Chapter 2

Walking through the door, Ino walked straight to her desk and dropped her twenty-pound backpack beside it. With a heavy sigh, she sat in the chair to begin her homework. She had two tests the next day, an unfinished project due, and three assignments that needed to be finished.

The assignments were short and easy, and she had them finished by the time Naruto arrived a half hour after she had. Materials for her history poster littered her desk and the papers drifted into the air a fraction with the air disturbance from the door.

"Hey, Athrun!" Naruto greeted, "Are you ready for the biology and math tests tomorrow?"

"I'm working on it," she replied.

He sat on his bed and pulled out his own homework and started working. Though he had less homework, it took Naruto a long time to complete it. He managed to drag his roommate from the desk to eat dinner, but she was back to work as soon as she was finished. He rejoined her in the room soon enough.

She was finished with her poster, along with the two-page paper to thoroughly explain it, studying for her tests from her bed. Ino chewed on ice cubes to occupy herself while she studied.

"So," Naruto began uncertainly, "What are you here for?" He realized that in the month they had been roommates, he didn't know much about the student. Everyone had a reason for being sent to this private school, but many of them wouldn't admit it.

"Trouble at my old school," she answered. "What about you?" Ino indicated to her cheeks to animate her roommate's scars. "What's your story?"

"Troubles at home," he replied, "My parents were killed in a break-in when I was little so I've been jumping from foster home to foster home for years because they'd always kick me out. Life wasn't much better before then, though… It's how I got the first of these." He pointed to the top one of the three below his left eye. "I live with my godfather Jiraiya now ever since he showed up out of nowhere a few years ago—he likes to travel.

"As for the rest of the scars, I used to get in a lot of fights in my old schools. The last one I got into before I was expelled left me with these. Then Jiraiya decided sending me here would be a good idea, since I only got in fights at school and not outside because he would kick my ass. He wanted to go on another trip, anyway."

Naruto peered over from his bed at her books, ignoring how she gaped at him. "Anything I can help you with?"

"No, I got it," she assured. "I'm going to stay up and study for a while. You can go ahead and sleep."

He snuggled underneath his bed covers as he heard her yawn. "See you in the morning. Don't stay up too late."

The next morning, Naruto found Athrun's bed empty. Unlike other mornings, it wasn't neatly made, but it instead looked as haphazard as his. Picking up his backpack, he hurried off to his first class of the day and saw his roommate.

Her skin was pale and she seemed half-asleep, head resting against her hand. Naruto poked Chouji in the back. "What's up with Athrun today? Is he okay?"

"I don't know; I was going to ask you. He looks sick to me," he answered quietly.

"He should go back to bed," he thought aloud.

Chouji nodded in agreement.

Sure enough, as she turned in her test, she asked to be excused to see the nurse. The teacher granted her request and she left the classroom, towing the garbage can behind her.

Naruto returned to their room more quickly than usual, at the request of the nurse, to check on her. He found her curled up in bed with a trashcan at her side.

He sat down at the end of the bed. "Hey, how are you feeling, Athrun?"

She turned on her back sleepily to look at him. "Like crap."

"You look like it," he answered. Naruto saw the clammy, cold sweat against her skin, making her hair stick to it. His hand reached over to feel her forehead. "Your fever's pretty bad," he noted.

"Imagine that," she groaned.

"Did you eat anything for lunch?"

She shook her head. "I've been sleeping."

"Come eat supper with me. After that, you can just take a shower and go to bed," he advised.

"Yes, ma'am," Ino teased, sitting up slowly.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the joke. "Very funny," he replied sarcastically.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I thought you'd think so."

When he noticed her eyes repeatedly scanning the room, he asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Where did I put my shoes?" she muttered.

"They're by the door," he answered, remembering seeing them as he entered.

Ino stood and retrieved her shoes, sitting down to put them on. "I'm not really that hungry. I should just stay in bed."

"Then give whatever you don't want to Chouji; he'll be thrilled." Naruto walked over to the door and waited. He noticed how she paused every so often to rub a hand over her face or head, particularly her eyes. "Do you have a headache?"

She nodded. "Let me wash my face and we can go." Ino stepped past her roommate to make the journey down the hall to the bathroom.

The bathroom's only other occupant was Deidara who was trying to fix his hair from Tobi's assault on it when the term began. "Hey, Athrun," he greeted without looking in her direction.

"Hi, Deidara," she answered on her way to the sink.

He neatly trimmed an uneven section of hair. "Where were you today?"

She turned on the cold water. "The nurse excused me from classes for the day because of fever," Ino explained before splashing her face repeatedly a few times with water. The cold felt refreshing on her skin, but she regretted not using warm water, instead. Grabbing a paper towel, she wiped down her face and turned off the water.

Watching as he tried desperately to fix the crude haircut, Ino asked, "Do you want some help? I can't do it tonight, but I could probably do it tomorrow."

He paused a moment in thought before continuing. "No, thanks."

Ino shrugged and left the bathroom. Naruto was waiting at the railing and looked up when she approached. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Not really," she answered truthfully. At her level of nausea, food was the last thing on her mind.

"It won't kill you. Let's go," he egged, putting a hand on her shoulder to gently push her along. Naruto never moved his hand until they entered the cafeteria.

Once they had their food, Ino having taken very little, they sat down with Chouji, Tobi, and Sasuke. Ino eyed Sasuke warily. She really didn't feel like being tackled. He acted nothing like he had during his Starburst craze, so she decided it was safe to sit at the table.

"What took you so long, Dobe?" Sasuke asked.

"Athrun's sick and I thought I was going to have to drag him here. Do you mind?" he replied haughtily.

"I told you I'm not hungry," she muttered.

"Can I have your food, then?" Chouji asked.

"Knock yourself out," she answered, pushing it towards him. It was stopped by Naruto's hand.

"Not yet; eat something first."

Staring at him stubbornly for several moments, she defiantly picked up her small bowl of mixed fruits and popped a grape in her mouth. Naruto nodded for her to continue. After she'd consumed the remainder of the bowl, she said, "There, happy?"
He placed the half-sandwich in front of her. "Go on."

"You have to be kidding me," she groaned.

"Humor me," he retorted.

Glaring, she nibbled on the sandwich before Naruto handed her the bottle of water from her tray to push the rest at Chouji. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Letting Chouji have the rest of your food," he replied, "You look like you're about to puke."

"I might," she muttered, reaching for her water.

Chouji was already munching happily on the food from her tray. "Just don't puke in my direction!" he declared.

Ino laughed slightly as she stood. "I'm heading back, guys. I'll talk to you later," she said.

Naruto watched her go. "Do you think he'll be okay? He looks horrible."

"He'll be fine," Sasuke replied dully.

"I don't know," Chouji disagreed, also keeping an eye on the retreating figure, "He didn't eat much."

Tobi jumped up from his seat. "I'll get him some Starbursts!"

Sasuke gripped Tobi's sleeve and forced him to sit back down. "Not going to happen."

"No Starbursts?" he pouted.

"No Starbursts," he confirmed.

"Go check on him, Naruto," Chouji said between munches, "He doesn't look very good."

He stood. "Yeah, I guess I'd better."

As Naruto walked away, Chouji called, "Wait, can I have your food?"

He waved a hand behind him. "Go ahead." Naruto let his concerned thoughts roll around in his head as he walked and concern for the depths of those thoughts, as well. They skidded to a halt when he stood in front of the door to their room when he heard his roommate talking in the empty room.

"I stayed in bed today," Ino said lowly into her non-confiscated cell phone, "And I don't feel much better yet."

There was a long pause as her other spoke before she said, "I know, I know. I think I'm just a little homesick, that's all. How's Riku? Is he getting big?"

Another long pause before she groaned, "I wish I was there. Can you send me some pictures of him? I know you're planning to come for parents' day, but I would like to have some more recent pictures on hand."

She waited as her mother spoke. "I'm fine, but this school is just…" she groaned, "Don't ask." Ino took a sharp breath, like the question was going to be painful, "Mom, have you found anything yet?" She sighed heavily at the answer.

"How hard can it be?" she demanded, "It's just one--"

Her body froze as Naruto walked in. "…person."

"Athrun, who are you talking to?"

She looked like a deer caught in a set of headlights. Her mouth moved, but no noise seemed to be tangible in her stuttering. Ino whispered into the phone, "I have to go," and closed it.

"I thought cell phones weren't allowed here."

"I can explain that," she stuttered.

"That you miss your parents?" He raised an eyebrow.

Her eyes shifted side-to-side nervously.

Naruto took the blue phone from her hand to look at it. "It's a nice phone. I'm surprised you were able to sneak it in," he commented as he tossed the phone onto Ino's bed.

"It wasn't as hard as you make it sound," she said carefully. Stashing her phone away, she grabbed a set of pajamas. "I'm going to go take a shower."

Ino hurried out of the room to the showers. She was happy he didn't seem to hear the entire conversation. The worst she would have to suffer through would be humiliation for missing her mom, unless he turned in her phone and the headmaster called her parents. That wouldn't end well in any way.

Climbing past the first curtain, she removed her clothes and folded them in a neat pile, setting them on a small chair. Ino climbed past the second curtain into the actual shower and turned up the hot water, and she began to think of her next course of action.

Meanwhile, Naruto noticed his roommate's towel left at the foot of the bed. He snickered, "He just might need that."

Scooping up the towel, he headed for the showers. "Athrun, you left your towel," he said. The water was still running and he assumed his voice was drowned out, so he walked over to the only occupied stall and walked past the first curtain, carefully hanging up the towel nearby when the water turned off.

Naruto heard the shower's occupant move around before opening the curtain to search for the towel. The moment she saw Naruto, she pulled the curtain shut with a loud gasp with shock.

He definitely caught an eyeful and stood in shock, unable to move.