8

Luna's Author Note: Hey! Rins actually got me kind of addicted to writing it now. At first I was out of it, but its getting fun. So yay! And we do not own Naruto. At all. More like, Naruto owns us. Mmk? :)

Rin's Author Note: The Plot Thickensss. Who knows what we'll have in store for our characters? They just move on their own…Well, in my part at least. For the most part :3

--O.O—

Neba's P.O.V

The bell rang, catching me off guard like usual, this time for slightly different reasons. I was actually into doing my work, and had gotten through all of tonight's homework sheets, and had started reading ahead. This was quite an accomplishment for someone like me, whom only yesterday just doodled hearts all through class. I felt a little bit bad for getting angry at Ino, though. Sure, I had my reasons, but I guess she was just trying to help. I gathered my notes, shoving them into my binder, as most of the class scurried off rather quickly. Ino was moving fast, too, and I felt like I owed her an apology.

"Ino!" I called, watching her slow down and jerk her head back to look at me. "Let's walk together. I'm sorry for freaking out earlier." I gave her a rather genuine smile, and hoped for the best.

"Sure, it was no big deal anyways." She slowed down her walk, to match my own slow pace, as I fiddled with my binder a bit. "I would've acted the same."

"Right…" I doubted it, but maybe. We were pretty alike in some ways.

"Oh, Neba! I got a new magazine, I'll bring it to our table at lunch to look at it." She grinned a bit, obviously pleased with herself. "It has a bunch of romance quizzes. Don't you just love valentines day?" She sighed in a dreamy type way, staring up at something ahead as we made our way to the first floor where our lockers were, and where the main cafeteria was. I matched her gaze, and saw her starting at a huge Valentines Day dance poster. It was a lot pinker than the one Amai had ripped off earlier this morning, and had even more hearts. Whoever did this poster was a little too romantic for their own good.

"See you in a bit, Neba!" Ino waved, walking to the opposite direction, where her own locker was.

I waved back a bit, my eyes still fixated on the poster. It had a picture of a bunch of couples dancing, and smiling, and it looked entirely fake. One girl was holding a bouquet as a guy twirled her, and another couple were exchanging gifts while dancing. Sure, I didn't go to the dance last year, but this kind of stuff was too surreal to really happen.

"Neba!" A voice squeaked, breaking me out of my trance. "You'll never believe what happened in math!"

Izumi already had her lunch in her hand, and I guessed she had come to catch up with me before she went to the cafeteria. I raised a questioning eyebrow, almost sure of what to expect. "Um, you aced a math test?"

"No! It's not that good!" Her face dropped a bit, almost annoyed. "Asuma marks tests so slow. I swear, he must mark a sentence a day! Maybe even worse, I bet he marks a couple words a day, not even—"

"Izumi, get to the point please." I sighed, as we walked up to my locker, and I started fumbling with the lock. It always took forever to open.

"I think Amai and Kankuro are going out." She blurted out, almost embarrassed to say it.

I sighed. Izumi had so much to learn. "Just because she's friends with a guy, doesn't mean she likes him. It's okay to have boys for friends, Izumi. There not complete germs."

"That's not it!" She protested. "And I know that! I don't care who she's friends with, anyways. When they walked in, Kankuro kissed the top of her head, and then they were going to hug, too, but she dropped her books and kind of interrupted it."

"What?!" I was completely lost. Izumi talked too fast when she was excited, and this story just wouldn't process right in my mind. "Are you sure this happened? I mean, I don't think she likes Kankuro…"

Right on cue, Amai walked up to the two of us, pulling out a juice box from her lunch bag, looking the same as always.

"Hey," She said, taking a break to have a sip of her juice. "Hurry up, Neba, you're so slow."

I felt a bit bad, but I couldn't help but blurt out the question, either. "Why do I keep hearing about you and Kankuro?"

"Ugh," She seemed annoyed, as If she had explained it already far too many times, and just wanted to be done with it. "I don't know. It was really random, but there is absolutely nothing going on between us. Forget about it."

"Well, do you like him?" I questioned. One thing Amai wasn't good at, was giving detailed responses.

"No." She said, flatly. As I slammed my locker door shut, and our trio started walking towards the café.

"Maybe you should confront him…" I fiddled with my thumb a bit. "I mean, he obviously must like you, to act on such impulse and do such a careless act as well. Either that, or he's really cocky."

"It's nothing." She said, as we entered the caf', and walked further back all the way to the far left corner where our table was. "I don't really care about it, either. It's pissing me off how it's spreading so quickly, though."

"Alright," I sighed. She'd talk about it when she was ready, I guess. No use bugging her about it.

Our table was big, and had a rectangular shape with lots of space to be filled with people. It's been our table since our first day here, as minor niners. We had a big group, and I wouldn't necessarily say we were friends with everyone, but oh well. The table consisted of me, Amai, Izumi, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Jin (who only sat here because of Shino; not us, and made it her job to make it clear how annoying and immature we all were, except for Shino, of course) and Sasuke, who sat at the end, with lots of space between, saying he didn't want to be disturbed, and he was only sitting here since it was available space or some weird excuse.

When we got there Choji was gobbling down the humongous lunch his mother makes him practically every day and Shikamaru was sitting there beside him; a bored expression on his face. Jin and Shino were discussing something, as she brushed her fake, blonde hair, instead of eating. She told us before she was on a diet, which was no food. I don't think I've ever seen the girl eat, actually. Sasuke was also at his spot, isolated at the end, eating a ham sandwich. Naruto, Sakura and Ino were also making their way up.

"Aren't you going to go tackle Neji or something?" Amai questioned, trying to lighten her own mood.

"I would, but I'm hungry." I lied, opening my lunch bag to reveal a fresh oil and vinegar salad, which I made earlier this morning. Truthfully, I was taking what Ino said to heart. I've been trying my best with Neji since the beginning of grade nine, maybe it was time for a break.

She looked a bit concerned, and I wondered exactly how out of character this was exactly for me. Luckily, I was saved by Naruto's loudness.

"Amai! Can you explain exactly what happened in math class earlier?" He yelled across the table. It was completely unnecessary to yell, we were only a few centimetres apart. This kid must be going deaf or something.

Sakura smirked, lightly. "Kankuro's kind of a weirdo, don't you think? I guess he's your type."

I could hear Jin giggling, while Shino kept a stern face. Shikamaru, Choji and Ino all looked completely lost, and I assumed they hadn't heard about it yet.

I glanced at Amai, and her face was completely flushed. I was sure she was going to flip out now.

--O.O--

Amai's P.O.V

It was spreading like the flu! Stupid Kankuro! There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to end up in jail for killing him. I glared at Naruto and smacked my palm against my forehead. Why me? I stood up, grabbing my lunch. I moved from my spot and went to sit beside Sasuke.

"This is my space," he said, glaring at me. I frowned.

"You can't be the only angsty kid here," I replied, sitting myself beside him. "Don't worry, I just want some peace and quiet too."

"Amai, come back over here, we want an explanation," Izumi whined. I continued to eat my lunch in complete silence. It was somewhat peaceful, until I heard whispers from Jin.

"Wow, she's already preying on another guy," Jin muttered, "how skanky."

"You can't say that about Amai," Neba said. "Just take a look at yourself, Jin."

"Psht," Jin smirked, "You're just jealous."

"Would all of you just shut up?" I blurted loudly. Jin went wide-eyed.

"No need to yell, Amai," Jin complained, "We're, like, right here."

"You and your mess of a wig can go die in a hole, Jin," I spat.

"There's no need to talk like that to her," Shino said, wrapping an arm around Jin's waist. She smirked, clearly thinking she had triumphed. I rolled my eyes.

"There no need for her to be a total bitch either, right?" I muttered, turning my eyes to the ground.

"Just stop it you guys," Sakura said, trying to play peacemaker.

"Screw this," I murmured, getting up from my temporary seat beside Sasuke. I just walked away. There was no need for me to be there any longer. I don't really care what they say behind my back, it's when they ask me questions about the things said behind my back. I ended up at my locker, fiddling with the lock. As soon as I unlocked the stupid mechanism, I opened my locker, only to have it shut by another person. They kept their hand on my locker, and I decided to look at the person to reveal their identity.

"Did you miss me?" Kankuro asked, grinning.

"Screw off Kankuro, you've already messed up my entire social life, with that stunt in math class," I hissed.

"What stunt?" he asked, playing innocent. I glared at him. Kankuro simply grinned and ruffled my hair. I smoothed it out.

"Kankuro, you're my friend," I said, "so explain to me why you did that." He mocked me by putting his index finger up to his mouth.

"Classified Information," he smiled.

"If you don't tell me, I'll punch your face in," I grumbled. Kankuro smirked, when went to ruffled my hair again, but I slapped his hand away.

"Kankuro, you will always be my friend, nothing more," I said, narrowing my eyes. Kankuro leaned back. I replaced the lock on my locker, which Kankuro was still holding shut, and I walked away.

"Amai," Kankuro said, snatching my arm. I turned, my fist primed. With my momentum, I punched Kankuro in the stomach. He buckled, and fell to his knees, coughing.

"Until you give me an explanation," I ordered, "I'm not going to talk to you." I ran back to the caf', hoping that my friends were still eating.

--O.O—

Neba's P.O.V

"Jin, why do you even sit here if you're going to act like that?" My voice was raising, and I could feel my cheeks turning red from anger. Shino shot me a strange look, but I ignored it. "Seriously, you have no right talking to Amai like that! You might be going out with Shino, but that doesn't mean we'll put up with you--"

"Neba, enough." Shino attempted to shush me, while I could see Jin cuddling up beside him, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"I'm not going to be quiet! Someone needs to put this girl in her place." I poked a finger at her, while glaring daggers in her direction.

"Hey!" A loud, obnoxious voice called, running up to our table. "Does anyone here have a dollar? I was gonna buy another burger but I'm sort of short…" I sighed, glancing upwards to stare at Kiba Inuzuka, who was shoving his hands through the pockets of his coat, looking for extra change. Behind him, Hinata Hyuuga, cousin of Neji, was fiddling with her thumbs and staring down at her feet.

"Get a job, Kiba! Stop mooching us for our money." Naruto complained, who told us a couple days earlier was broke due to lending money out so much, mostly to Kiba.

"I'll pay you back, don't worry. I'm still working on it, Naruto…" He rambled, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Jin and Shino were getting up to leave, Shino patting her back, as If to tell her everything was fine. Everything was not fine, and it wouldn't be fine until these two broke up, so then I could really have my say on what I thought about her. That probably wouldn't happen though, they've almost been together for two years, and were still going strong.

"Amai! Are you okay?" I heard Izumi's voice say, as she started putting her lunch away.

"Fine." She grumbled, as she took a seat down beside me, shooting a glance up towards Jin and Shino who were walking out of the cafeteria now.

"What a bitch, right?" I said, nodding my head in the direction they were walking. She just nodded slowly, as if she had other things to worry about now.

"Can someone please fill me in?" Ino's voice spoke up, who'd spent most of lunch eavesdropping trying to make way with what everyone was saying, and reading her magazine.

"We're just as lost as you are." Shikamaru sighed, and Choji nodded a bit, still eating.

"It's just a misunderstanding, taken way out of proportion." I shrugged my shoulders. "Naruto should have never brought it up…" And with that, I lifted my hand up and swiftly smacked the top of his head.

"Owww!" He whined, rubbing his head. "I was just curious…"

Amai looked up lightly from her thoughts, smirking. "I deserve to smack you, too, Naruto! After all, you're the one who ruined my day!" She was about to punch him, but he got away and started running through the café. "I'll be right back." She said, as she ran after him.

"Neba, look what you started." Sakura shook her head, as if she knew all and was the most mature person here. "Violence isn't the answer."

Our table went back into usual discussion mode, putting what happened behind us. Naruto came back with a huge red mark on his face, and Amai came back looking rather pleased as well. I shot my eyes up, and found myself staring at a familiar long-haired boy. He caught me staring for a second, so I looked away quickly. I had a fine lunch without talking to him, so I'm sure I could have a fine day without talking to him, too.