Hinata had talked to him approximately once when they were in kindergarten, and that was only to ask him if he knew the time. He didn't. And obviously, that conversation wasn't very eventful. But looking at him now, Hinata decided she needed to talk to him about his hair, and possibly take some tips from him for hers.
She snapped her eyes away quickly, turning back to Shino. He was looking down at his table now but that thoughtful look hadn't faded from his eyes so she knew he was still thinking about Kiba.
"What?" She asked him.
When he didn't answer, she repeated, "Shino, what?"
Shino didn't make her ask a third time. "Fuck it." He turned to her. "Makes you think whether he ever got over last year."
She knew exactly what he was talking about. The junior year from hell.
"Ino did." She told him even though it wasn't exactly true.
The look Shino gave her told her he didn't exactly buy that.
"Right. Even if that's true, Ino had a different situation than Kiba." He pointed out correctly.
"Well then. Sakura did."
Again, Hinata had no idea why she said that, even if this time she wasn't wrong.
No, she did know. It was totally the uncoordinated mouth-brain thing.
Sakura was long over junior year, that was true. But after the early-pecking-over-the-situation-with-best-friends thing, they hadn't talked about Sakura's drama. They didn't need to. Sakura was all good.
But that didn't mean Hinata should be sharing the important details of her best friend's life.
Hinata shuddered. Talking about last year brought up memories she was happy to let lie.
"Yeah, I guess," Shino replied. His gaze on Hinata then sharpened. "And you? How are you after last year? We never talked about it or anything."
Of course they didn't talk about it. Hinata didn't talk about it with anyone, not even her father and her cousin—or maybe she should say especially her father and her cousin. The only two people she'd talked about it to were Sakura and Ino.
She suddenly hated how sharp Shino Aburame was.
The constant talk about last year caused Hinata to blow out her breath. Sakura had warned them it was to be expected. Things couldn't go smooth the first day, she had told them. They needed to be the ones to smooth them out.
Hinata was eager to erase last year.
Therefore, she would begin by smoothing things out immediately.
"I'm good," she told him. Then, for added effect, she smiled huge at him. "I'm always good."
Right.
He continued looking at her with his blank, dark eyes.
Hinata found herself wishing he was wearing his sunglasses right now, the ones he wore everywhere but unfortunately Dr Tsunade wasn't too fond of them in school.
She squirmed under his critical gaze.
"Shino, seriously."
"Yeah, I'm not really feelin' that, Hinata."
"It's true. Really," she said.
She looked up gratefully when she heard their teacher enter the class with a, "Alright, brats. Get out your books now. First day of school does not mean we're not studyin'. I only get paid for this shit if I work."
Genma Shiranui was a laidback teacher with brown shoulder-length hair that hung about his face with an ever present bandanna and brown eyes. He was thirty and had begun at Konoha High when he got out of college while he looked for another job. That temporary period lasted eight years and he could deny it all he wanted but it was clear he loved teaching.
It was just as well since the kids loved him too.
And everyone loved his wisecracks. Profane as he was, he was one of Hinata's favorite teachers at Konoha High, which was saying a lot because the school had the best teachers she'd ever known.
It was only first period yet, but she'd had the chance to overhear some rumors going around that he was pining for the Rin Nohara, the pretty school nurse. There was another rumor going around that said he was planning on asking her out that very day.
"That sucks," someone from the back of the class stated. Hinata was pretty sure it was Kiba.
"Life sucks," Genma replied. "Books. Now."
Yes, that was Mr Shiranui.
It seemed to Hinata that the situation with Ms Nohara probably didn't go to well.
"I have to leave ten minutes early. Got a situation." He explained, more like his usual self. "So let's speed things up, huh, guys?"
Hinata looked back at Shino, who frowned before dragging his gaze away from her and towards his book.
She didn't think he was all that convinced.
It didn't matter.
What mattered was that he along with everyone else who could possibly remember her drama from last year simply just forget.
Which was a long shot, but she'd hope for the best.
The usual route Kiba took to World History class was down the corridor and into the main hall. But the main hall had those two large plasma screens up on opposite sides near the ceiling, the ones Tsunade had ordered in last year, for the weary job of relaying school announcements and the like to students.
Kiba feared he'd be compelled to drive a fist through both screens if he saw them again.
And since he needed a suspension like he needed a bullet in his head, he'd taken the longer route and was strolling through the back hallway when it happened.
His cell phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked around before picking a secluded corner to check his phone.
It wasn't like cell phones were forbidden or anything. But using them during school hours wasn't all that appreciated either.
As he glanced at the screen, he saw it was a message from a number he had long ago deleted.
It was Ami.
Bitch.
He wondered for a second if she was completely insane. Why the fuck would she be contacting him now? Or more, why the fuck was she contacting him at all?
The girl was fucking insane.
He wasn't loving this.
Still, instead of hitting delete like every cell in his body was urging him to do, he read it.
Then he fumed.
And then resisted the urge to fling his phone across the hall at the lockers.
Bitch.
"Hello, Sakura."
Sakura craned her neck to see Shino Aburame walking past her to his chair and called out cheerfully, "Hey, Shino!"
He tilted his head towards her and sat back on his chair. Then he gestured towards the table a few feet away on the right. "Hinata mentioned you were in this class. You were late. Saved you a seat."
Shino was a good friend of Hinata's since middle school. He was a quiet guy, she knew. But that didn't mean he wasn't a nice one.
"Thanks a lot." She shot him a genuine smile before heading towards her table. She lowered her books there and turned back to call out, "I got caught up talking to Ino after English and didn't realize. Thanks again."
His lips tipped up a little at the sides and he nodded before turning to a guy next to him.
Sakura glanced around; noting that she was way late and was only lucky Ms Yuuhi wasn't here yet. Kurenai Yuuhi was a pretty easygoing AP Chemistry teacher, but she didn't have much patience for tardiness. And even if Sakura never pulled a late-show before, Kurenai wouldn't really like it. So Sakura thanked God she'd shoved Ino down the hall when she noticed the time and instantly hightailed it for AP Chemistry.
She glanced at the clock above the board to see that Kurenai was at least fifteen minutes late, which was a big deal. Especially on the first day of school. Kurenai was never late.
Just as she thought that, there was a flurry of activity outside the hall and she focused on the dark haired woman juggling a bunch of papers and jogging towards the class.
"Sorry, sorry!" Kurenai called as she tossed all the papers at her table and took a deep breath. "I'm going to go crazy with all this paperwork and it's only the first day."
"What happened, Ms Yuuhi?" Someone asked from the back.
She answered instantly with a, "Tsunade," and most of everyone burst out in light laughter and Sakura grinned.
Sakura had taken one on one afterschool classes with the crazy Dr Tsunade last year. She adored Tsunade. She respected Tsunade. She had reason to. She was a no-bullshit, straight up brilliant kickass woman. But then again, she was a little bit wacky.
"I can only hope she was drunk when she gave me all this," Kurenai grumbled as she straightened the mess on her desk. "Because if she wasn't, that woman's crazy."
Oh, yeah. That was another thing about Tsunade. She liked drinking. So she drank.
More laughter.
"Anyway," Kurenai looked up from her table at the class. "I was thinking we'd start off with an experiment first, a little something to kick things off for the first day. But we don't have the time for it now. So I'll just give out some worksheets. Fill them up, sign your name and for today, that'll be it."
There was a general buzz, no doubt relief at the light load and surprise that Kurenai was going easy on the class. Sakura looked up as she detected motion and saw Shikamaru at the door.
"Yo, Ms Yuuhi," he greeted.
Kurenai regarded him with an extremely unhappy look. "You're late."
Shikamaru didn't miss a beat. "Maybe you'll let it slide since it's my first offence."
That one earned snickers. Sakura fought a smile and reminded herself he was an asshole.
Kurenai narrowed her pretty eyes and remarked, "Maybe I'm not feeling generous."
Shikamaru kept at it. "Maybe I'll get lucky since it's the first day."
"Maybe you won't."
"Maybe I already am, considering you were pretty late when I saw you rushin' to class."
"Get in your seat, Nara," Kurenai snapped, but her tipped up lips couldn't be missed.
Shikamaru grinned as he scanned the class, and that's when Sakura felt a surge of panic. Because the seat next to her was available.
No fucking way was she partnering with him in Chemistry for the entire year again because that's what happened once you were seated in Kurenai's class. The seat became your seat. So he wasn't going to sit here because she did not want him to. Not after he broke her best friend's heart. He wasn't sitting next to her this year too, no way. He had to pick another seat. If he sat next to her, that would surely throw a notch in her plan to freeze him out.
So no fucking way.
He began strolling through the door and down the middle of the room.
Desperately, Sakura twisted her neck to search for another available seat. She saw one, way in the back corner.
No way in hell was she retreating all the way there.
He'd have to go back there.
He had to.
All her hopes were dashed when he came to an abrupt stop at her table, lowered his books on the table and settled on the seat next to her.