Riayu: Another day another chance to take over the world!
Sye: What are you talking about?
Riayu: That's a very good question. So, how are you, Sharin?
Sharin: A little hungry, kinda bloated, and I gotta pee.
Riayu: Forget I asked. Since Sharin has to pee and I don't feel like answering the question, I'll just get on to the fic…after two important announcements.
There will be a HUGE time skip after this chapter. I will over briefly on Winter break, then go straight to February. The chapter will probably be lengthy, and I might split it up (Highly unlikely) so it may take a while to get out.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I never will!
A/N: When I change the gender of a character (i.e. Kaki is Kohoro and referred to as he) that means they have assumed their male voices.
"Whose bright idea was it to give us midterms the day before winter break? The last thing we need is more stress," Naruto said, slamming a book shut and falling back, smashing his head against the floor.
"It's your fault for not studying sooner, and I have no stress. I already got everyone a present," Kaki said, glancing up from her History book. "World War One dates."
"1916 to 1919?" Naruto asked, staring up at the ceiling. The bunch, excluding Deidara and Sasori, were in Kaki's and Gaara's room, studying for the midterms that would be taking place the next day. "How'd you get everyone presents already?"
"What do you think I went into town for? A movie?" Kaki asked, nudging his foot with hers. "And it ended in 1918."
"Oi, what does vivacious mean?" Psy asked, glancing up from her English book.
"Lively," Suki said, her pencil flying over a sheet of paper as she poured over her Calculus book.
"Voracious?" Psy asked, moving her finger down the list of words.
"Insatiable," Sasuke said, staring at a table of the elements and mouthing the words to himself.
"Insatiable…?" Psy looked at him helplessly.
"Can't be fulfilled, i.e. 'his hunger was insatiable.'" Kaki said. "The first sign of the Great Depression?"
"Black Thursday!" Naruto exclaimed, launching himself into sitting position again.
"Quickly, the square root of twenty-seven!" Suki said, to Kaki, pointing her pencil at the brunette.
"Uh…three times the square root of three?" Kaki said after a moments pause.
"Correct! Itachi, you have yet to ask, answer, or even participate in this discussion."
"What does melancholy mean?" Gaara asked.
"Sad," Sasuke said.
"What level of sadness?" he asked, looking up from his own English book.
"I'd say…three or four," Suki said, flipping over the paper.
"Au?" Kaki asked Sasuke, looking for another question for Naruto.
"Gold," Sasuke said, glancing up from the book. "Ag is silver."
"Good. Name one thing Hoover did to help."
"He cut his salary by one-fifth," Naruto said, doodling on a piece of spare paper in front of him.
"Itachi, shouldn't you ask a question?" Suki persisted.
"What time is it?" Itachi asked, looking up from the book he was reading, To Kill a Mocking Bird.
"Uh…" Kaki glanced at her clock. "Twelve-thirty. Why?"
"The only question I could think of," Itachi said, flipping the page in his book.
"Who is Atticus Finch?" Tobi asked, glaring at his own copy of the book.
"The father of Scout and Gem," Itachi sighed. "Which one is Scout?"
"The daughter," Tobi fired back, skimming the next page.
"My brain is starting to hurt," Naruto whined after answering another three of Kaki's hardest questions on what they had covered in history the first semester.
"Well, you're doing pretty well. You only got a few wrong, and you were only off by a little. You'll do fine on the test," Kaki closed the textbook and tossed it to blurry-eyed Naruto, who barely caught it.
"I'm going to sleep," she continued as she climbed into her bed and pushed Gaara and Psy off. She turned onto her side so that she faced the wall and soon her snores could be heard mixed in with the voices.
"How can she sleep with so much going on around her?" Naruto asked, flipping through his math book and doing random problems. "And with midterms only a few hours away?" at the thought of midterms being just a few hours away Naruto began to panic.
"You'll be fine as long as you get plenty of sleep, eat a good breakfast, and don't stress out," Psy said, closing her book and standing up. "I'm going to bed. See you all at breakfast time!" she walked out of the room with Zetsu in toll, which signaled that everyone else should leave. Itachi hung out after everyone else had left and looked at Kaki's sleeping form, completely ignoring Gaara, who was watching him with the protective eye of an older brother. Itachi leaned over, brushed the hair out of Kaki's face, and kissed her on the forehead before turning to Gaara.
"Truce?" he asked, holding his hand out to the red-head.
"Truce," Gaara shook Itachi's hand then pulled him into a quick man-hug.
"Feel free to sex it up," Kaki said, propping her self up on an elbow and smiling at the two of them.
"I thought you were asleep," Gaara said, quickly letting go of Itachi.
"Well, I woke up. Let me in on the love fest," she slid out of the bed, walked over to the two of them, and drew them into a group hug. When she let them go she placed a sisterly kiss on Gaara's cheek and a loving, but brief kiss on Itachi's lips.
"See you in the morning," she said to Itachi's retreating back. She closed the door and pulled off her T-shirt and jeans in favor of a pair of sweatpants and a button-down shirt. Gaara turned the lights out after changing into his pajamas, noting that Kaki had stolen one of his shirts as he crawled into bed and closed his eyes. But, all too soon, the alarm-clock was buzzing for them to wake up and get ready for the new day.
"Wake up sleepy head!" Kaki shouted, pouncing on Gaara, who was trying to go back to sleep. She snatched the pillow from under his head and started to whack him with it. "Midterms start in a little while, and you smell like drool," she gave him a hard whack on the butt with the pillow before tossing it on the ground and pulling away his comforter, which didn't do much since the room was warm. She stood up, crossed to the window, and threw it opened just as a gust of cold air came in.
"Close the window!" Gaara yelled as the cold air licked at his skin.
"Only if you get your butt out of bed and into the shower!" and Gaara did exactly that, followed closely by Psy, Suki, Tobi, Zetsu, Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto.
"Has anyone seen Deidara and Sasori, I haven't seen them since the day we came back," Kaki said as she walked into the shower and turned on her own faucet to let steaming water pour down like rain.
"Nope, not outside of class, I guess they've made some new friends," Psy said, a little crestfallen.
"No worries, they'll be back, I'm sure of it," Zetsu said, patting his girlfriend on the shoulder.
"But it doesn't feel the same without Deidara 'accidentally' blowing thins up at breakfast," Suki said, grabbing a bottle of shampoo and lathering it into her hair.
"I know what you mean, I miss Sasori's puppets," Kaki said, snatching the soap from Psy's hand and washing the pen off of her arm. "Who wrote the quadratic formula on my arm?" she asked, scrubbing furiously. "If I get caught with this I'll fail."
"That was me, sorry," Suki said, wiping foam out of her eye. "I spaced for a minute and started writing wherever I could." She pointed to her own palm, where a second formula was written.
"Right then, I'm never giving you a pen again," Kaki handed the shampoo back to Psy and grabbed Suki's shampoo.
"Hey! That's mine, give it back!" Suki said, scrambling past Itachi and nearly slipping on a fallen bar of soap.
"Yeah, I know, which means there isn't anything in it. I refuse to have pink hair again!" she filled her palm with the blue liquid and lathered it into her hair, the foam running down her wrists and the back of her neck.
"I think you should dye your hair," Suki said, snatching the bottle of shampoo back and snapping the lid shut.
"Gimme a good color and I'll consider it," she rinsed her hair out and turned off the faucet, walking out of the steam and snatching a towel. "You know, if someone ever decides to wake up and take an early shower were screwed."
"That's why we lock the door," Psy said, also grabbing a towel and drying her hair thoroughly before wrapping it around her thin frame. "Can I borrow your toothpaste; I forgot mine in the room." Kaki tossed her toothpaste to Psy after squirting a small amount onto the bristles of the toothbrush. There was silence among the teens except for the sound of brushing teeth and gargling Listerine, then the collective sound of spitting and a few hacks at a desperate attempt to clear out the foam and burning liquid dripping down throats.
"Purple?" Suki asked, pushing the bathroom door opened and walking towards her room.
"Nah, not manly enough," Kaki said in her gruff voice, flexing what little muscle she had in her left arm. "Maybe blue," she pushed the door to her room opened, allowed Gaara to come in, then slammed it shut.
"You never came to talk to me after dinner," Kaki said, rubbing her hair then her skin with the white towel before dropping it to the ground and pulling on a pair of underwear and boxers.
"Yeah, sorry about that, I forgot with all the excitement. What did you want?" Gaara was fishing in his dresser for a clean pair of underwear; he really needed to do laundry.
"I wrote it all down," she picked up a notebook that was resting on her desk and tossed it to the red-head before pulling on a bra and wrapping on the bandages. Gaara caught the notebook, flipped to the first page, and read a few sentences.
"Some kind of story?" he asked, putting it down and pulling on a pair of jeans.
"Not a story, a history. Read it during whatever free time you have, ok?" she pulled on a black, long-sleeved T-shirt with a Linkin Park album cover on it then a pair of camouflage cargo pants and black socks. "I think you'll find it interesting. If you have any questions feel free to ask." She stuck her feet in a pair of steel-toed boots then dug out a book and started to read.
"You're going to get milk on the book, dobe," Sasuke said, trying to pull the math book away from Naruto, who was trying to study and eat at the same time.
"I need to pass this; Iruka will kill me if I don't!" Naruto said, flipping the page to stare at another example.
"That reminds me, how are Iruka and Kakashi doing?" Hito asked, taking a bite out of his apple. Naruto grunted something and turned the page again, shoving a spoonful of fruit loops between his lips as he skimmed the page.
"He's still working on coming to terms with the fact that his dad's dating a perv?" Kohoro asked, glancing up from his book.
"Yup," Psy said, snatching the book away from Kohoro and reading the back of it. "Burned?"
"Yup, it's really good," Kohoro took the book back and flipped to his page again.
"You are such a dork," Gaara said, closing his science book and relaxing. "If I fail I'll have to take summer courses, right?"
"Yeah, but it won't be so bad, it won't be as crowded. If you want I'll come in and take an elective, we could all do it!" Kohoro said, smiling at everyone.
"Sounds good to me, I don't want to stay with my aunt," Psy said, leaning forward and nodding.
"We can give everyone a summer vacation at home, they don't need to be there," Sasuke said, leaning his shoulder against Naruto's.
"I have to stay anyways, Iruka is teaching this summer," Naruto held Sasuke's hand.
"And my dad will be glad to know I'm hanging out with friends. What about you, Tobi?" Hito asked, looking at his boyfriend.
"That's right; you never talk about your family. Are they nice?" Kaki asked.
"Well, you already know some of them. I'm Sasuke and Itachi's cousin. My parents spend a lot of time traveling, so your guess is as good as mine. I usually stay with them," he jabbed his thumb in Itachi's direction.
"Ah, so your parents won't mind either, right?" Hito asked excitedly.
"They'll be fine with it." The bell clanged and people stood, walking out into the cold December air. Three-foot-high snowdrifts lined the paths as people made their way to the school buildings to start the exams.
"Look at the bright side;" Kohoro, "At least we get out of school early!"
"Tch, I think I'd rather stay in class all day than take the tests," Naruto said, earning stares from all of them.
"When do we get the results?" Gaara asked as they walked into the heated building, shedding their winter apparel to avoid sweating.
"The day after we come back from break," Hito said, removing his hat and scarf.
"Good luck," Kohoro said, smiling at them all. "Try your best, and don't make a third answer saying 'the answer' it doesn't work." He smiled weakly.
"You actually tried?" Naruto asked, looking at her like she was crazy.
"Yup, I saw my teacher smile, but she still marked it wrong. That was last year, though, totally behind me. See you at lunch," he walked off with Tobi, Zetsu, Hito, and Itachi, meeting up with Deidara and Sasori at the door to the History room.
"You having fun with your other friends?" Kohoro asked, smiling at Deidara and Sasori when he saw them.
"Yeah, they seem really interested in my bombs," Deidara said, smiling lopsidedly.
"There's something wrong when a school allows a student to run around with bombs in his pockets," Hito said, pulling his hair out of his face.
"And a switchblade," Kohoro said, pulling out the blade in his pocket and looking at it.
"To the test!" Deidara said, pushing the gathering into the room, throwing a look to Sasori over his shoulder.
Riayu: And then they all died!
Sye: Hey! That is not cool!
Sharin: Sure it is, killing the main character is awesome.
Riayu: How would you know? You can't write for crap.
Sharin: You killed the main characters of that other story like there was no tomorrow.
Riayu: Eh heh…Yeah, I did. What can I say, it gets my point across.
Sye: You want everyone to die?
Riayu: Ok, maybe not. Thanks for reading and reviewing and not telling the police that I escaped from the asylum! Cookies and cakes and other sweets for you! Throws out sugary delights I updated early again!