Author: Wild Loof :D YAY
Series/Rating: Naruto/T for now. God only knows where this story is going...haha.
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN NARUTO:D I wish...pfft. However, I DO own Ms. Gregor. Don't ask where I got that name. It was like a weasel smacked me in the head.
"Structure"
Ch 1: Buckling Down
"Mr. Nara, I know I'm becoming a broken record to you but your son needs professional guidance." The principal, Ms. Gregor, tried hard not to sound like she had this speech memorized when addressing a long time favorite subject. Since freshman year, Shikamaru Nara had visited her office more than most students would care to. Ms. Gregor glanced at the eighteen-year-old, in the most comfortable position possible on her chair and staring at the wall as though it was sacred. She restrained herself from telling him to sit up straight.
"Ms. Gregor, there is nothing wrong with my son."
"He lacks motivation. He doesn't do anything in class. His intellect does not make up for laziness." She picked a blond hair off of her outfit before turning her attention back to the father and son,"I would like to make a suggestion about it. Perhaps there is a more suitable place for a boy like him to earn his education. At least then he would have a chance at graduating."
Shikamaru and his father were silent. One from weighing his options and the other from not hearing the conversation in the first place.
"Exactly what are you suggesting?"
"There is a structured academy not far from here. You could visit him and he could come home on his weekends; meanwhile, he would be getting the education he needs in an environment where he wouldn't be allowed to goof off. It has a very good reputation and he would be encouraged to make something of himself."
Shikamaru was finding it harder and harder to ignore what was going on and wouldn't have been worried if not for the fact that his father looked as though he was taking it very seriously.
"Hey, dad. C'mon, I mean, I'm not that bad. It would be too much of a bother to send me somewhere like that."
"There is not such thing as 'too much of a bother' when it comes to the education of today's youth," Ms. Gregor spat, her back as rigid as ever.
Shikamaru smirked a little bit at rustling the old bats feathers but it quickly fell when his dad started to speak.
"What's the name of this school?"
"Nara Shikamaru?" The woman behind the desk glared at him from over his paperwork. He had shown up late and tired. Not a good first impression, but then again, she had dealt with worse kids.
"Yeah, that's me," he said in a bored tone, lazily scoping out the room.
"I am Tsunade. From this day on, you will refer to me as Tsunade-sama. I am the headmistress of this school and I know everything that goes on in it so don't try anything." She stood and paced about the room, as though not really talking to him."You will go to all of your classes and when not in class, you are expected to be either eating, working, or sleeping. Understood?"
Shikamaru nodded automatically as though this woman had a chain on his head.
"You have three square meals a day and share your lunch period with the other students. We will issue you different chores to do by groups and you must return to your room by 9 each night." She worked her way back to the desk and scanned a paper briefly before handing him a set of keys and two outfits of the same earthly green color."Your room number is 506. Do you have any questions?"
He stood there silently for a moment before asking point blank,"Do I ever have time to do nothing?"
"By law, we must give you free time every two hours or so. Other than that, you'll be pretty occupied. Most kids spend their free time sleeping."
Shikamaru sighed a heavy sigh. This was NOT how he wanted to spend his last year of school. Then again, he couldn't say he wasn't warned many times.
"Alright. Then is my room mate a homicidal maniac?"
Tsunade let out a rich laugh before answering, a smile still playing on her features," He's definately a troubled kid but I wouldn't say murder is on his list. I'm sure you'll be fine, Nara-kun."
She smiled micheivously before signalling the guards to escort him out. Although she hadn't said it, she had a feeling this strange, nonchalant kid would be seeing her again soon.
"506...506...," Shikamaru couldn't help but feel like he was a prisoner sentenced for something he didn't do. All of the rooms were located down one long corridor. That meant two things. One was that the school wasn't extremely heavily occupied. The second was that it might take him ten minutes just to get to his room. One sounded positive but the other only seemed to depress the young man. So far he had walked down two dead ends and ran into three people. Fortunately for him, all three were teachers and quickly forgave him and offered directions. Now that he was finally in the hall, he was feeling slightly better but not by much.
"Hey, are you new?" Shikamaru wrenched his head around his clothing to see the owner of the voice. He found he also had to force his head down a bit.
"Yeah. Why?"
A short, slightly large boy stood next to him, muching on something or another. He was wearing a warm smile and had bright features despite his green uniform and Shikamaru felt drawn to him immediately. After swallowing, the boy happily answered," Do you want help finding your room? I know where pretty much everything is."
Shikamaru was slightly taken aback by the abrupt show of kindness, in all honesty, but he was also extremely grateful for the offer.
"I'm Akimichi Choji. The guys call me 'Odango'. I've been here throughout high school."
"Uhm..," Shikamaru thought it rather strange to introduce himself with his hands full of clothing but quickly realized he didn't have any other options,"Nara Shikamaru. I don't have an odd nick name that I know of..."
Choji laughed and grabbed a set of clothing from the pile after throwing his chip bag away, eager to assist his new acquaintence,"You will after about a week. Everyone gets kindof a code name. I'm rather round so it was easy to figure out what to call me. What room number are you?"
Shikamaru glanced at his key, having forgotten the number after being distracted, "506."
"Oh! You're across from me! No worries. I'll have you there in a jiff."
The taller boy followed the shorter, feeling slightly more at ease after meeting someone so quickly and not being told he was in any physical peril. He might have continued to feel like that if his stomach hadn't grumbled in irritation. Choji laughed.
"It's lunch time right now. When you drop off your stuff we can go eat!"
Shikamaru was about to comment on the fact that the boy had just finished a whole bag of chips when he was stopped in front of a door numbered '506'.
"Well, this is it. Good luck with your room mate. He's a hassle."
Oh yeah. That guy. "Do you know him?"
Choji nodded and sighed, "He's in here for fighting at his old school. There's even a rumor going around that he put a couple guys in the hospital. He's kindof a loose cannon."
Shikamaru sighed again for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, "Great. Just what I need."
"Hey, I'm gonna go eat but I'll see ya in the cafeteria, okay?"
Shikamaru smiled slightly and nodded, nervous about opening the door that might harbour his worst nightmare. So far the only image he could deduce from the information handed to him was a muscle bound Frankenstien ripping normal sized men in half and eating their brains.
Okay. C'mon. Be a man. No one is that huge. The canniballism thing is still a possibility but the ripping in half is only about 14. He stuck the key in the hole with his left hand and turned it, trying to keep the clothing in his other arm balanced. Pushing the door open, he saw a rather empty dorm save the scattered mess that took over.
"Apparently he's a neat freak," he mumbled, moving towards the bed that he assumed to be his (the other was disheveled beyond repair). Dropping his clothing on the bed, he surveyed the room, slightly amused by the stuff that was obviously snuck into the building. Magazines, beer bottles, and cigarette packs were strewn about and Shikamaru half-shoved-half-kicked the stuff to the other side of the room and surveyed his area of the dorm.
It wasn't large, since they weren't allowed to have anything but clothing and the only space that was needed was to change. Still, he was happy knowing he had any space to himself at all. His stomach grumbled again, louder this time, and the promise of lunch just down the corridor was appealing to him more and more.
A/N:
Hey guys! Any guesses on who is Shikamaru's room mate:D I've always wanted to do a story centered around him cuz he's just a stud 3