Author's Note: It is technically Monday, so I'm uploading when I intended to! Just a bit late is all... Truth be told I'm starting a bit of a cold. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. I appreciate reviews, but I appreciate suggestions and polite criticisms even better :) Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or Pizza Hut, that that that's relevant.
P.S. Shout out to the review I have so far. I love you guys!
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UmePushy: Come on! I need more! I told all of my girlfriends about you, so don't hesitate to post some more!
100011101010: Hi! I want to share a secret with you. I've been making 5000 a week, at home! If you want to learn my tricks, just visit /, you won't regret it!
Ranjo: Seriously, don't click that link, I don't know what's up with the spam all of a sudden, I'm working on a solution...
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Ranjo: Where's the damn spam filter on here?
I spent the last few days using my lunch periods to gather information, but as time went on, it just got more and more redundant. It's quickly becoming clear that I need to launch my full scale assault.
"So, how's the investigation going?" Ino and I were waiting for the train as usual.
"It's coming to a standstill. Somehow, I'm going to have to get their attention and just open up a back door into their group. You think infecting their computers with a virus is illegal?"
"Pretty sure..."
"Dammit." I shook my head for a second. "Deja vu..." Ino laughed.
"You could see if any of you have anything in common?" I pulled a notebook out of my bag and flipped it open "Is that...?"
"It's my 'Akatsuki Databook'. That sounds way worse when I say it out loud. If anyone gets a hold of this, they're going to think I'm absolutely crazy."
"You think?" Ino laughed. "Okay, okay, do you have anything in common?" I flipped through the pages, scanning my notes, some pages emptier than others.
"Zetsu, no. Hidan, definitely no. Kakuzu, absolutely not. Sasori, no. Kisame, we both like fish? I suppose that doesn't really count. Tobi, probably not. Itachi, no, and I don't even know enough about him to be sure. Hell, what connects them to each other?" Ino was holding up six fingers.
"You're missing three."
"No. I'm missing two." I lifted up one of her fingers. "I don't have anything in common with the whiny one." She laughed.
"Alright, you're missing two. I think the two that you're missing graduated last year anyway."
"Maybe I could just...talk to them?"
"You think that's gonna work? I'm pretty sure almost every girl in the school has tried that. They're a class above us, so you're not just going to bump into them."
"Hey, it's worth a shot." I was uncharacteristically optimistic today. I crossed my arms. "A girl can dream, can't she?" I smirked at her.
"Yeah, you and like half of all the other girls." She playfully shoved me. "Oh, the train's coming, come on let's go." We took the train into the city, and finished our commute to school. I waited by the gate with the group of girls. I'm determined to get in.
"I'll meet you upstairs."
"You're really gonna do this, aren't you?"
"Hell yeah. I've got luck on my side today. Tenten said my fortune was 'best luck'. I'm feeling extra confident." I pumped my fist into the air in excitement.
"Alright, well, I'll be in class waiting to console you." She stuck out her tongue and walked away. I don't care if it takes me fifteen tries, I'm going to do it. I walked towards the school and waited at the main entrance, maybe if I accidentally bump into them I can start a conversation. A car pulled up and Itachi was the first one out as always. I gathered my book bag and walked outside, pretending to sort through it, looking for something. In my peripheral vision I could see him approaching. I tilted my head deeper into my bag right before the point of impact, making sure to look worried. I felt a thud and dropped my bag, as if on cue.
"Oh, sorry about that." I did my best to look genuine. I lifted my gaze and Itachi was looking at me, a bit blank. He started to open his mouth slightly, but was interrupted. One of the girls trailing him leaned down and whispered in my ear.
"Yeah you better be sorry about that." There was malice in her voice as she glared at me.
"Why I aught to..." I pushed up the sleeve of my cardigan and held up a fist The group continued to walk forward as I knelt on the ground gathering my things. Attempt number one, fail.
"Come on, we're going to be late for gym." Ino was tugging on my arm when I looked down the hallway and saw Hidan walk down.
"Hold on, wait. I did my research on this one." I waited by the wall with Ino and plastered a fake 'neighborly smile' on my face and waited for him to pass by.
"Hi, do you have time to talk about our lord and savior Ja-"
"Fuck off, I'm not interested." Dammit. He continued by, without so much as glancing at me. Ino held back a laugh.
"Yeah, you definitely did your research on that one."
"Asshole." I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Come on, let's go." The two of us made our way to gym. Attempt number four, fail.
Tenten and I walked out of our classroom, finally finished cleaning. I flipped through my data book, looking at all of the people I have attempted to get to know, each one ending in failure.
"Seriously Aki, aren't you getting bored with this?" Tenten sounded concerned. "Just start knocking heads in for information, that'll get people to talk." She laughed.
"No, never, this is a challenge, and I will complete it." I flipped some more through my book. Each page had either a really blurry picture of them taken with a disposable camera, or a badly drawn approximation of what they looked like. I kept a list of all of their personal information, and a few other notes. It would probably be in my best interest to keep it somewhere safe, it's starting to get a little too bogged with information. "Oh look! This is my chance."
"Whatever, just let me know when you're done." She walked out of sight. Zetsu was walking down the hall, and I held out a piece of paper, and waved him down.
"Uh, excuse me, I hate to bother you, but do you think you could answer a question for me?" He slowed down, but I didn't give him the opportunity to tell me no. "I have an extra credit question for biology, and was hoping you could help. How can you recognize a sassafras tree in the wild?"
"Should we answer her? It's a pretty basic question." He spoke in a clear voice
"I don't know, do you want to?" He spoke again, but this time in a much more harsh, gravely voice.
"I suppose we could."
"It has three different leaves, unlobed oval, bilobed, and trilobed." He walked away, and I stood there dumbfounded. Did I just have a conversation with three people? Attempt number fourteen, fail, I think.
"I can't take this anymore! I've tried everything this past week, and I haven't gotten anywhere!" I leaned back in my seat, and slammed my textbook shut. "At this rate, I'm not going to find out anything new, and I can't keep this up, or they're going to be onto me." I ran my fingers through my hair.
"Just let it happen naturally, join a club or something, you said yourself that the art club was accepting new members, and aren't two of those guys into art? You're bound to run into one of them that way." Sakura did her best to offer advice. I groaned, my stress still rising. I'm running out of information to post online, if I don't get somewhere soon, I'm going to lose my readers.
"I don't feel like joining a club! I have things that I need to do at home!" It was a poor excuse, really, I just wanted to be able to nap.
"Well, isn't that your fault then?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Whatever, I need a break. I'm just gonna head over to the music room and relax for a bit, I'll talk to you guys later." I shoved my book into my bag and walked out of the class and to the music room. Music club didn't meet on Fridays so hopefully I can snag the piano. I walked down the empty hallway, most of the students had gone home by now. I went down the stairs, down another hallway, and turned into room 113. The room was empty and the lights were off. The club's instruments were neatly packed into the closet, and the upright piano was pushed up against the wall. I threw my bag on the floor and pulled out the bench, resting my fingers on the keys and inhaling deeply. There had been sheet music left behind that I recognized, and I started playing.
I didn't have the long graceful fingers or the melodic movement that most players had, but I wasn't bad I suppose. I could pull my own weight in music club, I think. This blog is taking up a lot of time though, and I still have my afternoon nap. It just wouldn't work. My fingers moved across the keys, distracted. I missed some notes, and accidentally skipped an entire line.
"You're playing too fast, that's why you're messing up." I didn't come here to have an underclassmen from the music club come and sass me out on my playing. I stopped playing and dropped my head in frustration.
"Oh yeah, well if you're so great then come over here and play it Mr. Piano Hands." I heard footsteps behind me and I stood up from the bench, grabbing my bag and turning around.
Oh shit.
I smacked myself in the head as I watched Itachi sit down at the bench. My one chance and I come off like a pretentious bitch, I spend an entire week and then it just falls out of the damn sky? Just my luck. He started playing and it put me to shame. He has those graceful movements that most amateurs drool over. Meanwhile, I looked like a troll having a temper tantrum. Ugh. This is embarrassing. I rested my head in my hands while leaning up against the shelf, waiting for him to finish so I could scrape up what little dignity I had left and just go back to class. His playing tapered off, and he sat there silently for a few moments with the slightest hint of a smirk on his face before gathering his things and leaving as abruptly as when he showed up. I stood off to the side, and stared at him as he walked out, not saying a single word.
He shows me up, and then leaves without saying anything? And people like him? I'm starting to think that this challenge isn't worth the effort anymore. I walked over to the piano, dropped the key cover loudly and stomped out of the room.
Attention Readers,
I will no longer be conducting research on the Akatsuki as I think they're a bunch of pretentious, no good, stuck up, snot nosed assholes.
I stared at my screen. That will certainly draw the readers in. I held down the backspace key until the text box was empty. I can worry about this tomorrow.
