Crimson Love

My Genma-fetish has been revived. Dear god. He's so hot! (Drools) I have favorite guys in all the age groups, see. First, in the younger group, there's Neji (by younger, I mean, like, 12-14) and then in the medium group, there's Itachi (15-18) and then there's Genma in the older (19-Whatever) group. Genma's probably going to be in this. No doubt about it. I know have every single picture available that has him in it (I used the Paint program to X out the other characters in the picture in red) and I continually drool over them, like I do my Itachi and Neji and Sakkon and Kimi pics. I just love them all to death!

Anyway, this whole revival thing started with this dream I just had about him (I need to stop thinking about Naruto before I go to sleep) and he and Raido had to act as guards for this princess in the Fire country or whatever, and Genma fell in love with her, but so did Raido, and yeah. Oddly enough, the princess resembled Shizuka... (Maybe I'll write this fic soon... Before I retire (If I ever do) but fan fiction, I want to have at least once fic written about each character of Naruto... sigh... Yes, even Ino and TenTen...)

There's something you gotta notice about my O.C.'s. Notice they all generally look alike? Mm-hmm. Kyu, Yoshi, Rei and Shizuka all look pretty much alike, generally. They all have black hair, they all have strange-lookin eyes, and they all are short! Basically, here's my story behind the O.C.'s: I start out with the story-plot, and think about it for about three weeks, then I start working on Noogie. Noogie is the name of my O.C. She's basically the original O.C., and she has black hair, is around 5'3", and doesn't really have eyes, since they change so much. Noogie is the roots for All my O.C.'s. That's why they all look alike.

Ok, we can add that little tidbit to "S.N.G.'s Corner Of Useless Information" which shall be continued in the next installment: "How To Start A Fan Fic." (For those still confused... God I'm such a stuck-up little kid... Please smack me.)

ALSO, a quick note to those who have not read my fan fics before... I am the queen of flashback moments. No, seriously. My fics have more flashbacks in them then Kenshin! You have been warned. (I do try to make sure the flashbacks help the story, though...)

Also, if you're wondering how to pronounce Shizuka's name (the way I pronounce it, anyway) her first name is "Shi-zoo-kah" and her last name is "Heh-kai-tech-ee." If you say it fast, it sounds cool.

Review answers at the end! (The reason I'm updating so fast is because I woke up at one a.m...)


Chapter Three: My Name

Shizuka sighed unhappily, standing by the volleyball court with her hands behind her back. She hated volleyball. She hated sports. She hated gym. She hated school.

Shizuka was a lot like Sasuke, in that, she hated a lot of things. Hated them with a fiery passion. Hated them with a sickness that threatened to crawl out her eyeballs.

She hated school like Sasuke hated fan girls.

And that's saying something.

"Hakai-teki!"

"Huh?" Shizuka turned.

WHAM.

And promptly toppled over, a volley ball embedded in the side of her face. Shizuka jumped up, grabbing the ball, and shouted, "Ok, who threw that?!"

All fingers on the boys' side pointed to Neji.

Neji's jaw dropped. "No, I didn't! It was Shikamaru!"

All eyes turned to the pony-tailed teen, who was actually asleep in the middle of the court. Neji felt a cold sweat run down his spine. K-Killing intent...

"Neji..." Shizuka growled, drawing the ball back.

Neji blanched

"How dare you throw a ball at a girl like that?! Do you know what kind of damage that could do?!" Shizuka shouted, jumping up and slamming the ball down over the net, smack into Neji's face. "If you ever fuckin' do that again, I'm gonna hand you your testicles, do you hear me?!"

There were instant groans from all the boys at the mere thought of it.

Meanwhile, in the bleachers, Sakura continued to stare at Ukon. "What'd you say?" she asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Orochimaru-sama is Shizuka-sama's father," he repeated.

"So-So, that nice guy who came and said hello to us the other day was–"

"On his way to murderlize me? Pretty much."

Sakura's eyes widened, but she quickly looked away. I feel so bad for him, she thought sadly. He must have been hit a lot, to be able to talk about it this casually...

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me," Ukon said suddenly, as if reading her mind.

"Huh?" She looked back at him.

"I'm not unhappy," he told her, shrugging. "Except for the days when Orochimaru-sama gets mad, I'm really happy to be where I am. I live in a pretty damn cool house, I get three damn good meals a day if I don't piss Orochimaru-sama off, and all I have to do to keep that stuff is make sure Shizuka-sama and Kimimaro-sama don't get in deep shit." He shrugged. "Most people like me don't have it that easy."

"Well, yeah, but–" She stopped when he gave her a hard look again; she looked away again.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him.

"What's your name?" he repeated.

"Y-You don't know my name?" For some reason unknown, this bothered her.

He shook his head.

"Oh... My name's Sakura." She smiled at him. "Hanuro Sakura."

"Sakura..." He glanced at her pink hair. "It suits you."

Sakura, to her annoyance, found herself blushing as she pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Everyone says that."

He nodded, to show he understood this, and went back to watching the game, which had actually turned into a "Kill The Woman-Abuser" fest, with Shizuka stomping on Neji's "remains," shouting about her brains splattering out of her ears, or some such nonsense, while everyone watched. (Notice Jiraiya does nothing... Dude, girls in gym shorts, ok?)

"Jeez... What a violent chick.." Neji mumbled, holding his hand against his cheek where the volleyball had hit him, opening his gym locker.

"Ah, but a most beautiful one, yes, Neji?" Lee cried, clapping a hand on Neji's shoulder, causing the poor, abused Hyuuga's knees to buckle. "Ah, such youthful energy! She makes me want to improve my own youthfulness!" Lee cried, going to his own locker, totally oblivious of the world of pain he'd just put his friend through.

"Beautiful?" Neji repeated, eyebrow raised, as he pulled off his gym shirt and stuffed it in his locker. (-SNG drools-)

Lee nodded fervently "Yes! Hers is a most interesting and lovely face, though not as lovely as the eternally lovely Hanuro Sakura, whose beauty blossoms like the flowers she is so justly named for!"

Neji rolled his eyes, getting dressed in his school uniform again. He was used to Lee's bursts of "poetic" statements. Knowing the guy since Kindergarten gave him armor against nausea at such times. He and Lee were pretty good friends, even if Lee did annoy Neji (but at the same time, make him smile) with his lack of knowledge to the phrase "cat got your tongue." Neji, in turn, confused Lee with his total seriousness half the time. But the two got along. It just came naturally.

"Are you staying after?" Lee asked once they were dressed and out in the gym again, waiting for the bell to ring.

Neji nodded. "Yeah. Soccer meeting. You?"

"I have a lacrosse meeting, and then I'm going to work out for gymnastics," Lee answered, bending over to tie his shoe.

Neji rolled his eyes. "I'll never understand how you can manage to stay on two teams at once. I have enough trouble with just the one, with schoolwork and practice and games and tutoring. I can't ima–"

"You're tutoring someone?" Lee looked up at him, slightly startled. Neji was never a "people person" and tended to like to stay by himself to do his schoolwork.

Neji nodded. "I'm helping Hakai-teki in Language Arts and English.. And probably her other classes, too, now that I think about it."

Lee continued to look at Neji in shock, then grinned. "That's the spirit, Neji! Your fifteen years of dateless-ness have finally come to an end! You are now..." Pause for effect. "...Boyfriend material!"

Neji's eyebrow skyrocketed. "What?"

"Don't worry, Neji! The beautifully sweet demeanor of Shizuka-san will not allow her to break your heart!" (Sweet? What 'sweet'?)

Both eyebrows went up. "What?"

"But, Neji," Lee clapped a hand on Neji's shoulder. "She is a freshman, and therefor, easily breakable. Be gentle with her."

Neji's eyebrows disappeared under his bandana. "What?!" (SNG: Yeah! What was that about freshman?! Kyuubi: You're not a freshman. SNG: But I was! We have feelings, dammit!)

"Do not worry, Neji!" Lee repeated. "I will help you curb your desires! That's what friends are for!"

Oooh... Wrong thing to say, Lee-kun...

"WHAT THE FUCKIN' HELL DO YOU MEAN, 'CURB MY DESIRES'?!" Neji bellowed, beating Lee with his book bag, shouting between beatings. "I DON'T HAVE ANY DESIRES, YOU DEFORMED BAG OF PINK FLESH! I DON'T EVEN HAVE A CRUSH ON HER, YOU ASSHOLE AND SO-CALLED 'UNDERSTANDING' FRIEND!"

Neji took a few deep breaths, regaining his composure.

"B-but, Neji," Lee cried. "Taking advantage of a freshman's need for attention is just wrong!"

Twitch. "I'M NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HER! SHE'S TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ME AND MY WEAKNESS FOR–" Neji stopped, looking around. Every single guy in the gym (the girls were all doing their hair except for Tayuya, and she just didn't care) was starring at him, waiting.

"Yes?" Kiba prompted.

"Argh!" Neji stormed away.

"What happened?" Shizuka asked, coming up with Sakura and Hinata from the girls' locker room. She'd come to ask Neji to help her with her Social Studies homework while they waited for the bell to ring, but Neji had stormed away before she could ask him.

"Lee was talking about you and Neji shagging each other," Kiba answered, since everyone else was smart enough not to say anything.

Hinata: BLUSH!

Sakura: O.o?!

Shizuka: Twitch. "YOU FUCKIN' WHAT?!" she roared, turning on Lee.

Lee: (Insert high-pitched, feminine scream)

Neji and Shizuka were rather quiet towards each other on the way to Guitar class with Sakura and Kimimaro. Sakura, of course, kept the normal string of conversation going with Shizuka, who would comment and laugh occasionally at the topic (Sasuke's uniform) while Neji remained totally silent, ignoring the female race as a whole for the time being. Kimimaro, of course, like always, did not talk. (Sasuke went ahead, totally bored with their existence)

Suddenly, the topic turned to the girls' uniform. "Doesn't Shizuka look cute in her uniform, Neji?" Sakura asked, grinning. No way in hell was she going to let this go. She knew that Neji liked Shizuka, even if he didn't, and she was going to make him realize it, dammit! (Inner-Sakura had about forty-percent control over her thoughts).

Neji turned to look at the two girls, a blush creeping over the bridge of his nose. "Er," he said, gulping. Dare he say no, and get pummeled by a furious Shizuka? Or dare he say yes, and have everyone he knew in the hall know that he'd said yes to the question? "Ah..."

Sakura smiled at him, waiting patiently. Shizuka looked at him with a raised eyebrow, waiting his answer with a deadly silence. Kimimaro was giving him a 100-watt death-glare that said something along the confusing lines of "Don't mess with my sister," and "Don't insult my sister."

Neji was cornered, and Neji did not like being cornered. A cornered Neji was never a confident Neji.

Then, suddenly, he recalled a similar incident that had occurred last year, when he had first come to the school and gotten his uniform.

Flashback

"Neji!" TenTen called, running over in her new school uniform. She turned in a circle for him to see. "What do you think?"

"Eh.." He shrugged, turning away.

End flashback

TenTen hadn't attacked him after he'd said that. That must be a safe answer. Before he could shrug, however, Sakura added onto her previous question, "Don't you think she looks hot? The skirt makes her legs look nice and long." (Non-yuri, dammit! Jeez... I say this about my friends all the time when I try to hook them up, it's not yuri!)

Neji instantly cursed the evil she-demon disguised in the garb of the seemingly sweet Hanuro Sakura. That was a "yes" or "no" question. He knew that. He wasn't so socially retarded that he didn't know the difference between a "looks good" question and a "looks hot" question. If he shrugged on a "looks hot" question, it would definitely stab Shizuka's easily wounded ego, and he would get pummeled. But, if he said yes, Sakura would never let him hear the end of it. If he said no, he would get pummeled.

Odd, though; for all his geniusness, Hyuuga Neji couldn't think of a way to get himself out of this mess.

Finally, he just went with his gut instinct. "She looks alright," he said with a shrug. He decided to ignore the comment about Shizuka's legs.

"I think she looks hot," said a voice behind them.

The four friends turned; the black-haired boy from that morning smirked at them, leaning against a locker, hands in his pockets. His obnoxious shirt glared at them through his jacket, and his onyx eyes bored through them.

"Itachi," Shizuka said coldly, turning bodily to look at him.

"You remember my name? I'm flattered."

"Don't you have anything better to do then leer at girls in their school uniforms?" Shizuka asked, glaring.

"Not at the moment." His smirk threatened to turn into an almost teasing smile. "Skipping off to class like the good little freshmen that you are, ne?"

"I'm not a freshman," Neji snapped; it bugged him that this guy called Itachi would treat them all like inferior insects every time he saw them. And he saw them a lot, it seemed.

Itachi glanced at him, and smirked again. "I see. Glowering in the schoolgirl worship, are we?"

Neji glared. He was not having a good day. He had woken up that morning to find that Hanabi and Hinata had used all the hot water, thus entitling him to a freezing cold shower. He had been late to third period because he had stopped to talk to Shizuka. His aunt had packed him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch today. He had gotten the shit beat out of him by an enraged, sunglass-wearing freshman, whom his 'friend' thought he wanted to do ungodly and totally unorthodox things to. He was continually being harassed by Sakura for his preference to things he really thought did not matter. Neji was having the exact opposite of a good day. He was having a very bad day, actually. He was having the kind of day during which he wished someone would push his eyeballs out with their thumbs. The kind of day that was going worse then he could possibly imagine. The kind of day that was a wonder of the modern world, it was so horrible. The kind of day that he hoped a priest would be available to remove from his memory.

Yeah. He was having one of those days.

And right now, Itachi's smirking face was slowly but surely pushing him off the edge.

Yes, that edge. The edge of the safe harbor of Neji's slowly dwindling sanity. Currently, Shizuka and Sakura were merrily floating around in said harbor (so was SNG... that's why she can still write this), but Itachi's smirk was attacking it like a nuclear warship.

And so, Neji cracked.

"If you do not shut the fuck up and wipe that god damn smirk off your ugly-ass face and be on your merry fuckin' way, I will shove my Algebra fuckin' 2 book up a place of no return," Neji growled, producing said 1 and a half inch Algebra 2 book from his book bag.

Itachi just smirked a little bit more, causing Neji's eye to twitch, and said to Shizuka in a rather playful voice, "Well, I suppose there's no hitting on you while you have your little man-thing here protecting you, ne?"

"That's right!" Sakura said proudly, causing the bridge of Neji's nose to turn blue, and Kimimaro to chuckle to himself.

Itachi just scoffed a little and leaned up off the locker. "I'll just have to catch you when you're not around him, then." The smirk returned as he walked past Shizuka, reaching out to tap her forehead with his finger. She swatted his hand away and stalked into her classroom, followed by Kimimaro.

Once they were in the room, Neji turned on Sakura. "What the hell are you thinking?!"

"You shouldn't curse, Neji, it's not in your character to smirk."

"SNG said I cracked ok, I can curse, but that's not the point!" Neji waved it off. "What were you thinking?!"

"What?" She looked up at him innocently.

"Defending me and Shizuka like we're in a relationship!"

"Well, you are, aren't you?"

Neji's left eye twitched again. "If I have to say one more time–"

"Come on, Neji, it's not that bad, don't you think she's pretty?" Sakura smiled up at him.

His mouth sagged open. "What?"

"She's pretty, isn't she?" Sakura winked. "Besides, if you two go on a date, we can double it with me and Sasuke-kun!" She patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm totally in it for my own interests."

Neji starred at her. "What, in the name of all that is holy, goes on in that tiny little mind that makes you think I won't decapitate you?"

She just winked. "Don't worry, you're hot enough that, if you ask her out, it'll only take a week or so before you're at it like rabbits!"

Neji's jaw dropped. His face turned a rather interesting number of colors in a few short seconds; first, it turned pink, then beet-red, then blue, then it lost all color. Sakura winked again and skipped into her own classroom, leaving Neji alone in the hall.

He stood there for about three minutes.

"Aw, shit!" He ran into the class, realizing the bell had rung.

Shizuka popped up in his face nearly as soon as Neji sat down, causing him to fall off his chair; he was rather jumpy today. "W-What?" he asked, crawling back up again, blushing slightly.

"Gai-sensei gave us homework," she said coldly, holding up the offensive object (A/N: Gai-sensei has a few different classes; Sakura is in his first one, and Shizuka is in one of his later ones).

"...Oh." Neji took the piece of paper and looked at it. He raised an eyebrow. "This is just an information sheet. All you have to do is fill in your personal information."

"...Really?" She looked at the paper again. "...Oh." She scratched the back of her head. "Ha ha ha, well I'll be!"

"Yeah? You'll be what?"

"What's your problem?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!"

Shizuka backed up a few inches, eyebrows raised. "Ok, fine, jeez." She went back to her seat by Kimimaro, taking out her binder and a pencil and writing something on the homework paper Gai had given them.

Neji huffed and took out his own homework. Everyone was so in-his-business today! That made six people who had to mess with him on this, the most horrifically abnormal day of his life. He'd had enough.

Next person to mess with him really was going to experience Algebra 2 textbook treatment. But first...

...He had to go...

"Sensei, can I go to the lavatory?" Neji asked Kakashi, raising his hand.

"Uh-huh, sure, whatever." Kakashi just kept reading.

Neji sweat dropped and went to get the pass. Turning back, he called, "Oh, and sensei, is it ok if I go get some beer while I'm out?"

"Uh-huh, sure, whatever." Kakashi kept reading.

"Oh, and, can I smoke some weed when I get back?" Neji was enjoying himself thoroughly, in his own estranged way.

"Uh-huh, sure, whatever." There was some giggling in the back round; Neji wasn't sure if it was one of the students, or Kakashi.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, can I read your dirty novels?" Neji asked innocently.

Kakashi slammed the "music book" he was reading down on the desk, glaring daggers at Neji. "Will you just go to the bathroom already?!"

Neji grinned and got the pass, leaving the class. His bladder was going to break the peace-treaty if he didn't hurry.

(After Class)

Neji was the first person out of class, more for the fact that he didn't want to see Sakura then anything, rushing as fast as he could through the throngs of people to the gym, where the soccer team's meeting was being held. He could only hope there was a ball around for him to kick. Really hard.

Neji smirked when he entered the gym; Jiraiya and his classes had cleared off, leaving the bleachers full of a group of sophomores Neji knew on one side, and a group of freshmen who looked like they wished the floor would just swallow them up. Neji saw why they were so petrified almost at once.

"What do you mean, you didn't bring anything to change into?" Genma (applause) snapped, standing on the hard wood floor before the bleachers, glaring up at the freshmen, arms crossed. "You're here to try out for a team. Did it not occur to you that you would have to do a little dirty work to get on said team?"

Neji grinned, as did all the sophomores. They'd gotten this talk last year, when a few of them didn't bring anything to change into. Genma would yell for a while, make them run laps, then they would get to work. While he was unnaturally strict, and tended to forget it was a school program, which meant he tended to let his tongue run loose, Genma was a good coach, and the team had made it to regional championships under his instruction last year. If you got past the tough exterior, he was a pretty nice guy, and Neji had come to trust and respect him, as a father-figure that would sometimes make him run fifteen laps around the gym.

"Hey, coach," Neji called, going over to the bleachers. "Summer ok?"

The death glare he received was answer enough.

"Ahh..." Neji grinned. "Got dumped, did you?"

"Women should be shot," Genma said coldly, chewing on the toothpick in his mouth like it were the female race it's self.

"Tell me about it," Neji muttered, thinking of his own "woman problems."

Genma noticed this, but turned back to the freshmen. "Those of you who brought something to change into, go do so. Those who didn't, run laps until your sweat glands are ready to bite you in the ass."

As the poor, verbally abused freshmen scurried to do as he told them, he turned to the sophomores on the bleachers. "Go get dressed and warm up. We're going to show these puny kids what it takes to be on my team, got it?"

"Yeah!" The sophomores jumped up, running to the locker room, past the freshmen, eager to show their skill.

Genma turned back to Neji once the gym was semi-cleared. "What's up?" he asked casually, pocketing his hands.

Neji shrugged. "Nothing."

Genma shrugged. "Ok, then." He turned on his heel towards the equipment room.

"Um, coach?"

"Ye-e-es?" Genma turned on his heel again in almost the same motion to face Neji again.

Neji sighed. There was no getting out of it now. "Ok." He took a deep breath, but Genma cut him off.

"Do you do have a girlfriend?"

Twitch. "What?!"

Genma shrugged. "I'm just repeating what I heard."

"Who told you?!"

Another shrug. "Lee came running in here like he had the news of the century a few minutes ago, screaming that 'your days of girlfriendlessness were done.'" Genma smirked at Neji. "So? Who is she?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Neji shouted, temper veins popping out in his forehead. "Lee just gets overly excited every time he sees two people talk to each other!"

Genma smirked. "Who is it this year he's tormenting you with?"

Neji groaned, remembering how, last year, Lee couldn't get enough of the fact that Neji muttered "hello" to TenTen when she ran over, shouting hellos and declarations of some such nonsense. "Hakai-teki no Shizuka," he muttered, looking away.

Genma's eyebrow skyrocketed. "Hakai-teki? She's that girl with the sunglasses, right?"

Neji nodded.

"The one who's always hanging around Hanuro?"

Nod.

"The one who always shows up in a limo?"

Nod. Temper vein.

"The one with the weird white-haired kid who always–"

"You seem to know a lot about her!" Neji snapped, getting defensive again for reasons beyond him.

Genma tilted his head back slightly, eyebrows up, a little startled by the outburst, then grinned around his toothpick. "I haven't actually seen her. I just hear a lot of rumors about her and her friends because they come every morning in limos. Plus, Lee told me a lot, in the five seconds that he was actually here." His grin widened. "Why?"

Neji shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Genma starred at him in disbelief.

"I. Don't. Know. Exclamation mark," Neji said in a slow monotone.

"Ok, well, you let me know when you do, ok? This is getting interesting." Grinning to himself, Genma crossed the gym to the equipment room to get the soccer balls.

Neji just rolled his eyes and went into the locker room to change.

(Meanwhile...)

"The gang is meeting tonight," said a deep voice.

A quiet voice answered. "I know."

"It's a date-thing."

"I know."

"Are you bringing any entertainment?"

"Possibly."

"Come on, Uchiha, enough with the secrets."

"There are no secrets. I'll bring someone, don't you worry."

(Meanwhile in the meanwhile)

"You guys go on out to the car," Shizuka waved off her friends towards the door. "I have to get my Biology book from my locker."

"Ok." Sakura went to the limos outside with Kimimaro; she had grown quite accustomed to the fact that she would ride with Shizuka every day; in fact, she hadn't even questioned her right to a seat in the limo.

Shizuka sighed and turned to her locker. Neji had opened it for her that morning, so she could put her Biology book in, but she still had no idea how to open it herself. And hell would freeze over before she asked someone for help. "Come on, Mr Locker," she growled, entering her combination, "I have no time to mess with you today."

It didn't open.

"ARGH! STUPID PIECE OF MODERN MACHINERY SHIT!" She proceeded to kick the locker, making a huge racket, since her shoes had small like half-inch heels on them. "WHY THE FUCK DO YOU OPEN FOR THE OTHER PEOPLE BUT YOU DON'T OPEN FOR ME?!"

"Language, Hakai-teki," Kurenai ordered, walking by.

"Sorry," Shizuka mumbled, not really meaning it. Stupid fuckin' piece of metal why won't you open?!

"You have problems with school property, don't you?"

Shizuka really did jump out of her skin this time, whirling around to glare at Itachi. "Now what do you want?!"

Itachi smirked, standing barely six inches away from her. Reaching around her, he rapped on the locker a few times again, then started twiddling the combination. He was so close, in fact, that Shizuka was almost pressed up against him, her nose now barely an inch away from his chest as he worked over her locker.

Shizuka suddenly realized the position she was in.

K.O.!!!

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" she shouted, drawing her fist back again as Itachi staggered, hand on his cheek where she had punched him. "DOES THE TERM 'PERSONAL SPACE' MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!"

"I was opening your locker for you."

"YOU WERE DISTURBING MY CHI, YOU FUCKER!"

"Fine, jeez, disturbing the chi, whatever." Itachi rolled his eyes, rubbing the red spot that was now building on his cheek. "You pack a mean one there, Hakai-teki."

"Oh shut up!" She turned back to her locker and attempted to open it again.

However, it did not open, as Itachi hadn't finished his "upperclassmen magic."

"ARGH!" She banged her fists on the cold metal locker for all she was worth. "OPEN UP YOU F–"

Hands reached around her again to rap their knuckles on the door again. She starred for a few minutes as Itachi once again worked his "upperclassmen magic," before entering the combination again and opening her locker.

Then she realized his body was touching her back.

"YOU'RE IN MY BUBBLE!"

SMACK!

Itachi staggered again, a red mark on his other cheek now, as well. "Jeez, fine, no physical contact." He rolled his eyes, brushing off the sweeping pain that was slowly covering his face. "Look." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Me and a few of my friends are getting together tonight around seven for drinks and cards and whatever. You're coming with me."

Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "You know how terribly lame 'drinks and cards and whatever' sounds, right?"

Itachi's eye twitched. He was a master at card games, thank you, and no stinkin' freshman was going to insult them! "Then let's settle this," he said coldly.

"Yeah, let's!"

(A short while later)

"Oh, this is so terribly lame! Can't I simply punch you in the face and be on my way?!"

"You're just sorry I'm whoopin' your sorry ass. Go fish."

"No, I will not 'go fish'!" Shizuka stood up, throwing her cards into the pile in the middle of the hallway in which both of them had been sitting on the tiled floor, playing cards. "And no, I will not go get a drink with you!" Huffing angrily, she went over to her locker, which still stood open, got out her Biology book, and stalked out of the building.

(Two hours later)

(Jeez... Do I use enough meanwhiles?)

Neji stepped out into the open air outside the school, stretching his shoulder out as he did. He was tired, sore, bruised in a few places, sweaty, and smelly, but damn was he happy! Getting back to his favorite sport after a long summer of just kicking a ball against a wall was like a breath of fresh air! Games would be starting soon, and Genma had informed him that his new, permanent position was as goalie, a position Neji loved, meaning he would get to play every game. Games meant people cheering, and people cheering meant...

"Oh crap, they're gonna be there!" Neji groaned. "Ok, happy feeling gone."

Well... he pondered as his aunt pulled into the drive way to pick him up. Not really all gone...


Ok! All done! Lol. This chapter was shorter then the others, mainly because... Well, I didn't want to rush into the story line. There was another scene in here, but that will be added in later chapters... Be patient!

Okie... Review answers... Sigh! I'm so sorry I got all crabby in the other chapters. Ff dot net is having that whole clean out thing or whatever and I didn't get the review alert things so I thought no one was reviewing. But then I checked my Stats option on my log in page and I was like "O.O. HOLY CRAP!" because I have 17 reviews for this.

17!!!!!

God damn, people. Lol, ty! I shall try not to crab... But I really do want reviews, okies?

Let's see...

Narutofan: Ty! (Sorry but if you leave four-word reviews I can't really respond that much, can I?

Dragonman180: Lol, once again, you cheer me up. Ty! Yes, Gai-sensei's students will need counseling.. SHUSH ABOUT THE PRINCIPLE THING! Jeez... You wanna ruin stuff, eh?

Joann: You shush, too, about the pairings! God damn! You all just live to ruin the plots in my stories and ruin the surprises for other people! Are you and DM180 in this together...? Lol I'm just kidding... but that should answer your question, ne?

Jazzywolf: Girl you cannot imagine how scared I got when I opened my mail and I was like, "jazzy didn't review for me?! AM I THAT FORSAKEN?!!" because you're always one of the first people to review... God, don't do that to me, ok? We writers have very fragile pyschis...

Xl-twisted-lx: Lol. WOOT! (Pyscho-Pac-man face) RAISE DA ROOF! GET IN MA BELLA! Lol, see VG-Cats to understand this... That comic is so hilarious. I get inspiration from it, if you haven't noticed.

Mika: Hello e-mail buddy! Lol. I'm such a loser. ...Please stop complimenting me so much... You people treat me like I'm god... I'M NOT! KISHIMOTO-SENSEI IS!!!! (I call him sensei because I learn so much from him)

Sourdough-AK: Thanks! You don't normally read High school fics? Then I feel special! Lol. I knew all that crap about the schools (it wasn't really crap, tho, I found it extremely helpful) but... well... I went to an American high school, and it just feels more comfortable for me if I base this on my own experiences (Yeah... A lot of the crap that happens in this has happened to me... well... the school part has.. The parts outside of school, I WISH happened to me). I also knew about the entrance exams, and whatnot, but, again... American high school... Also, for your Iruka pairing... SURE! Lol, he is so unloved, isn't he? There's a bunch of yaoi pairings for him, but no straight pairings... sigh. Yeah, I'll do that pairing, ty! (I make him so sadistic)

Sigh... what other notes? Hmm.. (reads thru the fic again) Hm. None that I can think of... Okies, buh-bye!