Thank you, Axel0913 and ohud63 for the reviews! There won't be any fan girls in this story, as I like to keep things kind of realistic, but jealousy is definitely planned, though for who I can't really say...

All characters belong to Kishimoto-san.

Chapter 14: Choosing a Club, and Possibly an Enemy

Yakushi Kabuto was standing a bit too closely near them. Though his words were friendly, his eyes said otherwise as they scrutinized Temari and Sakura's every move.

Temari and Sakura had paired up together in advanced biology for their lab, which was a rather simple one in which they measured the temperature and pH values of a solution as they added certain chemicals to it. The lab was more about practicing good lab procedures than about actual learning.

Temari was bored out of her mind as she watched the numbers on the digital thermometer rise slowly. Still, she kept a neutral face as Kabuto walked by her lab table for the third time.

"You're Temari, right?" Kabuto suddenly asked, startling Sakura.

Temari almost rolled her eyes. Yes, she was, who else would she be? She knew just how excellent Kabuto's memory was, especially having witnessed it herself in homeroom when he had checked attendance without so much as glancing at the attendance sheet.

"Yes, and you are Kabuto," Temari replied coolly.

Kabuto smiled, adjusting the pH meter. "How are you liking Konohagakure so far, Temari-san?"

"It's fine," Temari said, keeping her eyes on her lab experiment. "The weather is colder here than in Sunagakure."

Kabuto chuckled. "I would expect so. Have you joined a club yet? You know today is the last day to choose?"

"I'm still deciding between a few," Temari lied. In reality, she hadn't thought about which club to join yet, though she did know she would not join the clubs her brothers would be in; they had decided it was best to split up.

"If you're interested in biology," Kabuto suggested, "I can recommend the Red Cross club."

Temari thought she would rather beat people up than heal them. "Maybe."

Kabuto continued smiling, but there was something almost fake about it. He adjusted his glasses. "You guys are doing well. Keep up the good work."

.

Guy was beaming as he stood in the front of the gym, waiting impatiently as his students filed in. Temari eyed him wearily as she trudged in behind Kankuro, who was still tugging on his P.E. shirt.

"What's up with him today?" Kankuro asked.

Temari shrugged at him. "Is today a special day or something?"

Her question was answered soon enough as Guy described what they were to do today.

"Alright, kids!" Guy shouted and Kankuro winced, "If you freshmen don't know, today is the last day to pick your elective clubs! And, if you don't know already, Kakashi-sensei and I lead the fight club! As today is the last day to pick, and some of you might not have checked out our club already, we're going to have a little sparring practice today! A little demonstration of what my club has to offer, if you will."

Temari and Kankuro looked at each other.

"He… wants us to fight?" Kankuro asked, skeptically.

"He has to be joking," Shikamaru muttered, looking annoyed.

On the other hand, Naruto was looking excited. No doubt he was eager to fight Sasuke.

"Everyone, pair up!" Guy announced. "Lee and I will demonstrate some very basic moves, and then you'll take turns with your partner, practicing with these wooden dummies here!"

"Is this even safe?" Shikamaru sighed, adding a "This is troublesome" under his breath.

Temari agreed with him. "Don't we need to sign papers or something?"

Guy waved his hand at her dismissively. "Nonsense! This is perfectly safe! Show me your youth, my students!"

Temari shrugged. She wasn't worried about getting hurt. Her concern at the moment was who her partner would be. Naruto was already begging Sasuke to be his partner, and there was no way Temari was willing to partner with either of them. She was about to ask Kankuro, but when she turned around, he was already talking with Hyuuga Neji, though Kankuro seemed to be arguing more than talking. Temari had a few options left, and she decided to go with the next familiar person, Shikamaru.

However, as she looked for him, she spotted him talking to the other Hyuuga in their class, Hyuuga Hinata. Temari frowned, but then shrugged it off. Of course, Shikamaru would choose Hyuuga Hinata; the two did have plenty of mutual friends.

This left Temari with the strangers in her class, which she wasn't too excited to partner up with. She was saved from choosing when a girl approached her, her brown hair tied up in two neat buns.

"You're the Kazekage's daughter, right?" the girl said, "Temari?"

Temari nodded, studying the other girl. She didn't look like much. "And you are?"

"Tenten," the girl replied. She offered Temari the knife in her hand. Temari didn't even question where she got the knife from; she had seen her with Hyuuga Neji often, and assumed Tenten was in the fight club, too.

"I hear the Kazekage's children already know how to fight," Tenten continued as she gestured to the wooden dummy in front of them.

Temari smirked, weighing the knife experimentally in her hand. "Of course, we do, and we're good at it."

She flung the knife at her target, watching as it made contact directly with the target's imaginary heart. Tenten only looked slightly impressed.

"Not bad," Tenten commented. "Your brother doesn't seem like much, though."

Temari glanced in Kankuro's direction. Her brother was currently sparring with Hyuuga Neji. Rock Lee was standing near them, cheering Kankuro on and telling him to beat Hyuuga Neji. Despite Rock Lee's optimism, Kankuro was losing badly. Temari didn't really blame him, though; the three siblings were more of long-distance fighters.

"I'm not my brother," Temari said. She inspected the wooden weapons on the weapons rack, which were being closely guarded by Guy.

"Why don't we try something else?" Temari asked. She was tired of throwing knives at an unmoving target.

Tenten raised her eyebrows. "Are you suggesting we spar?"

"Unless you're too scared to do it," Temari confronted. "After all, you can't possibly beat me."

Tenten narrowed her eyes at Temari. "We'll see about that."

Tenten had taken the bait and Temari smirked. This was going to be interesting. She hadn't fought in a couple days, not since she had arrived in Konohagakure, and she was sure she was getting soft. Temari was welcome for the upcoming challenge—if it was going to be a challenge.

Tenten returned from the weapons rack, carrying two long wooden staffs, the same weapons Kankuro and Hyuuga Neji were currently using.

Temari accepted one and swung it around a bit, testing it out. It looked similar to the one Uchiha Sasuke had used before, the one he had nearly used against Kankuro. Temari wasn't at all surprised Kankuro was losing to Hyuuga Neji; besides the fact that Hyuuga Neji was a genius, the staff was also not one of Kankuro's stronger skills.

Tenten and Temari entered a sparring ring, which had been previously laid out by an over-enthusiastic Rock Lee. Guy was watching them, ready to interfere if the fight got too intense.

Not that it will, Temari thought, sizing the other girl up. Tenten looked at ease with the weapon she had chosen, though Temari caught a brief look of uncertainty flash in her eyes. Temari guessed Tenten was normally a long-ranged fighter, just like her; though, of course, Temari would win this match by default since she was obviously the more powerful of the two.

The two girls stood there for a while, before acknowledging each other with a nod and starting the match. From the corner of her eye, Temari noticed that Shikamaru had given up trying to throw knives—though on a second glance, he had hit the target each time—and was watching her match with a bored, disinterested look.

Tenten came at Temari first, swinging the staff in a wide arc. Temari calmly blocked the move, and countered with an attack of her own. In turn, Tenten blocked it with her staff, but must not have expected the force of Temari's move, for she staggered back a little, surprised by Temari's strength.

"Surely you didn't expect the Kazekage's children to train halfheartedly?" Temari mocked, pushing the other girl backwards.

Tenten gritted her teeth. "Don't underestimate me. I've been training just as long as you have."

Temari rolled her eyes, dodging as Tenten broke free and attacked her. "You do know I'm older than you, right?"

"I doubt you trained as a baby," Tenten countered, taking another swing.

Temari blocked it again. "What, did you do that?"

Before Tenten could reply, Temari attacked her, feinting to the right, and then to the left, before sweeping her legs at her opponent, at the spot right behind her knees. Tenten staggered, but didn't fall completely. Temari was impressed but refused to admit it. She wanted to end this as soon as possible. Before the brown-haired girl could recover, Temari swung her staff down, hard, at her head, stopping right before the wooden staff made contact.

"I think that's my win," Temari said, tossing the staff aside. "And I think third period is about to end."

.

Shikamaru was staring at her; Temari was tired of it. Had he never seen people fight before, or something? As they walked to Asuma's room for their next class, Shikamaru kept throwing glances her way, looks that were a mix of awe and fear.

"That's not fair," Kankuro whined as they entered the classroom. "I was fighting Hyuuga Neji. You know that guy's impossible to beat!"

"For you, maybe," Temari said. "It's a good thing you aren't targeted as frequently as Gaara; you'd be dead by now."

Kankuro grunted, plopping himself down onto his chair. "Still, if this were a real fight, he'd be a goner."

"Yes, since you'd use your robots," Temari said, knowing just how deadly Kankuro's handmade machines could be.

"Hey, they're puppets!" Kankuro protested.

"Puppets with remote controls," Temari corrected. "Which basically makes them robots."

"No, it makes them upgraded, modern puppets," said Kankuro, "But not robots."

Temari sighed. "Sure."

"Did you see the Nara kid, though?" Kankuro asked, nodding his head in Shikamaru's direction as the black-haired boy walked in. "He's not a bad shot. Also, the look on his face when you beat that girl, whatever her name is, was so funny! Man, it's like he thought you would lose!"

"I'm getting the feeling the Konoha kids here are underestimating us," Temari said.

"But not Gaara," Kankuro said grimly. "No one ever underestimates him."

"No," Temari agreed. "No one ever does."

.

During lunch, Temari split off from her brothers in search of a club to join. Or rather, she went off in search of a certain club. After much debate and thinking, Temari had decided to join the shogi club. It wasn't a bad club, and certainly did not seem like it would require too much effort on her part. She remembered watching Baki and her father playing shogi occasionally when she was younger, as they discussed plans on how to keep their village safe. She herself had played a few times, though that had been years ago. Still, how bad could she be?

Furthermore, the shogi club was safe from prying eyes; it was a club that drew little attention from the other students—a "boring club", as Uzumaki Naruto had called it—and, if Shikamaru hadn't lied to her, the shogi club often held its classes outside, which gave Temari the perfect opportunity to observe the adults on campus.

Of course, most of all, Nara Shikamaru himself was in the club. He was one of Uzumaki Naruto's closest friends, and would be able to help her get closer to him. That was all there was to it, Temari reasoned. She wasn't trying to be near Shikamaru; no, she needed Shikamaru so she could stay close to Uzumaki Naruto without raising too many suspicions. That was all there was to it.

.

Temari arrived at the place from yesterday; this time, there was no wind and the leaves were resting peacefully in the trees.

The shogi club members were watching an online chess match on one of their members' laptops. Their eyes were glued to the screen so much that they didn't notice when Temari approached them.

She cleared her throat and a few of them spun around, their faces registering surprise at seeing her.

"Is this the shogi club?" she asked politely.

One of the members nodded. "Yeah, it is." He paused. "Did you want to join it?"

Temari smiled at him. "Yes, please."

The boy looked flustered and unsure of what to do. "Oh, wow, okay. I didn't think someone like you would want to join."

Noticing her curious expression, the boy elaborated. "I mean, uh, I'm in your P.E. class, you know. I saw you fight today. You were pretty good. I thought you were in the fight club, what with the way you beat Tenten."

Temari shrugged. "Fighting isn't really my thing."

"Oh, okay," the boy grinned. "Glad to have you in the shogi club, though. We don't get that many members, so it's always nice to see someone new. Here, just write your name, grade, and student ID number here, and then sign here."

He handed the paper and a pen to Temari.

"Unlike the fight club, we're pretty relaxed here. Officially, our classroom is room ten of the math building—that's Asuma-sensei's room, by the way—but we like to have classes out here. Asuma-sensei doesn't really mind. Besides, we share the room with the board game club, and they have way more members. It kind of gets crowded in there."

Temari signed her name and handed the paper and pen back to him. She was officially in the shogi club.

.

Shikamaru was by the tree again, confirming his claims about it being "his" spot.

"I didn't know you could throw knives," Temari remarked as she sat down next to him.

Shikamaru frowned, looking a bit uncomfortable. "You kind of pick up a thing or two when you grow up with someone like Naruto."

"Oh?" Temari raised an eyebrow at him. "You seemed like a good shot."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Naruto wants to be Hokage, but he's not very good, so I went and did some research and ended up practicing and teaching Naruto how to throw knives."

"You're a really good friend, aren't you?" Temari said. She was surprised that Shikamaru would go so far to help Naruto become Hokage… not that it was likely he would obtain the role. Temari had never met someone who was willing to do so much for the sake of friendship. Now that she thought about it, it seemed like Shikamaru was always doing things for Uzumaki Naruto.

"I guess," Shikamaru said, leaning against the tree and staring at the clouds. Temari mimicked him.

"Though, I did learn a few tricks from my father," Shikamaru revealed. "He runs a detective agency."

Shikamaru paused. "You weren't bad yourself, though. Tenten is supposedly the best female fighter in our school."

It was Temari's turn to act nonchalant. "Tenten just wasn't very good."

Shikamaru chuckled. "She grew up with Neji and Lee. She's not 'average', you know? But then again, you aren't, either, Temari-sama."

Temari rolled her eyes. "Still, I think I'm more suited for relaxed hobbies. Like cloud watching."

"I thought you didn't like watching clouds."

"I changed my mind."

Shikamaru frowned. He looked like he was thinking, trying to piece a problem together. "Wait, what were you doing over here? Don't tell me you came here just to see me."

Temari smirked. "Maybe I did."

"I don't think so," Shikamaru's expression changed into disbelief as he caught on. "Don't tell me you signed up for the shogi club."

"Too bad for you, I guess, because I did," Temari teased. "You're stuck with me now, old man."

Shikamaru sighed. "Mendokusei."