's pet to all the professors. From what he had heard he was going to the party as student applicant advisor or something. He had stopped listening when his father had gotten a boner listening to his brother. Not a sexual one certainly, but it was bad enough to watch him drool.
"Why should you get the spot?" The man interviewing him asked. Sasuke was certain it was one of Itachi's professors. He was certain he had been to their house before.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha."
It was all the explanation that should be needed. He was an Uchiha.
"Was that it?"
Sasuke got up and left not bothering for a response. He didn't even know if he bothered going to college. He already had everything he needed for a comfortable life. He didn't need a degree to be rich.
He wouldn't have to deal with the stress either. Deidara looked like he was about to pass the whole hour of class. Sasuke knew he didn't even want the spot himself. He started wondering how everyone else must be feeling. He shortly decided that he didn't.
As soon as the bell rang Deidara was off his seat and gone. Sasuke had only seen him run that fast once. He had been caught buying pot in Central Park and had the cops hot on his heels. It had been hilarious.
Sasuke didn't even bother checking because he knew that if… Something vibrated in his pants. He knew.
Yale?! Really – Sak
It'll make contact easier throughout the night- Sas
Have you called him – Sak
Of course Sasuke had called him.
XOXO
If Shikamaru's hair hadn't been in a ponytail he certainly would have been pulling his hair. How was it possible? He hadn't gotten the spot. Deidara had. It was no joke. It said so in black print on the paper in front of him.
"Did you get the spot you wanted?" Deidara asked the guy he recognized from the bus.
He shook his head, disbelief in his eyes.
"You did,"
Deidara shrugged. He had told them several times that he didn't actually want the spot. He didn't want it himself.
"It makes total sense, I'm second best in class and you're around… Second worst? I'm sure the new library or whatever your father donated will be fine."
It wasn't fair, one of Shikamaru's biggest idols were going to be there. Wexler. He had read all of his published works several times over and over again.
"Wait, who's best?"
Deidara had no idea the school published their results. He just hoped his parents didn't know where. Shikamaru shook his head. This dimwit was worried about who was best in class after stealing his usher position?
"Sasuke," Sakura spoke walking down a stair after clearing her donation with the head mistress and headmaster.
Deidara looked perplexed. How could Sasuke be best? He had never seen him do school work in his life. Shikamaru was gone storming out. He was raging.
"Wow! Is the stress of Ivy Week getting to you?" Ino asked. She didn't do any extracurricular work or activities and was done for the day.
"No, I don't have to worry about it anymore."
Ino clapped her hands and jumped.
"Did you get the spot you were trying for?"
Ino was so innocent. She didn't know about class differences at all. She was so oblivious to everything bad.
"No, top student Deidara got it of course. He's rich, going to stay rich forever and giving lots of donations to the school."
Certainly the school looked at their academic transcript and not bank transcripts.
"No, that doesn't make sense. Still, you'll get into the college you want."
Shikamaru had had it with rich kids for the day and stormed off. It wasn't fair. Riding the bus home Shikamaru had only one wish. That he could have shown those idiots Dartmouth's school moto: The voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
Shikamaru slammed his entrance door and moved over to his own room in record time slamming that door too. He threw himself on his bed and screamed in his pillow hitting with his fist. It wasn't fair.
Asuma came rushing in running his fingers through his stubbles. Shaving was a bother.
He wasn't used to having teens acting out. This was Shikamaru's first fit. He looked much like he did when he was a child and wasn't allowed more candy. Thankfully there was no tears.
"What's wrong?"
Asuma contemplated tipping him over on his back so that he would choke on his pillow.
"Seriously dad? Serious? It's obvious that I didn't get that cursed, damned bags of fuck spot!" Shikamaru yelled face turning red.
It wasn't obvious to his father. His son was the right for the spot and he wouldn't have any of it. No.
"There's got to be a mistake. This can't be right."
Shikamaru threw his pillow on his knee. He was glad it wasn't something hard or heavy.
"Money speaks louder than skills."
"Not when admissions comes." Asuma tried to comfort.
"No, I'm a failure and I've failed mother and you. Can I just sulk alone."
This wasn't okay. There had to be a mistake. Asuma left the room and grabbed his jacket. There had to be a mistake.
He never went to his son's school unless there was a parent teacher meeting. He was never interested in any of the chairs and social events. He put his son in a good school to get him into any college he wanted, not to socialize and build a network.
He opened the door and was met with chaos. There was a lot going on but he quickly found someone who looked to be in charge.
"There's been a mistake with the usher positions. My son didn't get one."
The woman sighed. This was the sixth angry parent that had showed up so far. She could have told each and every one of them why their son hadn't been picked. She certainly wasn't allowed to and didn't, but she could. This father in front of her was a complete stranger though.
"The usher positions have already been filled, I'm sorry."
It was the response her boss had written out to her. It was a standard response and most of the parents had gone home after having tried. She had taken two names on a fictive waiting list she had. This father didn't look pleased with her response.
"You could talk with my boss," the lady tried seeing her out on the steps.
Asuma nodded. This matter should be taken to the top. It was an outrage that Shikamaru hadn't been chosen.
"You're lucky she seems to be in a rare good mood."
Asuma turned around and saw someone he had known too well many years ago.
"Watch her face disappear as I turn around. Kurenai!"
He had been right. Her face was completely changed and the woman behind Asuma ran scared.
"I have to talk to you,"
Kurenai rushed past him. She had had the most terrible meeting at her son's treatment Centre.
"I have no time for you."
XOXO
Ino was standing her ground. Naruto wasn't to spend any more time at this hell forsaken place. He was if anything getting worse.
"He's in treatment; he can't just be taken out like that just because you want to play with him!"
Ino didn't want to play with her brother. She wanted him to be happy and she knew he wasn't happy here.
"You can't keep him here forever for the sake's of appearances!"
Their discussion was getting heated and the therapist had to break in.
"I'm glad to hear you all speaking, because I think Naruto's condition is the cause of family… unbalances. We should consider Naruto's wishes in this matter."
Naruto had been quiet the whole session. He had always bee. He had been quiet to the few sessions his mother had showed up to before Ino returned too. He looked around in shock uncertain if he had imagined it all.
"My opinion?" Both Ino and the therapist nodded.
"I want nothing more than to walk out of here, but… I'm afraid that I'm not ready."
Their mother was relieved and Ino was afraid she had lost against their mother.
"What if he comes with me to a mixer tonight? It'll be for a few hours, he'll get the chance to catch up with friends and he'll know most of the people there. I'll take care of him and it'll be fun."
The therapist looked to be onboard. Ino was running the most important night in her life just to prove a point and get her way.
PS: I'm rewriting the earliest chapters = making them 770 times better than the original. I haven't changed the plot majorly so it won't affect the following chapters so far. Read them if you do want to. I personally think they're much improved, but there's no need to read them.
So far the first chapter is done and I've started working on the second and third chapter. I'll give you all a heads up when they're all done and what I've changed if there's anything.
*I've been toning down the whole InoSas situation. He's so obvious Sakura's toy