"Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell."-Anonymous

Emiko's mind slowly slipped back amongst those awake and she noticed happily the comfort of the bed. Slanting open an eye she quickly turned away and buried her head under a pillow to block the sunlight. Emiko released a smile of elation as her mind wandered towards the peaceful sleep. 'It's soooo comfy…' a childish smile lit her face as she felt the soft comforter wrapped around her.

"You messed up my bed." Emiko shot up in the bed, successfully ejecting the pillow that had been on her head off the bed. 'You've got to be kidding me…' Little by little she turned her head to see Sasuke standing in the doorway.

Realization thudded on her head like a bag of bricks and she hastily tried to untangle herself from the comforter. Sasuke closed the door his usual smirk upon his lips as he observed the situation unfold. Emiko tried to hurry from the bed and resulted in twisting further into the folds before she fell on the ground with a heavy thump.

"Ow." Emiko stated vacantly before she successfully wrenched herself from the blanket and rubbed her head softly. Realizing Sasuke was still in the room Emiko turned her attention to his with a sheepish smile.

"You're a klutz." The offered smile disappeared to be replaced by a short glare.

"How long have I been asleep?" Emiko instead changed the subject and glanced at the mess of comforter dripping from his bed to the floor. 'Man, I really did make a mess." She mused to herself before Sasuke's response broke her thoughts.

"An hour." Nervous laughter was the only response Emiko could think of as she shifted on her feet. 'Why didn't he just wake me up?' The teen shrugged away the question and grabbed the comforter. Before Sasuke could question or insult her she jerked it into the air and attempted to land it smoothly back in its original position. Staring at her hand-work Emiko sighed, it was still sideways and one side failed to unfold.

"The others are looking for you." Emiko's attention shifted back to the Uchiha as he opened the bedroom door again. "I told them you were wandering the woods." He finished and Emiko nodded the curiosity dissipating as he explained. 'I wonder how long it took them to notice.'

Sasuke cleared his throat and Emiko dropped from her thoughts before she scurried from his room offering a small thanks as she passed. Once outside she heard the sound of the door snapping shut and released a small sigh before leaning back against the door.

"He's confusing…" she murmured, closing her eyes to claim some rest as she knew she wouldn't have any time once she joined her friends. Her head tilted back and she stared at the ceiling before nodding resolutely and breaking from the door to find her friends.

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"Uzumaki put that away!" The teacher bellowed as Naruto jumped around the room with a realistic looking toy gun. The look upon Sakura's face suggested her murderous intentions and Sasuke stood calmly, his hands in his pockets and his eyes watching the blonde blankly.

"It's not real!" Naruto whined as he landed on Emiko's desk despite the loud groan the desk gave in protest. Emiko jolted awake and turned her gaze to Naruto who was grinning happily as he played with the toy gun.

"Baka! You woke me up!" Emiko grabbed the desk's edge and shook it sharply causing the blonde to let out a loud shout before falling off. Sakura hurried forward and grabbed Naruto by the ear before leading him back to the front of the classroom.

The presentations today had been slow and honestly relatively boring. Not many kids actually tried to research and those that did lacked basic speaking skills to keep the class's attention. Naruto had been one of the few with a prop although he was forced to give it up.

Emiko rested her head on the desk, her eyes closing as she tried to block out the sounds of the class. She didn't mean to be rude and ignore their presentation, she was sure Sakura had worked hard on it but she was too tired to care. 'Toko no baka.' She cursed her white haired group member. Megumi and Emiko had both been forced to work late into the night when their plans to meet with Toya in the evening had resulted in the pair being stood up. After Megumi had left Emiko had stayed awake on ramen and water to put the finishing touches on the project to satisfy her perfectionist standards.

Without realizing it Emiko drifted to sleep on her desk. It wasn't until Megumi shook her shoulder gently did she jolt up in her seat, her eyes wide as she tried to recollect her thoughts.

"Emiko, it's our turn." Emiko gave a small yawn but managed a nod as she followed Megumi up to the front of the class where Toya stood looking fiercely proud and arrogant as ever. 'Jerk.' Emiko growled mentally as she yawned again. Standing at the wall Emiko leaned against it, her head tilting forward as her eyes closed.

'Shouldn't fall asleep…' she reminded herself as Megumi began the presentation. Emiko had a fear of speaking in front of a class. Well she was nervous and Megumi had admitted to being experienced so after several pleading sessions and some threats involving chopsticks Megumi agreed as long as Emiko would put finishing touches on the writing.

"Toko, why don't you share some information you've learned about this profession?" Immediately Emiko's head shot up and her weariness was temporarily gone as she watched Toya shift uneasily. His smirk had faltered, almost disappearing under the intent stares of the classmates and he moved from foot to foot

"Uh…" Emiko could feel cruel victory slowly inching into her grasp as the seconds ticked by. 'That's what he gets for standing us up.' Emiko thought savagely as the class waited for the teenager's response.

"I mean-"

"Toko-san helped us with the technology part of the presentation and research. He's rather shy when talking in front of a group so we agreed I would be the main speaker." Realization thudded onto Emiko's head as Megumi spoke and she felt torn between her desire to yell the truth and the need to keel over from shock.

'NANI?' Emiko was sure her mouth was open big enough to fit an elephant as she stared at Megumi's back. 'TRAITOR!' Her victory that had been so close skipped away gleefully to the sounds of Britney Spears, furthering Emiko's distressed mental state to a point she wouldn't have been surprised if she'd been determined insane.

In the distance that sounded like miles away Emiko could discern Megumi's voice as she continued peacefully with the presentation. 'It was so close…' Emiko wailed mentally. 'Why did she lie to cover Toko-teme!' For several minutes she pondered it, thinking over any possible excuse. 'She can't still like him! He's a jerk! He deserves to fail!' The sense of injustice swelled in Emiko's chest and she was grateful as the end of the presentation came, giving her the chance to dash out of the room dragging Megumi with her.

"What did you just do! You covered for him!" Emiko strained to keep her voice low as she closed the classroom door. 'Calm…think of peaceful oceans…and beaches…and sharks killing Toko-teme in the ocean by the beach…' a small serene smile came to her face before her eyes snapped open.

"Emiko I know you hate him but leaving him to dry will make our teamwork look bad as well as make him eager and angry to get back at us." Megumi reasoned calmly. Emiko stopped. 'Damn her…' she cursed before sighing.

"Fine…you and your stupid niceness." Emiko turned and quietly walked back into the room, avoiding the questioning looks from her friends as she filed her way back to her seat.

"Now that all the presentations are finished I have an announcement. We have been informed that there is a competition coming up in the next few weeks for students." Emiko rested her head on the desk, her arms folded around her head to block as much sound as possible from the outside world. Her previous drowsiness had returned in full blast as soon as she had taken her seat and she wanted nothing more than a comfortable bed.

'Sasuke's bed was comfortable…' she thought to herself, half asleep. Minutes later she began to reprimand herself sleepily for thinking about it and she forcefully shoved all recollections of the soft bed from her thoughts.

"Now sign up sheets will be available starting tomorrow morning for two days." Something prodded her side and Emiko shifted a few inches to hopefully avoid whatever had chosen to pester her. 'Go away…go choke on onigiri.' Emiko thought hazily, a low groan came from her mouth as she felt herself being poked two more times.

"Nani?" Emiko muttered sourly, her lack of sleep contributing to her apparent shortness of politeness.

"Emiko, come on it's time to go." Sakura encouraged her friend before standing to leave, hoping her timing was correct as she tried to intercept Sasuke on his way out. 'Iie…I don't want to.' Emiko protested with a weak wave of her arm before she felt someone grab her wrist and jerk her from her seat. Pain shot through her head as she slipped from her chair and crashed onto the floor, successfully hitting her head on Sakura's chair before she landed on the ground.

"Ow..ow...ow, ow, ow, ow." Emiko sat up and rubbed her head, oblivious to the shadow casting over her form as she rested on the ground. Tilting her head her eyes narrowed as she saw Sasuke walk away smirking. 'Jerk.'

"Emi-chan are you okay! Did Sasuke-teme hurt you! I'll beat him up!" Naruto eagerly offered as he bent down to eye level with the brunette. She shook her head and slowly stood to her feet before she glanced to see Sakura walking beside Sasuke trying to engage in conversation.

"Are you going to try for the competition Emiko?" The girl turned to see her former project partner standing beside a desk waiting patiently for the two. 'Competition? Nani?' Emiko's face changed in a mixture of confusion and aggravation as the ever so fortunate day unfolded before her.

"There's a competition, academic and other things. Winners receive scholarships." Megumi explained and immediately Emiko's eyes widened. 'Scholarship!' It was the magic word and one she'd prayed to hear for so long and she eagerly swiveled on her heel to face Megumi.

"Explain please."

"There are to be teams of four from each school that wants to participate. Well there can be more but-"

"Megumi!"

"Okay, okay. Each team goes through different competitions such as tests and quizzes and academic performances. Those kinds of things. It goes on for about a week and it's funded by different companies from all over the world. Depending on how far your team gets you could get scholarships and prizes." Megumi finished explaining and leaned calmly against the desk. Emiko's eyes shone with determination before she turned to Naruto who couldn't look more bored as he slept on his desk.

"NARUTO! Wake up!" Emiko slammed her palm on the desk causing the boy to jump feet into the air before crashing onto the floor with a loud groan.

"Nani?" Naruto groaned as his blue eyes shifted to Emiko who grinned down at him.

"Come on we're going to get scholarships."

A/n: Thanks to Sailor Luna for helping me get the juices back and I hope you enjoy! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out soon enough. .

-shyshi