Happy Holidays~
Hope everyone had a safe and cozy time at home
~.~
'...the sun...it's not in my eyes this morning...' I woke up, my mind was awake, but her body wasn't.
I tried to open I eyes. I blinked multiple times, trying to get vision. After a while, I was able to open my eyes.
'I hate sleep paralysis...I thought I was facing the window last night...' I thought.
I noticed that I was right against Shikamaru. I was laying on his left arm. He was sleeping on his side, facing me. His right arm was loosely wrapped around me.
'H-He's too close,' I felt my face warm up, and my heart started beating faster.
I, slowly, removed myself from him and turned to face the window.
'Calm down, calm down,' I told myself.
I felt the bed move a little. I turned to see Akumu crawling over.
"Good Morning," I smiled as the cat purred against me.
He then crawled over to Shikamaru and rubbed against him.
"...it's cause he's warmer than me, isn't it?" I said, looking at Akumu.
"Ugh," Shikamaru groaned, turning away.
"Nya~" Akumu called out, jumping on to his stomach.
"...is this normal?" Shikamaru asked me.
"Mhm," I said.
'Remember our deal~' I heard the voice in my head, 'Talk to me through thoughts, don't talk out loud.'
'So you weren't a dream,' I thought.
'Course not, I'm a little insulted,' It told me.
"H-Hey!" Shikamaru exclaimed, as Akumu started kneading on him, "...troublesome, I'm too lazy to deal with this."
I stifled my laugh.
"Uh, we needa get ready," I said, picking up Akumu and setting her on my side of the bed.
"Geez, it's too early," Shikamaru sighed.
"I got him off you, and you lay back down?" I muttered with a sigh.
"We still have time to sleep a little longer," Shikamaru told me.
'...damn I guess I'm not making us breakfast,' I thought.
'Tell him that, and maybe he'll get up,' It told me.
'Yeah right, the Nara kid is the laziest guy in the whole village,' I told it.
'Didn't he offer to help you with your speech impediment?' It told me.
'I don't have a speech impediment,' I sighed, then had an idea.
"Say..." I started, "You...offered to help me with my communication skills.
"Yeah?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.
"W-Well, what if we strike a deal?" I asked, "If you can be less lazy, and get up in the morning when I get up, then I'll take you up on your offer."
"Hmm..." He thought for a moment.
"I wake up this early cause I make breakfast," I muttered.
"If you just told me you wanted to make breakfast, I would've gotten up without you striking a deal," Shikamaru told me, "But since you mentioned it, sure."
He stuck his hand out to me.
"...I didn't expect you to say yes," I told him.
'What did I tell ya?' It told me.
I hesitated but shook his hand.
"Okay, first thing, stop muttering," He told me, "You probably don't notice it, but you mutter a lot."
"O-Oh um...sorry?" I shrugged.
'You might be able to stop stuttering, instead you'll be as quiet as a mouse and no one will be able to hear you,' It joked.
'Funny,' I sighed.
"Also," He said, "I think that you start stuttering because you start to talk a lot faster, I assume you start to talk faster when you get uncomfortable."
"Is that so?" I said nervously, "Didn't know..."
"Alright, let's get up," He said, standing up.
"Okay," I said, getting up as well.
We both did our morning routine and went downstairs.
"So, whatcha got for breakfast?" Shikamaru asked me.
"Uh, I prepared a batter to make something," I said.
"Make what?" Shikamaru asked.
"Muffins," I told him.
"Fancy," Shikamaru said.
"Not really," I told him.
I saw Akumu near his food bowl and went to fill it up.
I went to wash my hands and grabbed the bowl of batter I had made the other morning out of the fridge.
"You have a lot of food prepped," Shikamaru commented when he saw the inside of the fridge.
"Mhm," I said.
"Wanna elaborate why?" He asked.
"Oh. It's nice to do less work when you get bac-"
"You're mumbling," Shikamaru told me.
"I-It's nice to do less work for dinner when you get back home," I said, making sure my tone didn't get softer.
"There you go," He smirked, "Smart. So Kakashi cooks as well?"
I nodded, "Yeah. But I usually cook."
"I see," Shikamaru said, watching me mix in some berries into the mixture.
I filled the muffin pan with liners and, as evenly as I can, filled each liner. I put them in the oven, put a kettle on the stove before starting on dishes.
"So are you gonna be the one doing all the work?"
We turned to see Kakashi.
"Good Morning, Kakashi," I said.
"Good Morning to the both of you," Kakashi yawned.
"To answer your question, I don't trust Shikamaru in the kitchen," I said.
"What?" Shikamaru questioned, "...troublesome, you're probably right."
"Oh, I already fed Akumu," I mentioned to Kakashi.
"Ah, so I have to resist the cat when he's being cute," Kakashi said.
"What?" Shikamaru asked.
"We have to tell each other if we fed Akumu, or else he'll get breakfast, lunch, or dinner twice," I explained, "And become a fatty," I said, crouching down to the cat, petting him all over.
"So, how was the first day of the project?" Kakashi asked.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed
I scooped some tea leaves into three cups and poured the hot water from the kettle into the cups. I handed one to Kakashi and Shikamaru, then grabbing my own.
We all sat down at the table.
"It was okay," I said, "But Shikamaru wants to sleep when I wanna study."
"You overwork yourself, you're studying things you don't need to study," Shikamaru told me.
"That's true," Kakashi said, "Maybe this project will help you relax more."
I pouted a little, not saying anything.
"You know, she keeps a kunai under her pillow?" Kakashi told Shikamaru.
"I'm not surprised," Shikamaru said.
"When she was younger, she would have holsters on while sleeping," Kakashi said, "I had to get her to stop when I found her in bed with the throwing weapons all around her bed. The holster was opened and fell out."
"Wow, you could've cut yourself," Shikamaru told me.
"I was 6," I defended.
"Where did you get throwing weapons at that age?" Shikamaru asked.
"She stole them from me," Kakashi said.
"Did you notice?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah, I just didn't know til-"
The timer went off, cutting into Kakashi's sentence.
"They're done," I said, standing up to take them out.
"They smell great," Kakashi told me, "Does your big brother get one?"
"Not after embarrassing me like that," I told him with a slight glare.
"H-Hey, I'm just joking," Kakashi laughed nervously.
I took them out and placed them on the cooling rack. I took two out, one for me and one for Shikamaru.
"You can grab your own, we're heading out," I said as I lead Shikamaru to the door.
"Have a good day," Kakashi told us as we left through the door.
~.~
"This is really good!" Shikamaru complimented, taking another bite out of the muffin, "Great idea making them ahead so we can have them warm, it's so good."
I looked at him.
"Stop exaggerating, its not that good," I told him in a quiet tone, eating my own.
"I'm not, it's really good," Shikamaru complimented once again.
"Well, thanks, I guess," I said sarcastically.
"Take the compliment and show some emotion, you look like the girl version of Sasuke," Shikamaru joked.
"Well, you would be like that too if your whole clan was murdered in one night," I said causally. Shikamaru nervously chuckled.
"You shouldn't say that so easily," He told me.
"Yeah...I guess you're right," I said.
"So, are we gonna leave the whole try to better communicate only at home or are you okay with trying at school?" Shikamaru asked.
"Uh..." I thought for a moment.
'How much effort are you gonna put into this?' It wondered.
"Y-Yeah, sure," I shrugged.
"Really?" Shikamaru asked me.
"Yeah," I said, "You just gotta tell me when I'm mumbling or too quiet."
"I think," Shikamaru started, "When you have to talk with people you're uncomfortable with, that's what makes you stutter."
"What makes you think that?" I asked.
"You started stuttering at the end when you had to talk to Ino and Iruka," Shikamaru mentioned, "But when you talk to Kakashi, you were completely fine."
"Oh," I said, "I...that makes sense," I said in realization.
"So, we'll see if we can work on that," He told me.
"Aha...I'll try my best," I said nervously.
"I mean, you don't stutter too much when you talk to me, so that's some progress," He mentioned.
"Oh, I guess you're right," I said, turning my head slightly away from him.
Shikamaru noticed, and saw a glimpse of a smile on my face.
'I hope this is worth helping her.'
~.~
Once we got to the Academy, I noticed Shikamaru looking at a group of students, I assume were friends. I saw the Akimichi wave at Shikamaru, who waved back.
"We can go over to them," I said.
"Really now?" Shikamaru questioned.
"Well...you ditched your friends yesterday cause you knew I'd be uncomfortable," I said, "I-I should make an effort."
Shikamaru chuckled, "Alright then."
We walked over to them and was greeted by Shikamaru's best friend.
"Morning, what do you think of the project?" Akimichi Choji asked Shikamaru.
I had just noticed that Choji's project partner was with Hinata.
"Yeah, how was spending the night with Kyoko go?" Kiba asked.
"Ew, don't say it like that, it sounds wrong!" Ino laughed.
"What do you think I was asking?" Kiba smirked, "Kyoko – chan is pretty cute."
I gave him an uneasy look.
'I regret this already,' I thought before looking away from him.
"What's this? Is Kyoko – chan shy?" Kiba mocked.
"Oi, Kiba, don't piss her off," Ino warned.
"But she looks so cute when she's like that," Kiba laughed.
'I'll be a lot less cute if you continue,' I thought.
'Oh, you totally should've said that,' It told me with a sigh.
"When she looks like what?" Ino asked, looking at me curiously.
I blushed at the attention.
"...she's blushing.." Ino gave me a weird look.
Shikamaru looked over at me.
"Well, we'll meet you guys in the classroom," Shikamaru said, walking me towards the building.
Once we were far enough, I sighed in relief.
"...is something wrong with that guy?" I asked, walking into the classroom.
Shikamaru laughed.
"He might just have a small crush," Shikamaru told me, "Or he's just teasing you."
"I see," I sighed as we walked into the classroom.
Iruka wasn't there yet, but we saw Sakura and Naruto.
"Morning guys!" Naruto waved with a smile.
"Morning, Shikamaru, Kyoko," Sakura smiled.
Shikamaru yawned, "Morning," He said lazily.
"Morning," I almost muttered, catching myself.
My greeting caught the two off guard.
"Uh, how was your first day with the project?" Sakura asked nervously.
"It was fine," Shikamaru shrugged, then pointed to me, "She snores when she sleeps."
"I-I do not!" I told him, surprised at his comment.
"Oh, you definitely snore," Shikamaru told me with a yawn, "It was a miracle that I was able to get some sleep."
Sakura didn't dare laugh, she looked scared for Shikamaru. But Naruto started laughing.
"I can't imagine her snore!" He exclaimed.
I glared over at Shikamaru.
"Liar," I told him.
"I prefer exaggerated truth," He told me.
"W-Wow, you two look kinda close," Sakura said, "Were you guys already friends?"
"No."
"Kinda?"
We said at the same time.
Sakura chuckled nervously, "Well, it seems like you guys are getting along pretty well!"
"I tolerate him," I sighed, making Naruto laugh.
"Doing the same," Sakura sighed.
We both shared a look and gave a small smirk, making her smile a little.
"We're stuck with the boys for the rest of the week," Sakura commented.
"Only a few more days til freedom," I added.
"We can make it!" Sakura said dramatically.
"Heh," I smirked.
'Close to a laugh, this is turning out a lot better than I thought,' Shikamaru thought.
'Hey, you didn't need my help,' It told me, 'You making some progress.'
'She's not being annoying like Ino,' I told it.
"Hey, its bad on our side too!" Naruto exclaimed, "We can't skip classes or anything."
"Not unless we drag the girls along," Shikamaru suggested, earning a stomp on his foot from me.
"H-Hey! That hurt!" Shikamaru told me.
"Why do you think I did it?" I told him.
Sakura couldn't help but laugh.
'Wow, Kyoko doesn't seem so...scary?' Sakura thought, '...is it cause of Shikamaru? Or maybe it's cause we found some kind of common ground?'
Sakura looked up at me as me and Shikamaru were arguing.
I blinked and just gave her a small smile.
"Oh no you don't!"
We turned to see Ino, storming in, dragging Kiba in.
"You can't get friendly with her! You're gonna use her to get to me, aren't you!?" Ino questioned Sakura.
"W-What?" Sakura asked.
"Don't play innocent, Billboard Brow! With me out of the picture, you'll be able to get closer to Sasuke!" Ino told her.
"I'm not doing that at all!" Sakura told her, "I swear!"
"Grrr stop lying!" Ino told her.
"Please stop her!" Kiba pleaded.
'You gonna stop her?' It asked me.
'...no?' I told it, 'I'll get extremely uncomfortable if I get mixed into this, I'll start stuttering.'
'Hmmm,'It hummed, 'There's clearly a misunderstanding. If you clear up the misunderstanding and get them to calm down, then they'll stop. Heck, maybe you'll get more friends.'
'I don't want friends,' I told it.
'Really? Well, you could've fooled me. You and the Nara kid are getting pretty friendly,' It said.
'Only cause of the project,' I explained.
"Hey! Get off of me, Ino – Pig!" Sakura cried, as Ino started pulling her hair.
'It's getting worse,' It told me.
'Damn, I heard they were best friends once,' I thought, 'I don't understand how they could turn on each other so fast.'
"...and Iruka thought I was scary," I scoffed, "That's a really elaborate plan, you really think Sakura would be that ridiculous to plan something like that?
"Uh...well," Ino stammered.
"If you're getting violent over Uchiha Sasuke's attention, you'll attract the wrong kind of attention," I continued, "Me and Sakura were just talking."
"B-But! You never talk!" Ino exclaimed.
"I talk when I want to," I said.
"I-I know, it's just..." Ino paused.
"Strange?" I said, crossing my arms.
"Yeah...especially after yesterday," Ino told me.
"Look, I don't really understand your quarrel about Sasuke, but having a battle royal for him isn't the best way to go about it. I can tell that in his mind, he's not thinking about dating anytime soon," I said.
The two looked at each other.
"Wait...don't you like Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked.
"I don't even know him...so I can't say I like him. But if your referring 'Like' as one of his fan girls, then no," I told her.
"I...I thought you did?" Ino asked.
"I sit with him one time and all the fan girls targeted me," I sighed.
"Why were you sitting with him?" Ino asked.
"Cause I used to hang out with him as kids," I told her, "I knew who he was. That was enough for me to be a little more comfortable sitting with someone. And the next day all the girls gave me glares so I immediately stopped sitting with him."
"S-Sorry!" Ino apologized.
'She's not into Sasuke-kun! That's a relief. She's strong, so Sasuke might have not minded her if she made a move,' Ino thought.
"H-Hey," Ino started, "I'm sorry...for everything."
I didn't expect that. I looked over at Shikamaru, who also looked a little surprised.
"Uh...it's fine?" I shrugged.
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah, I don't care too much," I told her, "It doesn't effect me."
"I feel kinda bad," Sakura said, "We said and did all those mean things cause we thought you also liked Sasuke."
'Wow, look at you, making new friends,' It told me.
I ignored it.
"Even if I did, that's not an excuse," I said, "Even though I said I didn't care, you shouldn't bully anyone cause they have the same silly crush as you."
"You're right," Ino sighed, "But that doesn't mean I'm giving up on him."
"You think that's gonna make me give up?" Sakura questioned.
I sighed and looked over at Shikamaru, motioning that we should go to our seats. We started walking over to our seats while the two girls were arguing.
"Oi! Kyoko!" Ino called out, making me turn to look at her, "Let's all have lunch together!"
"...sure," I said before sitting down.
I could almost see stars in her eyes.
"Why is she so happy?" I whispered to Shikamaru.
"I dunno, isn't that a girl thing?" He asked me.
"I wouldn't be asking you if I knew," I told him.
Iruka walked in, probably early to get things ready for class.
"Good Morning, you guys are a little early," Iruka said, entering the room.
"Good Morning, Sensei," Ino casually said.
"Since Ino and Kyoko are in the same room together I'm assuming that everything's fine and nothing will happen if I leave the room again?" Iruka sensei asked, jokingly but serious.
Me and Ino looked at each other then turned back to Iruka.
"Naw, I think we're fine," Ino smiled.
"Did something happen?" Iruka asked, expecting a 'nothing' or 'we made up', a simple answer.
"Yeah, something happened. Ino, for the first time apol-" Kiba's mouth got covered.
"Nothing, it's nothing," Ino said, keeping her hand on Kiba's mouth.
"Uhh..." Iruka looked at the two.
"Ino, it's not that serious," I said, before things escalate, "We talked it out, there was a misunderstanding."
"Yeah, we're fine now," Ino said, letting Kiba go.
'Never thought this would happen...so quickly,' Iruka thought to himself.
"So you do talk! Where was the on switch?" Iruka joked.
"Funny," I said, sarcastically.
"Well, I hope you're not pushing yourself," Iruka told me, "I'm happy if my words got through to you, but you don't have to push yourself all at once."
"Who said it was cause of you?" I asked.
"Ahaha, I'm just joking, Kyoko," Iruka chuckled nervously.
The students started pouring into the classroom. Everyone that was on the room earlier acted like everything was normal. Class immediately started once everyone was seated. Iruka started talking about the upcoming entrance exams.
"These exams will lead you to the next steps of becoming a ninja. If you pass, you will be put into groups, teams. Each with a Sensei as a leader of the team," Iruka explained, "If you fail, you'll have to take the course over again, isn't that right, Naruto?" Everyone laughed, Naruto sunk into his seat.
"The exams will be taking place next week on Monday. You shall demonstrate a transformation jutsu," Iruka told us.
'Damn it, that's my worst subject,' Naruto thought.
I looked away.
'Really? The transformation jutsu is pretty much the easiest thing in the book,' I thought, leaning back on my chair.
I looked out the window and blocked everything out. I wasn't really feeling like paying attention to Iruka today, it was probably gonna be some review thing.
I sensed something and turned towards Shikamaru, who was staring at me. I looked at him with a confused look.
He leaned over to me. I flinched.
"You should get some sleep, you haven't had enough, you've studied too hard," Shikamaru told me.
I shook my head.
"You're top student, and this is just review, you can afford to sleep for a bit," Shikamaru told me.
"You're a bad influence," I yawned.
"Well, I'm just thinking of your health," He said.
"Uh-huh," I said, resting my chin on my arms.
"You're already pretty sleepy," he said.
"Yeah, but I slept well last night," I told him.
"Just take a nap," He told me.
"...fine," I sighed, "I dunno why, but you're really convincing."
"I don't know why either," He said before I closed my eyes.
~.~
Tell me what ya think~
Enjoy the holidays and be safe!
Don't be dumb!
Signing off,
Bluebirb