The Notebook | Chapter 31
Shikamaru wasn't trying to be an ass.
There was just something – someone – encouraging him to do so with every movement, breath, and blink she made. Yeah, Temari was cool. He could admit that. But her hair wasn't the right shade of blonde and her eyes weren't quite as blue as he knew they could be.
Her voice was so harsh that it cut almost deeper than the topics of conversation she seemed to consistently choose. It was like she didn't care that he didn't care about burnt orange being the hot new color of the season or that he didn't know the characters of her stories – because, really, so long as he couldn't put a face on the people she dragged in the sand (sometimes literally), the gossip she shared may as well had been fictional.
The genius leaned one elbow lazily against his desk and lolled his chin into his palm. Kakashi was droning on about something he already knew about; Temari was droning on about something he knew nothing about; Ino was…
Ino was nowhere to be found. She hadn't texted him back since he'd asked to double-date and well.
Well, that's odd. For more than one reason. He wasn't trying to be an ass, really, he wasn't. He hoped he appeared to be listening to his not-girlfriend jabber on and on. He hoped he didn't look annoyed (which he was) at how blatantly disrespectful she was being to one of his favorite teachers. He hoped he didn't look like he was thinking about Ino, of all people, while Temari was there, in front of him, interested and trying to include him into her life.
Shikamaru watched the bright white late fall sun glint and glitter against Temari's ring. He tried to hold back a grunt. Why did he even give that to her? After all of two weeks? It's like he was promising his life away to this girl who came in who kind of looked like this girl that was already here because, well, because the girl who was already here was already taken. In an act of desperation, or perhaps even panic, Shikamaru had literally put a ring on it.
Listening to Beyoncé, for once, was surprisingly not panning out for him.
It's not often that he shocks himself with his own stupidity but man…this had to take the cake. He didn't think any of this Temari thing through. She lived in Suna, so what did he expect to happen? After a couple weeks of a flirtationship, they'd move seamlessly into long-distance? Right before graduation? He planned on going to school in America, for Kami's sake. What was he thinking moving so fast with her? It felt like he was having an out of body experience. He was in a car driving in the fast lane, no seat belt on in the back seat behind a chauffeur that he didn't know. He didn't know the destination, didn't know how long it was going to take to get there, or even if he'd like it.
As he watched Temari peel old sunburned skin off her arm, he couldn't help but scrunch his nose up. He could not have possibly been thinking when he gave Temari that ring he found. And, honestly, thinking back to the ring only brought back thoughts of Ino. And that made Temari seem even more…rough around the edges. Was it even possible to ask for the ring back nicely at this point? Was there a way to ask that wouldn't unravel nearly everything?
He'd lied about it being a bracelet in The Notebook for a reason. How it even managed to loop back to it being a ring again was beyond him. He blamed Ami, as he blamed her for everything messy in his life, but after remembering that it belonged to the Yamanaka's...he didn't think Ino smart enough to piece it back to him, but he'd been surprised by her before, like it or not. He would have never taken it had he known that the ring belonged to Ino's estranged parents. He would have never taken it if he knew Ino was going to become so tied up and damn important in his life. This Ino was so friggin troublesome to him.
But, this was also the same Ino that he would–despite her bubbly attitude and troublesome antics–take away from Kiba (in any other lifetime but this one) with a suave-ass, smooth-ass, cool ass, "Hello" any other day but today. But no. Nooooo. Shikamaru just had to be a good guy, the kind of guy's guy that was respectful of stupid things like boundaries and relationship statuses and loyalty. Shikamaru didn't steal from people he cares about; he doesn't steal at all. Kiba didn't deserve Ino, but he also didn't deserve to have her swept up and away from him right under his nose. Kiba was a nice enough guy, and Shikamaru had learned this throughout the years he'd worked as the Varsity team's strategist. He could even, maybe if he stuffed his not-jealous down his chest far enough, understand why Ino and Kiba spark. They're both loud (and popular) and athletic (and popular)…and…well. That ends the list, but at least it made more sense than him and Ami did, anyways.
Shikamaru realized that even though he didn't want to come off like an ass, he wasn't making any type of active effort to not be an ass. He wasn't trying to stop his thoughts from drifting to Ino. He wasn't trying to hear what Temari, or even Kakashi for that matter, was talking about. He truly didn't care about math today or yesterday, or the day before that, and it wasn't unlikely that he would care tomorrow, either. Nothing had mattered much to him lately. Perhaps it was the changing of the seasons, shifting swiftly to the dank, cold, and colorless winter that was sucking the life out of him. Seasonal depression was a thing, so, maybe…
"Nah…" he mumbled to himself. It wasn't that deep.
Temari stopped talking, a puzzled look replacing her usual half-sneer. "What?" she asked, genuinely confused. She hadn't remembered mentioning anything that required his response, let alone a negative one.
"It's nothing," Shikamaru sighed. "I was just thinking."
From: Billboard Brow
To: Yamanaka Ino & Nara Shikamaru
Head's up…Tsunade has me doing her dirty work double checking all the names. You guys are next.
SOCKY-38
From: Piggy-chan
To: Haruno Sakura & Nara Shikamaru
Can't wait! *sent with confetti*
&Yama-Llama&
From: Brother From Another Entirely Different Set of Parents
To: Haruno Sakura & Yamanaka Ino
Sounds good
From: Pineapple
To: Yamanaka Ino
Wow look who can suddenly text back
From: Pineapple
To: Yamanaka Ino
…
Are you coming to dinner tomorrow or not?
From: Pineapple
To: Yamanaka Ino
You and Kiba I mean
From: Pineapple
To: Yamanaka Ino
With me
From: Pineapple
To: Yamanaka Ino
and Temari
From: Pineapple
To: Yamanaka Ino
Whatever idc
Sasuke bit the inside of his lip, dark eyes narrowing slightly as he leaned back in his desk. His pencil tapped on the surface just as fast as his thoughts. Tayuya coming late to class, tossing a balled up pink slip into Kabuto-san's face made the – he added a tally into his notebook – fourth person in one of his classes to be called into Tsunade's office. It wouldn't have seemed odd to him if he weren't in all Honors and AP classes, where students were generally more well behaved.
"Tayuya, this is for two periods ago," Kabuto admonished, finally reading the print.
Tayuya scoffed, "What about it?"
And, while Tayuya wasn't exactly the shining beacon of great student behavior…
Kabuto actually caught a second paper ball Tayuya hurled at him with frightening accuracy and unraveled it. He looked around, and then landed on Shikamaru. Sasuke watched as Shikamaru, who hadn't taken out a single item the whole class period, not even a pencil, slid out of his seat. "Nara-san, it's for...," his voice trailed as Shikamaru boredly grabbed the paper from his hands, seeming to have already anticipated it being for him. Sasuke's mouth hung open, confused, while he made another tally on his notebook. That made five, and Shikamaru didn't even bother to wait to be called on or bring his stuff with him as he moseyed out.
This was weird.
Sasuke tried to pay attention when lecture started back up, but he couldn't find valence electrons any less interesting. At least not in comparison to the way-too-coincidental-to-be-a-coincidence coincidences happening around him all day. First it was that big kid (Choji, his mind reminded) from his Physics class, then it was that bug kid (Shino) from Econ, Lee in Gov, and now Tayuya and Shikamaru? Sasuke only knew of one place where all of these characters actually interacted with one another, and that fact made his stomach drop.
The Uchiha spared a glance at Naruto, who was falling asleep at the desk beside him, and whispered, "Dobe."
"Hn?" The blond murmured to attention, eyes drowsy. Kabuto was so boring. He couldn't even pretend to be a good student without The Notebook there to distract him! He smiled softly at Sasuke, grateful for the wake up call, and nearly turned back to attend to the lecture when Sasuke jerked his head toward Shikamaru's empty desk three or four times, urgent. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed deeper each time Sasuke nearly broke his neck. What did Shikamaru – of all people – do? Did he miss something? Naruto looked around and shrugged, then took in Sasuke's bouncing leg, jittery hands, and frustrated eyeroll, before immediately becoming concerned.
He mouthed back, "What?"
Sasuke was stressed. He looked back and forth between Naruto and Kabuto, who seemed none the wiser to their communication. He huffed.
"Sakura's in trouble."
"What? Did she text you?"
"No. I just," Sasuke hesitated. Now wouldn't be a good time to share his theory. He sucked his teeth, "I just have a feeling."
"Bout what?"
"Just...you know The Notebook?"
"Duh, teme! I was the one who told you," several people shushed them, and Naruto and Sasuke scooted apart, checking to see if Kabuto had noticed yet. They waited a few beats before calling it clear. "What about it?"
Sasuke sighed. How could he say this?
"I think Sakura–"
The sound of Kabuto's yardstick smacking the chalkboard shocked the two boys ramrod straight. The intense glare of Kabuto's eyes made red creep up the back of both of their necks, heated with embarrassment. "Is there something you want to share with the class, gentlemen?"
Naruto gulped. Kabuto was not this mean when he first got here.
"No," Sasuke said smoothly for the both of them. "Gomensai, sensei." He shared a full, knowing look with Naruto. They would finish this conversation. He just hoped he would catch him before he had to leave for the football talks at the end of the day. With only two periods left, though…
#TEXTINGNINJAPOWERS ACTIVATE
Just to be safe.
He waited until he heard Naruto's phone vibrate to relax. Just to be safe, someone else beside him and Kakashi needed to know who Sakura was in The Notebook. Someone he trusted. Because...well. Shit was obviously going downhill fast.
"We'll take a brief recess and come back after passing period, yes?"
Tsunade had framed it like a question, but based on the way she'd closed her padfolio with a whoosh and turned her desk chair away from the mahogany conference table, this break was not up for discussion. She'd finished presetting her coffee preferences on the Keurig just as the bell rang something shrill over the intercom. Her voice followed, reminding students that they had six minutes to be in class, seated, and ready to learn. Classical music set to the tune of Vivaldi's Spring spilled into the halls, and Tsunade couldn't help but bob her head to the melody. Her coffee finished and she poured it into her mug gleefully.
Today was going pretty okay, all things considered.
It had finally seemed like the men in the room – who had finally gotten the message to break formality, starting to chat casually with one another – had started to realize that this was her school, her meeting hall, her meeting and she would be the one running things and making all the final decisions. As such, this meeting was actually getting somewhere. Tsunade had half a mind to blame the progress on Fugaku's absence, him having to "get back to work, where things actually happen," but she knew that it was more than that.
Over the days, she'd learned which fat was necessary to trim in order to get to the root. First, it was disinviting the boys in question to the meetings; their perspectives added context, but reining them in took much longer than the contribution was worth – they could sit in at the end of the day to hear summaries and provide any clarification, one at a time, and only upon her direct request to do so. She'd realized quickly, too, to Hiashi's disgruntlement, that not every Sound Hound in question needed to be present. As such, Kidamaru and Juugo had been dismissed back to Sound Academy earlier in the week. It was obvious that either Zaku or Dosu, or even both, were the most culpable. While she couldn't technically expel the boys from Sound, she would be damned if she didn't lay an extremely heavy hand in the decisionmaking.
"Tsunade."
A warm nudge on her shoulder made a smile creep up her face. Him. She hurriedly flattened her expression before looking up at the man beside her, trying to brew his own cup of Joe.
"Dan," she greeted back. She hoped upon hope that her voice wasn't too smooth, familiar, reminiscent of the – how you say – happy moments she relished whenever she and Dan crossed paths. She could tell herself that she wouldn't be texting him again after they were dismissed for the day, but that would be overly optimistic. She knew herself. She would without a doubt be finding some way to invite him over, wording it to seem like she was only wanting to go over some details that, as Uchiha representation, only he could provide.
Yeah.
That could work.
The bell rang and everyone settled back into their seats, Tsunade straightening her skirt and blouse tightly as she cleared her throat. Back to business.
Altogether, the parties at the table included herself, Ibiki, and the principals and athletic directors of Suna Preparatory, Kumogakure Secondary, and Sound Academy. Hiashi and Dan flanked each end as legal reps for Neji and Sasuke, respectively, and Sound had its own legal aid provided by an anonymous donor. Tsunade had asked Dan the other night, during a break in their festivities, if he had recognized their counsel. He'd mentioned that they'd gone to school together, and he was mostly sure his name was Kimimaro – they were more than a handful of years apart, but the younger was already making impressive strides in the legal community before the end of his first year.
It was a full room, to say the least, and it would be getting fuller within the next forty-five minutes, once the students finished their last period class.
"So, back on the topic of intent," Hiashi rumbled, bringing things back to what was discussed before the break. "I would love to–"
Kimimaro interceded, "Not without my clients present."
"Your clients," Hiashi had to fight the desire to put the words into air quotes, "are uncooperative. Unless you're wanting to move forward under the assumption that lack of denial of guilt is admittance therein?"
"Lack of claim is not claim of guilt," Kimimaro smiled softly. "You know this, Hyuuga-sama, or have you forgotten after your many years on prosecution?"
Tsunade's temples rang. She didn't even know what the men were saying, but she knew disrespect when she heard it.
"Alright, alright, alright," she corralled. "Perhaps it would be better if we...reviewed the terms we have agreed to thus far, yes?"
She phrased it as a question, but based on the way she opened her padfolio and flipped pages, this review was not up for discussion. The others at the table hesitated, but Dan followed her lead and flipped a few pages back in his own, tapping her foot slightly under the table. The sound of shuffling sheets calmed Tsunade. This was her school, her room, her meeting. Everything was in her control.
Tsunade nodded at Dan in gratitude, then her manicured finger traced the first point on her paper as she read. "Konoha Academy and its related athletic department head, Morino Ibiki, regarding accusations of physical conflict between Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto, are the sole relevant respondents for disciplinary action. Correct?" She paused, and checked for nods. "Correct. Given the amount of time passed since this act, and the dissatisfaction with the disciplinary action already taken, it is our committee's collective decision to suspend both students from playing in the next two games for this football season while pardoning them from in-school detention and suspension. Dissenting opinion?" She paused.
Bee, the athletic director at Kumo, whispered with his principle, Ai, before chiming in.
"Yes. We're wondering when in the season that would bring the boys back for competing?"
Ibiki glanced at Tsunade, who urged him to answer.
He cleared his throat, "That'll be bringing them back at the tail end of the playoffs. Somewhere between semis and finals."
"If y'all care to make it there," Bee corrected.
Ibiki smiled. He was fine being underestimated and put into an underdog position. It gave him all the more reason to push his team harder and come out on top when all was said and done.
"Right."
The other high schools all nodded, variations of relief rolling their shoulders at this news. Tsunade would never understand the depth of how seriously certain schools took their athletics, but she also realized she was sitting on a gold mine of privilege. Most of the conference medals, trophies, and records were set at KA, and had been for generations. Hell, her decision to give the two a warning instead of what honestly would have been more appropriate was influenced by sports' pull on school climate, but without actual proof besides what was in a silly Notebook...
Tsunade moved on to the next point.
"Regarding accusations of physical conflict between alleged Hyuuga Neji and Abumi Zaku–"
Hiashi interrupted her.
"Didn't happen," he said simply, raising a finger in the air.
All heads shifted toward Kimimaro, anticipating an argument. The white-haired man, seemingly unaware of the attention, only reviewed his notes. According to his records and what he recalled the boys saying in reference to that night, Konoha had nothing substantial to offer. He smiled, "Agreed. Didn't happen."
Tsunade thought back to the several previous days where these conclusions seemed a lot more impossible to parse out. She'd wanted for boys to provide more solid evidence of this particular act happening, truly hoped upon hope that they would provide more incriminating information either purposefully or accidentally as they recounted their experiences. Seeing as they had somehow been groomed to stick to the basics, all her hard evidence relied on a stupid Notebookyet again.
She grumbled.
"Fine. Count dropped," she ignored the men beside her celebrating, and continued on. "Regarding excessive force, then." The air in the room stiffened. This was the can that revealed all the other worms. Kimimaro straightened his tie. "Do we all agree that two counts of force transpired on the night of Homecoming, just prior to half-time, at the hands of Kinuta Dosu and Abumi Zaku, resulting in injuries to Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke, respectively?"
A round table of hai, even from Sound, to Tsunade's surprise, moved her onward.
"So," she hummed. "How should we handle this?"
"I don't think you should do that."
Shikamaru said this simply, as though even having the thought in her mind was idiotic.
Sakura sneered, "Well, I'm open to ideas here, genius."
Ino chuckled.
And Shikamaru mustered all that he had inside of him not to react to either of the taunts. He understood why Sakura thought it would be in everyone's best interest to reveal herself. Obviously, all Tsunade wanted was the information that she needed to nail Sound's coffin into the ground. Sure, a few people here at KA might also get hit on the peripheral in the meantime, but if Sakura exposed herself, first, the resulting damage would be minimal. He understood that much.
But, to say that she was Strawberry – the creator of it all – was unnecessary. Tsunade didn't "need" The Notebook, or the head of who made it. What she needed was undeniable evidence of the facts, a clear way to distinguish what was truth, what was gossip, and what was a straight lie. Especially since she'd had this much of Tsunade's trust to be assigned the responsibility of uncovering the identities of the writers, Shikamaru figures there was no need for Sakura to throw herself in the fire. Sakura could give her all that she wanted, short of Strawberry's identity, without blowing the entire cap off and putting herself on the frontlines like some sort of martyr.
All she had to do was figure out a way to say she was someone else. Someone believable as a reliable source, someone who was around for all three incidents...someone clean as a whistle.
Shikamaru tried to explain this as patiently as he could while Ino glared daggers at him. The blonde hadn't contributed to this meeting at all and really looked like she wanted to be anywhere else besides Tsunade's office. He wondered why she even came at all if she really felt that way, but he appreciated Ino's dedication toward remaining loyal to their trio, at the very least, nevertheless.
Sakura stood up from behind Tsuande's desk and milled toward the front while she thought about Shikmaru's proposal. "Okay," she said carefully, crossing her arms. "But who though? I'm not the most convincing Tayuya, you know."
Her stepbrother shrugged and slapped his hands on his thighs. He was as lost as she was. Sakura would have to be able to become that writer, and, well...pickings were slim. He didn't know the answer for once, either.
Shikamaru looked at Sakura.
Sakura looked toward Ino.
Ino looked up from her nails and at Sakura.
Her ocean eyes held strong currents, ones that would have confused Sakura if she didn't know just how hard it was for Ino to be in the room with Shikamaru right now. Now wasn't the time for her to bring up the elephants and how she would shoo it away with a quick copy–switch Kiba for Shika–paste. She knew it wouldn't be that easy, but–
"Be FlowerGirl," Ino said, cutting Sakura's thoughts.
"Who?"
Ino's entire body tensed. Shikamaru hadn't spoken directly to her this whole time, and she'd prefer it to remain that way. It was hard for her to look at him, to listen to him, and not think about how hard it would be for her to break Kiba into a million pieces just to make herself happy.
Sakura dragged a chair in between the two and sat. She placed a hand on Ino's arm and the physical contact brought Ino's attention away from Shikamaru, whom she was staring at with empty eyes. She asked softly, "Who is that?"
"It's me," Ino sniffled, playing with her hands. "Before I met you guys. It was me."
The bell rang and the school day ended.
With a thousand questions on her tongue, Sakura was unable to formulate words quick enough to stop Ino from gathering her things, straightening, and swaying out of the room. The stepsiblings stared at the open door for several beats, shocked.
Sakura cleared her throat.
"Well. I guess I should at least say I was able to figure out one of you guys, ne?"
Shikamaru scoffed and waved his hand. "Yeah, do me," he muttered. Whatever. He wasn't sure he'd said anything punishable, but to compared to Ino, he'd happily take the brunt. He grabbed his bags and stalked out, telling Sakura that he would see her at home in a few hours.
Naruto didn't usually go to things after-school besides sports practices, but today made an especially special exception. Besides the fact that, literally in the middle of seventh period, Udon and his snotty hands had delivered him a message from Ibiki that told him "under no uncertain conditions" was he to step foot on the football field until further notice, Naruto was already planning on sticking behind to check on – spy on – his Sakura-chan. He didn't know what he did to be banned from football, but he would have to think about that later. At least until this Inklings thing was over. He figured it couldn't take too much longer since Sai was here and, since he was starting quarterback now, Ibiki would never allow him to miss practice.
Jiraiya had instructed them all – all being himself, Sakura, Sai, and this dark-haired girl from orchestra he couldn't put a name to – to practice writing what he called streams of consciousnesses. The idea was to write down everything that came to mind in one, never-ending loop. This was particularly hard for Naruto to do because almost everything in his mind was TOP SECRET.
Like...his eyes swept over to Sakura as she scribbled away, fiercely enough that the page was beginning to smoke. Could Sakura really be Strawberry_Shortcakes1? He just, he just couldn't see it. Sakura was so smart, and nice, and smart, and nice. She would never give KA a mass weapon of destruction like The Notebook. No way. But, even smarter than Sakura, was his best friend Sasuke. And Sasuke really wouldn't have asked for his help keeping an eye on her if he wasn't at least 98% sure of the need.
"Alright, swap and share," Jiraiya announced just as a timer went off.
Naruto pummeled through the girl like a semi-truck and tackled Sai out of the way to get to Sakura. The rosette groaned and grumbled, but Naruto wasn't having any of it. She could refuse to look at him all she wanted during free write time, but now that it was an instruction from a teacher to work with him?
Her goody-two-shoes stood no chance.
"What do you want?" she hissed.
Naruto pouted, feigning innocence, "To swap and share, duh."
Sakura clucked her tongue. She believed that as much as she believed in aliens. Which was not at all. She nevertheless handed Naruto her journal and left her hand out for his. She bent her fingers twice, beckoning him impatiently. "Alrighty then," she relented. "Let's swap."
The blond gave her his notebook like it was the bomb it was, and he swore to Kami he was really trying to find Sakura's musings about how Sasuke was doing in the sports' talks interesting, but, he was so anxious about how long it would take Sakura to get to the part in his where he –
"Are you dense?"
Made it.
Naruto smiled sheepishly and rose two hands in defense. "This wasn't my idea at all, Sakura-chan, believe me," he blabbered. Sakura's eyes narrowed like fire, her mouth in a straight line. Naruto's Adam's apple bobbled as he tried to swallow. "So…," he chuckled. "It's true, then?"
Sakura refused to confirm or deny such accusations with Sai and Kin literally three feet away. She jerked her head towards them, the two cordially laughing about whatever they had written, and stuck Naruto with a middle finger.
"Sak–"
"Not now," she interjected. She picked her purse up off the ground and began digging for an eraser. Regardless of who Naruto ended up for the next inevitable swap, neither Sai nor Kin needed to read what Naruto had written in his book. She didn't trust Kin worth a lick, and no matter how much better she'd gotten to know the girl since she started coming to Inklings, she'd only done better to contribute toward Sakura's distrust of her. And, apparently, according to the Twisted Family Tree activity they'd done at the last meeting Inklings meeting, Kin and Sai were cousins (which, Sakura internally grumbled, how many friggin cousins does this girl have). So. That put Sai on her list, too. Neither. Of them. Could be. Trusted.
Of course, this being the first (and likely only) time Naruto had come to Inklings, he would have no idea that this trading activity would come up, but Sakura was still pissed he'd even written it down. Certain things – things like claiming, correctly, what her identity was in The Notebook – should be strictly forbidden from discourse.
She erased Naruto's page in fever. "Write something else," she instructed, through a fake smile. "Quick before we have to switch again."
"We have to switch again?"
"Yes," Sakura grinned harder. "Write. Something. Else."
Naruto quickly began rewriting, focusing on how scary it was to have Sakura-chan mad at you and only you when you were seriously just trying to help, when the pinging sound of a new email lit up the phones of everyone in the room.
"I didn't know we had a newsletter," Kin said, scrunching her face up at her phone and then wiggling it at everyone else.
Sakura frowned. They had a paper that no one read, but a newsletter?
She didn't know anything about that, either. She clicked open her screen and began to read.
To: Konoha Academy Senior Class; Konoha Academy Junior Class; Konoha Academy Sophomore Class; Konoha Academy Freshman Class
cc: Konoha Academy Full Faculty & Staff
Subject: Konoha Academy Fall Newsletter
From: Message from the Office of the Principle
Good afternoon, Students of KA!
Our apologies for sending mass mail at the tail-end of the day like this! In the spirit of full transparency, we in the office wanted to take special care to craft this message. As you may or may not be aware, this year's Homecoming was one for the books. Give it up for our Varsity Team for pulling off a win despite two very troubling injuries. These past weeks have seen our team through tribulations, but we are happy to announce that Konoha Academy's record qualifies them for this year's playoffs! These next three games decide whether KA will be district champions, once again, for the third year in a row! Fingers crossed for our football team.
Speaking of: our best wishes toward Hyuuga Neji and Uchiha Sasuke on their continued speedy recoveries.
Several actions, including those that contributed to these former starters' injuries, transpired at Homecoming as well as throughout this school year, that we would be remiss to address on a large scale. Now seems to be a perfect time to remind all students, staff, and faculty that KA is the premier educational location for only the most esteemed members of Fire County. As such, recent bouts of disapprobation will not and shall not be tolerated any longer. Please recall that swearing, fighting, bullying (including cyber), and rumormilling, amongst several other behaviors accessible in the Code of Student Conduct are strictly prohibited. Students, refrain from acting and supporting matters that encourage these behaviors; teachers and staff: continue addressing both these acts and platforms that encourage these acts to the fullest extent possible.
We here at the Office would accordingly love to update our school community about final decisions made regarding excessive force and multiple subsequent fights following our Homecoming football game against Sound Academy. All players responsible for the injuries endured by KA have been expelled from their schoolplaces and suspended from all sporting teams for the remainder of the school year. Criminal investigations and legal actions are also being pursued to further address civil implications beyond the school's jurisdiction. Additional fights occurring on KA's campus have also been addressed. It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to the guests that we have hosted over the past few weeks, but during this time we have been able to conclude on a course of action that leaves all parties duly satisfied.
All in all, this Fall semester is coming to a speedy close. With so much accomplished, we really find ourselves wondering what Spring has in store. We here in the Office certainly cannot wait to find out. Please remember, our doors and inboxes are open at all times.
Fire Strong,
Kato Shizune
Personal Assistant to Our Lady Tsunade
Kin swallowed deeply, clutching her phone to her chest, and exhaled. She didn't care that her gasp had caught the additional attentions of Sakura, Naruto, and Jiraiya. Nope. Their attention dulled in comparison to a looming criminal investigation.
"You look nervous, cousin."
"You look nervous, cousin," she mocked immediately after, sticking her tongue out at Sai.
She buried her face in her hands.
This was bad.
A/N: Okay, so. Yeah. Hi.
Many parts of me didn't want to open this back up, since I know there is every right for me to be stabbed to never-ending death for disappearing for years. I get it. There's no excuse. But, while I held this chapter hostage, I realized that nothing sucks more than being a fan of a fic with no ending. So, me getting a bunch of hate for going AWOL? Worth it if it means giving y'all the ending you deserve. And, it will come.
The next three chapters are the last three of The Notebook and are already plotted out. 32 and 33 are already written and they will be coming out as soon as I do grammar checks. Thanks so much for everyone, old and new, who has stuck with this story! It's truly been a much longer ride than intended hehe.
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