Hey everyone! I'm back! I am sooooo sorry, I know I haven't updated this in FOREVER! I got so invested in one of my other stories, I sort of lost the muse for this one and didn't know how to keep it going. Though, I'll promise to do my best to finish it. Thank you for putting up with me and my writer's block. I hope you enjoy this chappie and tell me what you think!


CHAPTER 11

FIRST DAY

"….ke!...Sas….ke! Sasuke?!" muffled voices started to draw him from unconsciousness. Faint whispers started getting louder and clearer as he identified his name being called. He slowly opened his eyes at what seemed like the sound of a closing door and squinted, shielding his eyes from the fluorescent lights that greeted him. With a groan and a few blinks to adjust to the blinding lights and was greeted with emerald eyes, bright by worry and relief. He sat up and realized he was in a lumpy and cold make-shift bed on a side of a nearly empty room. Across said room was a plastic table full of boxes and bins, with a tiny fridge nestled in the corner between the edge of the table and wall corner. Right beside the fridge, facing the entrance and making an L shaped chain of furniture was an old wooden desk, also piled with boxes. His eyes slowly trailed the rest of the room, ignoring a tall door in the corner—it's probably a broom closet—and turned his questioning stare towards Sakura.

"We're in the infirmary. Right after we came in one of the kids threw a really hard basketball at your head. You've been out for three hours." She said, nervous by his forming glare and trying to hold in her laughter. She heard him sigh and raise a hand to his head, and she involuntarily released a cackle when she saw the ever stoic boy's eyes widen when he felt the huge bump in the middle of his forehead. "hahahah I'm sorry Sasuke, you just look like a bloody unicorn!" she said between laughs. She clutched her stomach, aching from laughing so hard.

His voice brought her back from her amusement when he asked "What time is it, then?" With a few breathes to calm herself, Sakura answered him that it was five minutes past ten. She informed him that there were a total of fifty children in the gymnasium, and they were separated between pre-teens, children from six to ten, and children from four to five. While one group was playing in the court, the other two would be in the arts and crafts corner -according to Sakura, there wasn't another room available they could use, so they put a couple of tables on the far side of the court.

"Naruto and you have been assigned to the kids from six to ten, Ten-ten to the pre-teens and Ino and I have the small ones. Though Chris said this was just a way to distribute the work evenly between us, but we're technically taking care of all of them." While he was engrossed in taking in the information she had given him, and cursing this day over and over again in his head, he failed to notice the pink haired girl had taken a gauze pad and stuck it on his forehead.

"There! Now at least you won't look like some mythical creature with a bad attitude! The nurse said the swelling will probably go down in a couple of hours, so you can take it off by the time the groups switch from crafts to sports." With that, she stood from the small stool beside the stretcher and walked out the double doors to his right. Releasing an annoyed sigh, Sasuke plopped back down on the stretcher and placed his palm on his throbbing forehead, cursing once again when he felt the huge lump in the middle of his brow.


"God! Finally! Where the hell did you go?" Ino's angry glare greeted her when she crossed the double doors back to the court.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" she could barely hide the surprise in her voice as her eyes roamed the normally immaculate blond up and down. Her beautiful locks were in disarray, tangled and sticking out of its usual ponytail in odd angles, her clothes were wrinkled and dirty in some places, and her makeup was smeared over her pale face. Even though the girl looked as if she had just wrestled a grizzly bear, what caught Sakura's attention most was…

"Are you wearing glitter?"

"Well of course I'm wearing glitter, I've always wanted to be a shiny pixie who reeks of glue!" she said, turning red with anger. "now go and do your job while I try to fix this mess! Those little devils will pay for this…" Sakura didn't really hear the rest of Ino's complaining, choosing to walk towards the crafts table, where the smaller kids. From five to three, were currently sitting, looking at Chris while he handed them crafts materials. As she came closer, she looked to the side at the sound of a screaming child.

"Hmm, at least someone's having fun today" Naruto was currently playing basketball, or at least tried to, with some of the kids at the court, tripping more than running every time a kid lunged towards him. Sakura noticed there was this really small boy clinging to is leg while smiling impishly, while another one, whom she assumed was his brother, was climbing up the blonde's back. Naruto cast her a glance and gave her a big grin.

"Sakura! Come play some ball with us, will yah?"

"that's okay, Naruto. You look like you're doing a fine job!" she said, walking away from the tired boy.

"Aw come on! How am I gonna play with 15 sneaky kids alone! Where the hell is Sasuke?!"

"Calm down Naruto, Chris said there are two coaches coming soon to put the kids to play other stuff." Tenten walked towards him calmly, taking the boy on his back and putting him on the ground besides his little brother.

"Easy for you to say, you've got the big kids! They don't bite or pull your hair, and they definitely don't want piggy back rides" the blonde grumbled, rubbing his sore neck.

"I'd trade for this any day. It's way better than having to sit and listen to all that pre-teen drama and ridiculous celebrity gossip these girls talk about." She said, pointing at a big group of girls sitting in the bleachers, giggling and enthusiastically talking about something"

"Not to mention they keep saying they're planning to take pictures of Sasuke shirtless and make posters off of them."

"…now that's just nasty"


They all released a sigh of relief when they sat down at a corner of the court. Taking advantage that the kids were currently being entertained by guests invited by Chris, the six of them sat to rest their aching feet. Shortly after Sakura exited the infirmary, Sasuke followed and joined Naruto with their assigned group. They, along with two coaches who worked in the court, played with the energetic kids until things got out of control. The kids sitting in the crafts table wanted to play in the court, the pre-teens wanted to compete against each other, and before they knew it, the fifty kids were running all over the place. Instead of chasing after them, they just let them tire themselves out.

"Well, at least we've got 'em off our backs for a couple of minutes" moaned Naruto, falling on his back and splaying on the ground. "Man, for being sick kids, they've got too much energy."

"Yeah, I'll say" muttered Ino, still annoyed by her ruined clothes. "I mean, I still can' figure out how Sakura ended up with paint in her hair!"

"Huh? I've got paint in my hair?!" exclaimed Sakura, patting her hair until she felt a wet, sticky substance at the top of her head.

"Yeah, you look like a popsicle, Sakura." Ten-ten snickered. "I don't get it, we weren't even using paint in the crafts table!"

"Told you they were sneaky" said Naruto with a triumphant smirk. The three shared a short, exhausted laugh, while Sasuke merely smirked and Ino rolled her eyes and pursed her lips in disgust. After the laughter died down, Sakura started to look around. Confusion was sketched on her expression, and before long she voiced her inquiry.

"Say…where's Choji?" a sudden realization befell the group, finally noticing that they hadn't seen the boy since they got there.

"Huh, you're right. He wasn't even here when Chris assigned us our groups." Said Ten-ten.

Ino's lips curled in a snarl. "The fatso is probably off somewhere gorging on the kid's food. Disgusting pig."

"Ino! You don't have to be so mean! Surely he's probably off doing something else, since Jenna has been missing since morning too. Maybe she took him with her to do something else." Sakura tried defending Choji as best she could, but without avail. Everyone around her had either a look of irritation or exhaustion, and they all seemed unconvinced by her suggestion.

Before she could say more, Chris walked up to them, panic barely disguised behind her brown eyes.

"Guys! We have a problem! We need two of you to go somewhere right away!" he said. After Naruto bounced to his feet and asked what's wrong, Chris replied "I noticed that one of you was missing, but I assumed he was with Jenna, and she thought he was with me."

"Choji is missing?!" said Naruto.

"Oh, no. That's not the problem"

"How isn't this a problem?! He went missing right under our noses!"

"We found Choji. He fell fast asleep in a broom closet, after eating all of the snacks we had for the kids."

"Tch. I hope he gets constipated."


That's it for this chappie. I swear I'll do my best to start the next one real quick! Until next time! :D

Aiiro Hart