Trapped Chapter 3: Day 2: “Rumors” Part Two, a naruto fanfic

Title: Trapped

Rate: PG13 –mainly-

Genre: Romance/Humor

Spoiler: None

Couples: NONYAOI – so all of you expecting shounen-ai or shouji-ai, I apologize. These are GENERAL couples: SasuSakuNaruLee, ShikaInoCho, NaruHinaKiba, NejiTenLee

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Trapped

Day 2: "Rumors." Part Two.

---

'She's been quiet…' Shikamaru thought as he stared at his female comrade. Since the girls had retreated downstairs for lunch, Tenten had immediately went to look for Lee and Neji, while Hinata felt like she needed to make the afternoon meal. Sakura on the there hand, helped Hinata for some reason and left Ino to sit down on the couch by herself. The T.V. was on, but her eyes stared at it dully. Did something happen between the girls? Shikamaru wondered, but pestering in the situation would do no good.

"Um…Ino…"

She didn't even turn to look at him at all, which made him mumble: "Forget it."

---

"What? Are you serious Tenten?!" Lee gapped at the information she had brought him. Sakura liked Shikamaru?! But how was what he wanted to know. He always thought she was interested in Sasuke; this was a new change for her. But if she was able to like Shikamaru, then she'd surely be able to like him! Lee's grin grew, so the challenge for Sakura's heart had finally begun. Tenten seemed to look annoyed and rolled her eyes, she finally glanced at Neji; knowing he wasn't going to care one bit.

"I don't think she's that strong to move on," was what the Hyuuga muttered. He for one, felt like the whole thing was a lie. There was no way that Haruno girl would give up on that Uchiha, because he had seen how she had moped over him, gave up everything for him, it seemed to be impossible. With Lee and Tenten believing this, they needed to focus their surroundings and fellow shinobis more often. "Anyways, it'll be amusing to see how the Uchiha and that Naruto will act."

The girl with her hair in Chinese buns sighed, that was just like Neji. And what did he mean when he said she wasn't strong enough to move on? It didn't seem like Neji would care about Sakura's personal life…unless…She blinked, maybe she was thinking too far on this. At least Lee seemed happy about her news, "I think that there is a possibility that Sakura would like Shikamaru."

---

Sasuke had walked past the room where Neji's team was in again. It had seemed like he always bumped into them, and somehow eavesdropped. Not that he wanted to, but it seemed funny that each information brought surprises.

"--I think that there is a possibility that Sakura would like Shikamaru." He heard Tenten's voice say, which made him stop suddenly. Sakura…like Shikamaru? He blinked, but didn't give in some time to react anymore, as he walked on to the living room. There, Ino and Shikamaru were – he wanted to ask the other boy if he knew anything about this, but with Ino there, she would only act annoying and suspicious. It wasn't him to ponder in such things, Sakura was Sakura, and it was her business if she liked Shikamaru.

But…it felt weird having her like someone else. She was always over him, and now it felt, like he was easily replaced. Ino didn't even say anything as he had entered the room, which made him happier…at least she was over him…and Sakura. How did it feel? He had always wanted them over him…but…he grunted silently, why was the Uchiha even thinking about this? Sakura was his comrade, and they were shinobis, there was no time for love in any shinobis life – or his anyways.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun," Sakura called his name, holding a plate of rice balls. "You're finally back, I personally made you something!" The boy was going to shrug her sudden invitation toward the food off, but then something came over him to approach her. "Thanks," he mumbled and took the plate. "Hey, that's not fair if the Uchiha gets food," Shikamaru suddenly yelled as he lazily laid on the couch. Sasuke flinched as the boy said this, and Sakura scowled at him. "Impatient I see, here!" she marched up to him with another plate of rice balls, dropping the plate on his stomach neatly. "I see people don't have gratitude!"

"Eh, thanks," he mumbled. At first he was joking around, but he didn't know she had actually made him rice balls as well. Sasuke and Ino were both looking at them with surprise, and Sakura acted as if nothing was different – walking back to the kitchen. The mind-jutsu kunoichi spared another glance at her team mate, and turned back to the T.V. Sasuke snorted and began to eat his food, an overwhelming feeling through-out his body. He quickly finished his lunch and left the plate on the table, "finished," was all he said and he pushed his hands in his pocket; walking away.

"That was quick…Sasuke…" Sakura replied and took his plate. He didn't say anything as he continued to walk away from her, with an unusual pace. Ino heaved a sigh and stood up, walking up to Sakura but didn't say anything. She just took the plate from Sakura's hand and handed it to Hinata, who was washing the dishes. Sakura blinked and looked at Ino, something was wrong. She then realized what it was, 'Shikamaru…' Surely Ino was still pondering about what the girls were talking about earlier…if she did so, it must've proven true that she did have feelings for her comrade.

"Ino—," Sakura began, but hesitated slightly as the blonde didn't even give a second to look at her. She just began to open the refrigerator and took out a can of soda. "…are you okay…?" It took a matter of seconds before her friend said anything back. "I'm fine." Yeah right, the Ino Sakura knew would never be this quiet…it was almost scary. You could tell flat out that something was bothering her, and she knew what. "C'mon Ino…something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong…" Ino persuaded, "Just…thinking."

Even Shikamaru silently observed what was going on, Ino thinking? Now that was a surprise. He saw the Haruno girl begin to walk towards his friend. "Ino, I know something's bothering you." She was placing her hand on Ino's shoulder, as the other girl stared down at her hands resting on the table-top. The thought never occurred to him that something was wrong with Ino; she was always moody…or just loud. But then a sudden guilt hit him, sure…she was always loud except now…how come he didn't see it until now? He did, sorta…but maybe it was half his part because he didn't do anything about it.

"Sakura, let me handle this," Shikamaru stood up from his place on the couch. "She's my team mate after all."

Team mate.

The Yamanaki girl flinched slightly, but felt Sakura retreat back in the kitchen. Shikamaru's form stood behind her, making her turn her head and eye him. "What do you want," was what she said lowly. The boy seemed taken back and blinked, "We know something's bothering you…what is it?" How was she able to tell him when she didn't know herself? It felt so weird…Ino didn't want to act this way, but she knew that something was bothering her. There was no time to lie, because everyone would continue to ask her. "I don't know…" Well, that was the truth after all.

He pushed the chair back and sat on it, beside her. She felt his eyes on her, which made her embarrassed. Was he worried? Like how Sasuke-kun and Naruto were for Sakura? Maybe…maybe not, even if she had asked Shikamaru; he'd probably retort something back or deny it. It felt pleasant though, to have him ask her what was wrong. She didn't know if she'd feel the same way if anyone else had said it…but when Sakura asked, it sure proved of no effect to the kunoichi. Maybe it was Shikamaru…but why?

"Do you…want to talk about it?" Shikamaru had asked. Did he really want to know, or did he just do this to have her feel well and have things get over with? She knew Shikamaru better then anyone else did…or maybe Chouji knew him better then her, but she knew that Shikamaru hated to ask people or even communicate with them. He hated to do this because he thought it was bothersome to interact when other people when he knew that either in the end they would betray you, abandon you, leave you, or use you. The only people that he actually dared put up with were Chouji and her self. Why? Because they were team mates…and just team mates.

Would it really change if she told him what was wrong? He'd probably forgot what happened by the end of the day. Ino looked at his face, and tried to figure out what he was thinking or feeling…but she spotted nothing. Just like Sasuke-kun's face, it showed no feelings. She could only see that Shikamaru looked confused, and that was it. Maybe there was a light concern…but still nothing that told her he cared. "Ino?" the boy repeated her name, trying to break her thoughts.

Yamanaka Ino bit her lip and finally shook her head, "No…I don't want to talk about it."

---

Sasuke had cursed under his breath as he bumped into Naruto and Chouji. Although the two boys had long left the kitchen, Naruto still felt angry that Chouji stole his breakfast. "You owe me bacon, eggs, rice, and cereal!" the blonde listed, while Chouji seemed to ignore him and chewed gum. It irritated Naruto more and he held his fist up, "Oi!"

It had seemed like Chouji had no means of dealing with Naruto, and did not intend to argue back. What a smart thing to do, Sasuke snorted and moved away from the scene. Unluckily though, his team mate had spotted him before he had the time to leave and Naruto called his name: "Sasuke!" Great, he was stuck here now. Even if he tried to leave, Naruto would just start yelling again, that was annoying. If it was a usual day, Sasuke would've just walked away anywhere and Naruto wouldn't be able to find him. But now…even though the house wasn't small, it was easy to find anyone. And Naruto's voice could be heard through-out the place, so having him whine would only cause other people to get pissed-off.

"What," the Uchiha boy replied; it sounded more like a statement then question.

"Have you seen Sakura-chan?" Sakura, why did the damn fox-boy have to bring up Sakura? It only brought him back a strange feeling, which he didn't appreciate. "…she's in the kitchen." Or she was…from where he had left her. And close to where he heard the news of Sakura's new admiration.

"She's probably making lunch," Chouji chewed. As expected, Naruto cried lunch over and over again, without asking anymore questions, he jolted to the kitchen. The raven-haired shinobi felt relieved, he didn't need to put up with all the questions. Thank god he had eaten already as well, Sakura's rice balls did fill him up…and he had to admit it was good…for being rice balls. 'What am I thinking?' Sasuke closed his eyes and walked away from Chouji, 'she's a team mate, nothing more. And she doesn't even like me.' That's right, she didn't like him, '…anymore.'

Was this disappointment? Sasuke shook his head, "Whatever."

----

"When did Sakura like Shikamaru?" Asuma-sensei had seemed surprise, "I sure never saw her talk to him before." How could men be so dense? Tsunade had caught Sakura's sly smile before, and she knew instantly what the pink-haired kunoichi was up to. But should she spoil the news to these people? Probably not…even Kakashi should've known what his student was up to…the man was the closest one to his team then anyone else here. As the Hokage looked at the Jounin, there seemed to be no trace of interest at all. 'Probably he doesn't even care to pay attention…'

----

Time had slipped by quickly for the second day of everyone being trapped in the house. Neji tried to look for a quiet place to train, but he found it impossible. His last resort was the room, but even some time one of his team mates would barge in while he was meditating, so why was it worth it? And even Naruto's voice was heard through the thick wall, so that would only distract him from his training.

Neji though chose to go to his room; it was the best place out of the whole house. Tenten had chosen to stay downstairs after lunch, and Lee was probably continuing his long list of compliments he had for that Haruno girl. How could a person Neji had respected be so dimwitted when it came to that pink-haired kunoichi? 'Love is stupid,' the boy snorted and opened the door to his corridor. He was surprised to find that he was not only, but Shino was sitting there with his eyes closed. Was he asleep? No…probably not.

"Welcome," the bug-possessor's voice broke the silence.

"Hn," the shinobi walked to his futon and sat down on it, not daring to glance at what his other Leaf comrade was doing. What was he doing here in the first place? 'Probably what I'm doing,' the thought lingered and he rested his hands on his lap. He twitched though, feeling Shino's eyes on him. "What?" the Hyuuga branch member scoffed, he hated when people stared at him. The only time he approved it was when he was fighting, and that he most enjoyed because it would prove who was stronger and the opponent humiliated.

"Nothing, I hear that you can see anything with your eyes."

"Probably."

"Can you see emotions?"

Emotions? What the fuck did that mean? Neji looked at Shino questionably to only earn the same expression back. "You know…" he began, "can you see if someone's growing feelings like love…or you can see a chakra wave that their depressed…"

"I'm not a doctor or psychologist." Neji answered simply, what Shino was getting to was ridiculous.

"But you can still see them." The tone was low but at the same time, it shot a second thought towards the silver-eyed Genin. Could he see it? His bloodline's ability was to see things that others could not see, through walls, through the body of humans, but even if they could see chakra holes and people's weakness…could the eyes see human emotions and feelings? What had brought him to curiosity was not the question itself, but why Shino out of all people asked him this.

"Hn," he wanted to avoid the question because he himself could not answer it. It would only make himself look bad at the true meaning of the Byakugan; but it had caught him to wonder if his eyes could see these things. Probably not, it was too…unrealistic. "Why do you want to know?" Now that was what the pupil-less boy wanted to know, why this boy he had just meant yesterday; would ask him this…when even his team mates hardly question his Byakugan. "I don't see why it's any of your business."

"Your right," Shino nodded, his tone not changing with disappointment or anger. "Curiosity, that's all."

---

Sakura peeked through the hallway that connected from the kitchen to dining room and living room, but she couldn't hear what Ino and Shikamaru were saying. It was disturbing to know that Shikamaru scowled at her and walked away as if nothing happened…what did that Ino-pig say? "Sakura-san…" a shy voice began, and than a platter of dishes being put down was heard afterwards. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping…"

"Oh Hinata!" the Haruno daughter sighed and heaved her hands up in an 'I-give-up' sort of stance. "You seem to be the only person understanding my situation! I'm such a good friend, don't you think? I have to give up my reputation to have that Ino-pig with her love life and this is what she does! I don't know how long I can keep it up to have people think I like Shikamaru!"

"Eh?! Sakura-chan likes Shikamaru?!" Naruto's head was seen through the doorway and his eyes were widened with surprise. "When?!" His team mate wanted to thump her head against the wall and stab him with a knife, just to have him shut up. With his volume of voice, everyone in the house would think it was true that she had liked Shikamaru…which wasn't true AT ALL.

Chouji was right beside Naruto and he too, almost swallowed his gum he was chewing. Sakura…like Shikamaru? The Nara Shikamaru, in Team Ten? 'You have to be kidding…' Just wait till Shikamaru find this out, he'd be surprise as well that had an admirer. "Haha," the big boy laughed, he couldn't help but imagine that someone could actually like that lazy shinobi. He was even too lazy to pick up his pencil when they used to attend the Ninja Academy…maybe that's when Sakura had liked him…but why? Shikamaru was nothing compared to her 'love-of-her-life' Sasuke…other then the boy had a higher I.Q.

Sakura fumed and dragged Naruto in the kitchen, pounding him while Hinata pleaded the violent girl to stop. "Ow…Sakura-chan, you're going to kill me!" the blonde whined in pain, rubbing his head. It had become a habit for the two to show their affection by 'brutal-combat'. Or maybe, it was more of a one-sided combat with Sakura bashing her dope-of-a-team-mate to death. "Please Sakura-chan! I'm hungry too…and you're scaring Hinata-chan! Ow…ow…"

"Quiet Naruto!" Sakura glared at him and just shoved a box of cereal at his stomach so he'd shut up. She then looked in the dining room again but they were gone. "…You already ruined it!"

-------------------------------That Night; Living Room

"So?"

"What?"

"You haven't talked all day."

"And?"

Sakura pushed herself next to Ino, and gave her a suspicious look. "So—what's wrong?! It's not like you to be this quiet." Ino glared back, with her eyebrows furrowing. "Oh, so you think I talk too much?!" What was up with her? She was acting meaner then the way she was this morning. Obviously, Sakura pushed Ino's behavior aside because she knew that the blonde had trouble dealing with her thoughts at the moment. "Are you jealous Ino?"

It had been a long day and especially…long night for the two girls. While dinner went through silence of no-arguing, the atmosphere was pretty tense. After the supper-meal, the teams had headed to their rooms after the clock reached 9:00pm, but only to leave the two half-best-friends downstairs alone. Ino had her reasons of staying downstairs, because of what happened at lunch. Sakura—just wanted to stay downstairs to push Ino across the line and have her confess her feelings toward the cobalt-eyes shinobi in Team Ten.

"Why should I be jealous?!" Her voice rose and Sakura sighed. "Then why are you mad?" Her eyes wandered up the stairways and knew very well that Naruto was spying on them. 'Stupid Naruto,' she swore in her mind and turned her attention back to the other kunoichi. There was yet an answer from her and the pink-haired girl was willing to wait for a response.

Ino on the other hand, just looked down at the floor; like it was the prettiest thing in the world. Deep in thought, she didn't know how to answer Sakura – because she didn't even know why she was so affected with this. 'There's no way I like that dumb Shikamaru…think of Sasuke-kun…think of how great Sasuke-kun is and how bad Shikamaru is!' The persuasion didn't go too well though, as the image of her certain team mate appeared in her thoughts. 'But Shikamaru does look cute…wait…what am I thinking?!' It was so wrong, like a sin. "I can't like Shikamaru!" Ino accidentally seethed out loud.

"Eh? Why not?"

"Because…" 'There's no way I can like Shikamaru…he's my team mate…he's my friend.' Ino stood up and kept her back towards her friend. "I don't like Shikamaru, got it?" Her tone seemed deadly serious, and Sakura nodded slowly. Ino must've been just sensitive about someone liking her team mate and she was overly-protective…after thinking about it, there must've been no way that the two shinobis could like it each other…and Shikamaru didn't seem like that type of guy to like someone…yeah, that was it – Sakura thought again.

"I…got it," the kunoichi stood up as well and smiled slightly. "Sorry Ino, it just seemed like you might've liked Shikamaru. Maybe I'm wrong…" The statement ended up as a murmur and Sakura felt embarrassed for being so wrong. Now there was another problem – Naruto probably told everyone that she liked Shikamaru – which wasn't true! 'Rumors…are deadly.'

"…and Sakura…" Ino's voice startled her. "Can you tell me…why you like Shikamaru?"

'Should I just tell her the truth?' "Well…" 'She'll think I'm a liar then…' "I don't really know. He acts and looks cool, ne? I don't really know him…" 'Like I really want to,' "…but from what I've seen, he's mature and…" 'Lazy,' "He's a genius!"

Ino chuckled, "I see. Shikamaru may be a genius…but seriously, he's really dumb."

---------------------Upstairs; Near the Stairways

"I can't believe Sakura likes Shikamaru!" Naruto whispered harshly to Sasuke. Sasuke punched the blonde and hissed, "Quiet dobe! They'll hear you!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "now jeeze, why would we want to eavesdrop on them anyways?" "Because Sakura-chan likes you, out of all of us! That's just not right! She doesn't even like Sasuke-bastard anymore, and she chose you over him!" Sasuke flinched at this and looked away. Shikamaru shrugged, "And I care because?"

He was then attacked by Naruto and Chouji peeked down the stairways, "You know…Ino does look upset." "Jeeze, I wonder why," Naruto threw a punch at the Nara boy but to only have his fist meet the floor. Shikamaru appeared right next to his original spot next to Sasuke and Chouji. "It's not a surprise; she didn't even tell me what was up with her this afternoon. Maybe its something Uchiha here did."

Sasuke scoffed, "I didn't say anything to her." "Didn't she seem upset at Sakura though?" Chouji inquired. Naruto huffed and continued to glare at Shikamaru, "I don't want Sakura-chan to like hiiiiim." It was easily seen that Naruto was jealous, and Sasuke – being seated in the middle of Naruto and Shikamaru – tried his best to dodge the punches Naruto threw at the opposite side. "Naruto, stop it." "Don't tell me you don't care about who Sakura likes!" Sasuke gave a thought and sighed, "Sakura has the right to like whoever she wants." What was he saying? That was really out-of-character of him to say so…seeing that before, he never gave her a right to like him.

"All I'm here for is to see if Ino's okay, staying here is so troublesome."

"Shut up!" Naruto shot and Chouji hushed them. "Shhh! They're coming up right now, time to get outta here."

"Hn, seems like I no longer need to be here…thank god." The genius shinobi stood up and began to walk to his team's room, Chouji following behind with a bag of chips. "Hopefully Ino won't be so moody," he mumbled. "She'll probably kill us if she knew we were listening to them."

"Right," Naruto crossed his hands over his chest and stuck his tongue out.

"Naruto…what are you doing here?" A familiar voice asked and the fox-boy looked up to face with Ino and Sakura, "I uh…well, Sasuke…Shikamaru…Chouji…" "What are you talking about?" Ino had her hands on her waist and Sakura made a face, "Did you eavesdrop on us?!" He leaned back against the wall and grabbed Sasuke for help, but to only feel air.

Everyone was gone, and he was alone.

"Wha--?! Sasuke-bastard was here listening too! And-and Chouji and that Shikamaru too!"

They didn't care to listen as an evil look appeared on their face.

"Oh, you're going to get it Naruto."

----------------------------------Tsuzuku

Author's Note: It's taken me awhile for me to finish this chapter – and to read it over, I really dislike how I began to lack a plot right here. Don't worry though; I'm sure Day 3 of "Trapped" will be much better because I've had a better idea on how to lead the story. This chapter was mainly Ino revolving her thoughts on the Sakura/Shikamaru thing. Everyone was a bit OOC but I guess that's how I like it. Thank you for all of you that have reviewed, I'm glad that his story had been popular already on the last two chapters.

Review –

UNKIND – I want sasusaku in the end. Um and does Ino and Sakura goin to fight over with Shika? And i also want Neji/Tenten and Shika/ino

Lol, thanks for your review. I'm not sure how the couples are gonna end up in the end, but its most likely SasuSaku or NaruSaku. NejiTen most likely and I guess ShikaIno as well. For Sakura and Ino fighting over Shikamaru, well – you might've already read this chapter and it must've been explained from above.

phantomgamer01 - Nice chapter. The period thing is kinda funny, I'm liking what you've done with the characters. They are a bit OOC but it's necessary to make any kind of fanfictoin nowadays considering all the angst that Kishimoto has fused into evrey character now. Oh well, I'm enjoying this and I'm looking forward to further posts.

I really appreciate your review, and yeah – you're right actually. The OOC is necessary because its so difficult to make a character (i.e. Sasuke) to make it fit in my FanFiction. I don't want him to be too harsh towards everyone or 'close-himself' so he wouldn't talk to anyone. Also, there are some parts when Sasuke actually opens himself up so it means that he's not actually cold-hearted; Sakura isn't really annoying; Ino doesn't really talk that much; Naruto doesn't scream every 5-minutes; etc. Lol, then again…it gets difficult for a write to change an original character – and it actually scares readers away…so I become careful.