Luna's A/N: Hello everyone! Just wanted to say thanks for reading, and we don't own Naruto blah, blah, blah. Nothing else to really add, except that we love reviews! :)
Rin's A/N: I really hope that those people who have put us on their stalker list will review. It would make me happy to hear that our stalkers have an opinion on our story… -evil grin-
--O.O—
Neba's P.O.V
I shoved my geography stuff into the top shelf of my locker, and then grabbed my bag. It had all my necessities for gym class. I didn't actually enjoy gym, but here we were forced to take it once every four years, in some strange attempt to keep students in shape or something. At least I was getting a decent grade in this class.
"Neba!" I heard Izumi's usual, whiny voice behind me, just as I shut my locker. "We've got a fitness test today!"
"We do?" I sighed. These tests always made me feel incredibly lazy.
"We found out last week, remember?" I wondered how one like Izumi could remember so much about school, but could never remember anything that was practically common sense. Like last week, when she got an ice cream cake for our English class, but we couldn't eat it because it melted since she forgot to put it in the fridge…
"It must have slipped my mind." I shrugged, smiling a bit. I could care less what we did in gym anyways, as long as it wasn't basketball. I shuddered a bit. I absolutely hated basketball with a passion; I could never get the ball in the net, and just ended up standing around looking like an idiot.
We walked up to Amai's locker, as we so often did, and waited for her to get her own stuff before heading to the other side of the school where the gymnasium was.
"I wish we had a vending machine in the gym," I heard Izumi randomly say as we walked.
"Why?" Amai looked completely confused at this. "That'd kind of ruin the point for the class. It's about staying fit, remember Izumi?"
"It's not my fault I get really hungry in this class." She sighed, rubbing her stomach lightly to emphasis the point.
Amai just shook her head. "Izumi, your body will function fine without eating all the time."
Izumi just grunted, then pulled a chocolate bar out of her sweater pocket, and started nibbling on it.
We headed into the girls change room, and most of the girls in our class were already there. The layout was pretty simple; there was the big changing area, then an area in the back with bathroom and shower stalls, plus a gigantic mirror to admire yourself with.
I backed into my usual spot, in the corner beside the door, where I got a bit of privacy. I quickly changed into grey sweatpants and a pinkish red t-shirt. I pulled on my black and white running shoes, and then grabbed my hairbrush to go look in the mirror. I could see a familiar platinum blonde and pink haired girl standing there chatting as they brushed their hair and re-applied their makeup.
I squished myself beside them and started brushing my own hair. I was sure I could see them both give me rather dirty looks, but I ignored it, used to it by now. I winced as I found a knot in the back of my hair, and attempted to get it out.
"I hate gym," I heard Jin complain to Sakura. "It messes up my hair and makes me all sweaty. It's disgusting."
"I know." Sakura nodded her head, as she attempted to pull her hair up into a ponytail, but it seemed too short. "I hate going home and feeling all sticky and tired out."
I felt like saying something, but kept my mouth shut. But seriously… what did they expect? This was gym class. Besides, they barely participated, and usually just sat around complaining anyways.
"I got to go find Shino, see you Sakura!" I watched as Jin walked off, leaving Sakura and me alone at the mirror. I liked Sakura more than Jin, but they both did their part to get on my nerves. Thankfully, I wasn't alone for long.
"Neba! Do you have an extra ponytail? I forgot mine!" I heard Izumi come up to me in a panic.
"It's okay, Izumi," I noticed Sakura slip off a ponytail off her wrist and hand it to her. "I have an extra one."
"Thanks Sakura!" Izumi replied, happily enough. She then put it into her hair, and I noticed how messy it was.
"Izumi, do you want some help?" I heard Amai ask, as she walked up beside me. I assumed she noticed what a messy a job Izumi had done as well.
"I can do it!" Izumi said. I knew she hated being dependant, but she was so oblivious sometimes.
"Whatever Izumi, it looks kind of bad though." Amai was glancing at herself in the mirror as well, but not for very long.
"Come on, Izumi! Let's go get our seats." Sakura said, and Izumi followed her lead as they walked out. I sighed. Izumi was being brainwashed by her again.
I had placed my hair into a rather neat ponytail, or neat compared to Izumi's. I stared proudly at it for a bit until Amai spoke up. "Let's go, too."
"Right," I nodded, and we headed out just as the bell rang. I debated whether to take my usual seat on the ground next to Neji, or to stay beside Amai. If I sat with Neji, though, it'd be nice, but it'd mess up what I was trying to prove. So I stayed put, and followed Amai as she took a seat next to Naruto.
"Neba, why aren't you sitting next to Neji?" Naruto spoke up, a little confused as though I wasn't acting like my self or something. He laughed a bit. "Decided you don't like him, anymore?"
"No, that's not it. I just feel like sitting here today." I said lightly, it was sort of the truth. "Mind your own business, Naruto!"
Amai glanced at me. "Go sit with Neji instead, and stop acting so confusing."
I glared at her, and was about to open my mouth when our teacher Gai came in. We actually had two gym teachers, Gai and Kakashi. Kakashi was all right, but Gai was a little on the creepy side.
"Hello Class!" Gai grinned at us, giving us two thumbs up. "Today, we'll be taking a wonderful test of your youth! Ah, wonderful youth," He looked up for a moment, as if remembering upon his younger days. "Lee, hand out these sheets please!"
"Yes, sir!" He grinned, taking the sheets and started to rush to hand them out. Rock Lee, or Bushy Brows as most of us called him, was basically a miniature Gai. Ever since grade nine, Lee has been acting just like him, getting the same bowl-shaped haircut, and wearing the same strange spandex suits. The only person who seemed to take him seriously was Sakura, which was strange. She used to make fun of him just like the rest of us, but I heard he stood up for her one day when she needed help, earning her respect.
I studied the sheet that he passed me. It had a bunch of different tests that matched the ones that were all around the gym for us to do.
"You, Izumi and I should be a group." I said, nudging Amai. Of course, I spoke too soon.
"Kakashi's running late, today..." I heard Gai say. "He's just upset because I beat him at setting up this place! I made a bet that…" I didn't feel like hearing him babble about their challenges, so I blocked it out.
"You'll be in groups of three for this challenge." I heard him finally continue with something relevant. "I decided to make things interesting and make groups today!"
There was a large array of groans throughout the gym. Pre-made groups were usually horrible.
"Alright," He called. "When I say your name, get together with your group. Let's see…" He started listing the groups, and most people weren't very satisfied with who were they were with. The good thing with Kakashi was he was usually too lazy or too busy reading his book to put us in groups.
"Izumi, Neba, Gaara." I heard him call of his list.
"Hey!" I smirked, turning my attention to Amai. "I'm with your boy!"
She frowned at this. "I don't even care about him. Quite frankly, I find him very irritating."
"You're just saying that." I smiled. I knew I must've been right. Amai had to like someone, and it surely couldn't be Kankuro.
"Amai, Jin, Neji." Gai called out another group.
"Gee, what luck," Amai rolled her eyes. "I'm with your boy."
"If you won't admit to liking Gaara, you can't say I like Neji." I said, in a matter of fact tone.
"Well," She squinted, glaring at this. "You see, I never did glomp him or confess my undying love to him like you did to Neji."
I sighed. "I don't do that anymore."
"I kind of miss you doing that. It was entertaining." She grinned.
"It was stupid." I pointed out, flatly.
"Alright, go into your groups and see how much youth you really do maintain!" Gai grinned, his teeth flashing against the light, as he did his signature thumbs up pose.
This was going to be an awkward class. Gaara wasn't really the talking type, was he? I grabbed Izumi, and headed off to find Gaara standing by himself, not even noticing us as we walked up to him.
"Gaara, which test would you want to do first?" I asked, trying to make a nice conversation. Izumi looked rather frightened of him, so I knew I couldn't count on her to get him to talk.
"Hmph." He responded, if you could even call it that. I sighed. This was going to be a long period.
Amai. P.O.V
It was prefect, prefect I say! I was in a group with Neji, and Jin, but that was beside the point! Neji wasn't going to get away now… I noticed that Jin and Neji were already talking, so I walked over to them.
"Hey," I smiled, earning a glare from Jin and an exasperated look from Neji. I continued to smile, hoping that soon I would be able to corner Neji into confessing his innermost feelings.
"What test should we do first?" Jin asked, twirling the hair that hung in her skewed ponytail. I sort of looked at her and shrugged and Neji rolled his eyes. I stood there, waiting for someone to say something, the awkwardness consuming us all. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Neba, Izumi and Gaara, all doing push-ups. Izumi and Neba were struggling, while Gaara was doing them simply. I saw Gai walking over to our group, smiling like a doofus. Jin and Neji were debating whether to do push-ups or sit-ups first.
"Quick, act like we're doing something, Gai is coming over," I whispered to them. I flopped down onto my stomach, and started doing push-ups. I looked up and Neji had started doing push-ups as well. Jin just stood there refusing to get sweaty.
"How are we today, my youthful students?" Gai asked, waltzing into our group.
"Terrible," Jin pouted, "I hate gym."
"But gym is the most youthful subject in school," Gai explained. "Sweating once a day gets rid of dead skin cells and it helps your complexion."
"Complexion my ass," I muttered, counting each of my push-ups, I was at ten. Gai flounced away, spreading the word of youth everywhere he went.
"Has it been a minute yet?" Neji asked, still doing push ups.
"I guess so," Jin shrugged. I stopped and then sat on my knees. I had done twenty-five push-ups, which was a new record for me. I blinked twice, and Jin was gone. There were two possible places that Jin would've gone, either to see Shino or to skip gym. The latter was very probably, but Jin was possibly obsessed with Shino. Neji was looking around the room. He ended up sighing, and started on his sit-ups. I shuffled closer to him.
"Neji, since you wouldn't answer when I asked you indirectly, I'll guess I'll have to ask you directly," I muttered, lying down on my back.
"You're the one who sent my cousin over to ask me?" said Neji, stopping his sit-ups to look at me.
"Yes, why, did you think it was Neba?" I grinned. Neji gave me a look, a disapproving one. He didn't say anything, only glaring.
"I'll take that as a yes," I sighed, doing a sit-up. "I need to know, for the sake of Neba's sanity, whether or not you have feelings for her." Neji continued his icy stare.
"She hasn't hugged you for three or four hours, and she isn't planning to do so anytime soon," I explained. "Someone planted an idea in her head that if she leaves you alone that you might miss her constant love. I aim to prove that wrong and that you secretly liked having Neba hug you all the time." I took a deep breath. That was a long-winded speech, even for me.
"I already gave you an answer then," Neji said, scratching the back of his head. His brown hair was pulled into a low ponytail.
"You didn't give me an answer Neji, you answered in a format that avoided the true question," I growled.
"That's the way I feel about her," Neji muttered.
"That doesn't tell me if you have feelings for her," I sighed loudly. I got to my feet and gestured for Neji to do the same. He took his time, and I took the opportunity to glance over at Neba's group. They were weighing and checking their heights.
"Let's go over to the fifty-metre dash, Neji," I ordered, walking over in its direction. I noticed Kakashi, who was timing each person as they ran down the two rows of pylons. Naruto started his run and he flailed between the start and the finish. Sasuke went after him and ran like the wind. I turned to Neji, who seemed to be extremely bored. I hit his arm playfully and smiled.
"If you get a faster time than me, you won't have to tell me your feelings for Neba," I grinned, holding my hand out to Neji. He looked from me to my hand and then back at me. He took my hand and shook it.
"You're on," Neji said. I smirked. I had confidence that I could beat him. I went down to the starting line, where Naruto was lining up for another try.
"Naruto, Neji and I are having a competition, so let us go first," I commanded.
"But I have to beat Sasuke's time," Naruto whined. I glared at him.
"Naruto," I hissed. His eyes widened as he raised one arm up near his face. He then sighed and trudged off to the chin up bar. I took my spot at the starting line and waited for Kakashi to signal for me to start. He signalled and I sprinted as fast as I could for fifty metres. I ran past the finish, and went over to Kakashi to hear my time.
"Ten point three-five," Kakashi muttered. I smirked. I wonder if Neji could beat that time. Surely that long hair of his would increase drag…
"Ten point three-five Neji! Do you think that you can beat that?" I yelled. Neji kept a stoic face and readied himself. Kakashi signalled for him to start and Neji was down here pretty swiftly.
"Ten point three-five," Kakashi mumbled. I gasped. Neji had the exact same time as me. I would force him to tell me anyways whether or not he liked it, but a competition is a competition.
"We have to do it again," we groaned. We walked back to the start, not talking. I told Neji that he could go first this time. He nodded and then did his run.
"Ten point two," Neji called. Okay, Amai, you have to beat his time. No sweat, you didn't do a two kilometre run every other day for nothing… Kakashi signalled and I ran. I pushed myself so that I could beat Neji for Neba. I ran into the mats that they had set up at the end of the fifty metre dash.
"Ten point one-eight," Kakashi sighed, opening his little orange book. I started to laugh. Neji would confess everything, or, I would force him to. Neji looked mortified. I poked his arm.
"You have to tell me you feelings for her now," I teased in a sing-song voice. He grumbled and then walked away.
"We had an agreement, you bastard," I said noisily. I saw Neba glare at me and I grinned, showing a peace sign. I caught up to Neji, who was now doing some chin-ups. He was concentrating on doing the chin-ups and not on the fact that I would be pestering him now.
"Tell me your feelings for Neba now," I blurted, making Neji let go of the bar, falling to the ground. I waited for him to get to his feet.
"She annoys me. That's all," Neji said, frowning and looking away. I furrowed my brow. Something was bothering me.
"Fine. I have this feeling though, if that were true, you would've have put up with her shenanigans for the past two year. Figure out something about her," I scolded, crossing my arms, "or you'll be hearing from me in the near future." I turned away, and tried to concentrate on something other than the problems between Neba and Neji. I saw Neba's group heading other in our direction. I looked back at Neji, who had restarted his chin-ups.
"Amai," Izumi squeaked, waving a short arm in the air.
"Hey," I smiled. I glimpsed at Gaara and then made my eyes dart over to Neba, who seemed a little worn out. I grinned at her and then showed her a thumb up. She shot me a scrupulous look and I shuddered. Gaara walked by and waited for Neji to finish his chin-ups. His red hair was still messy and seemed to stick to his head from the sweat.
Hold on a second.
What the hell was I thinking about? I need to get out more… I crouched down and held my head. When I came back to my senses, Neba was crouched down beside me. She was staring straight at me.
"Did you really ask him?" she whispered expectantly. I nodded.
"He didn't really give me a straight answer," I sighed, "so I scolded him into figuring out his feelings soon." Neba frowned. She rested her hand on my shoulder.
"Why did you do that?" she groaned.
"Because if I can't do anything for my love life, I might as well do something for yours," I shrugged, "and besides, Neji needed a good scolding." Neba stood up and smiled.
"It's okay," she grinned, "I never really liked him that much anyways."
"Liar," I said, throwing out my hand for her to help me up. Neba took it and pulled me to my feet. She smirked and leaned closer to mutter something.
"I tried asking Gaara about you," she murmured. "It was an epic fail though. All he did was grunt." I chuckled and turned back to the bar. Izumi was attempting to do a chin up, and wasn't doing so well. She just hung from the bar, and when she did try to pull herself up, Izumi couldn't even get her eyes parallel to the bar.
"Let's go Izumi," I cheered. "You can do it!"
"Shut up Amai," she yelled, and her hands slipped from the bar. Little Izumi plummeted to the ground, and hit her bottom hard. Neba and I burst into laughter while Neji and Gaara looked on, their faces stoic. Then Gai blew the whistle.
"It's time for the beep test everyone! Time to test your true youthfulness," he shouted, with Kakashi beside him, looking extremely bored.