So, it really has been too long. Like, 4-5 months too long. x| But, this is pretty long. And the next chapter is pretty long. The chapter after that is probably gonna be pretty short. But yeah, things are gonna get pretty intense. It is a drama, after all! Now, enjoy :]

"No, Lizzi-chan, I wasn't on a date with him!" Kari tried to convince her best friend. They were currently eating inside of a McDonald's resturant. It was the day after the Sakura Festival, and somehow everyone in school believed that Kari and Shikamaru were dating.

"Really, then? Well, if it wasn't a date, then why'd you kiss him?" Lizzi asked as she took a sip of her soda.

Kari sighed, "I don't know. I didn't even know I liked the kid!"

"That makes two of us," Lizzi murmured.

"Well, what am I supposed to do!?" Kari became very anxious, "It was so awkward in school today! I don't believe that I have ever gone a day without speaking to Nara Shikamaru. I didn't even realize that he was in almost all of my classes! Did you know that, 'cause I didn't!" Kari was in a panic, and it was showing quite clearly.

Lizzi smiled warmly at Kari. Her expression was very caring and understanding, which was quite strange and abnormal. Usually, the two were constantly poking fun at one another and such. They didn't seem like best friends, yet at the same time, it was obvious.

"Ne, Kari-chan? How about you just act normal? Then, if he actually likes you, he will ask you out. And if not, well, end of story!" Lizzi suggested.

"I guess so... Whatever," Kari said in an exhausted voice.

The door opened and in walked Temari, Yumi, and Konan. When they spotted Kari and Lizzi, they waved and walked over. Yumi was pulling something out of her bag as she approached them.

"Konnichiwa!" Yumi greeted and handed a paper crane to Kari. Although utterly confused, Kari accepted it. Seeing her expression, Yumi laughed at herself and explained. "It's an invitation to my party during Golden Week! May 1st, tell your friends!" Yumi was rather cheerful and excited as she spoke, but it seemed rehearsed.

Kari smiled at the senior and opened up the crane. Inside it was the information concerning the party. Lizzi was looking on, but then caught herself marveling at the paper.

"These fold lines are completely even!" she admired, "This is an absolutely perfect crane! Who was the genius that folded it?"

"That would be the origami goddess, Konan-chan!" Temari grinned and tapped her hand on her friend's shoulder.

Konan simply smiled with a modest sense. "It's nothing, really," she spoke quietly. She sounded somewhat embarrassed.

I still need to talk to Yumi about niisan!

"Ano, Yumi-chan-"

"Let me be with you~"

Unfortunately, Kari was cut off by Lizzi's astonishingly loud ringtone. Lizzi pulled out her cell phone from the contents of her pocket and looked at the called ID.

"Naruto? What the hell does he want," she sounded annoyed. Lizzi flipped open her phone.

"Yo, what's up? ...Right now? ...Oh, well, we're at McDonalds. ...I don't know, will he be okay with that? ...Oh, well, okay. ...I don't know, Naruto! Don't ask me that! ...Alright, I'll ask her!"

Lizzi turned to Kari, who was busying herself by playing with the paper crane. She would have been listening in on the conversation, but at the moment, Kari had a short attention span. "Shikamaru wants Naruto to ask me to ask you if you would say yes if he asked you out," Lizzi spat out in one quick breath. Kari just gave her a blank stare and a dumb look. Naruto yelled at her through the phone.

"Oh, Shikamaru didn't want to know? You were just curious? ...What the hell, baka! Why didn't you ask her yourself? ...Urusei! I'll see you in a few minutes. Ja."

Lizzi hung up her phone and looked at Kari, who was still dumbfounded. "Nevermind. We're meeting Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Lee at the park. Let's go." The two said goodbye to their senior friends and headed towards the park.

"Lizzi-chan, I don't know if I can do this..." Kari said with unease.

Lizzi rolled her eyes, "I don't see what the big deal is. All you did was kiss! I've kissed a lot of boys that I'm still friends with."

Kari went wide eyed. This was shocking news to her. "Like who!?" she asked persistantly.

"Naruto..." Lizzi blushed. Kari let out a noise that was somewhere along the lines of a gasp, squeal, and a laugh. "When did this happen? And why am I just learning of it now?"

"It was over the spring break when you were in New York. Sakura held a beginning of high school party type thing... But yeah, she invited everyone. Seriously, everyone in our year," Lizzi explained. She then added in a trailing off mumble, "That was also where I hooked up with Kiba..."

In a playful manner, Kari gave her friend a slight push and gaped at her. "You turned into a little skank while I was gone, ne? And that explains why Kiba's so much more cocky around now. I don't even wanna know what drove you to even touch that... thing," Kari shuddered, "But anyway, I bet this means that you and Gaara are no longer chaste." Kari couldn't help but laugh, as Lizzi couldn't help but blush. She looked around nervously and scratched her head. Kari looked at her in aghast.

"KOZUKI LIZZI! Fo' realz!?" she exclaimed. Numerous pedestrians walking by looked at her. Kari realized that she had used some American slang, so she probably seemed quite strange.

Shaking off what she had said, Kari's attention went back to her best friend. "Well?" she pressed on, "C'mon, Lizzi-chan, I'm your best friend! You can tell me anything and I won't judge you." She stuck out her pinky finger, "Promise."

Lizzi let out a small laugh and wrapped her pinky finger around Kari's. "Okay, but it's not what you think! It's just... you know," she very vaguely explained. Kari understood nonetheless. Before the conversation could go on any further, Lizzi's phone went off.

"Oh, speaking of my Gaara-kun, he wants to meet up with me," Lizzi informed after looking at her cell phone.

"Sure, invite him. Just hope that Naruto isn't... well, Naruto to him," Kari said simply.

Lizzi shook her head. "No, he wants to meet up with me. Alone," she stressed. Lizzi replied to Gaara quickly. Shutting her phone, she glanced at Kari with a grin planted on her face.

"Lizzi-chan, don't you dare ditch me!" Kari said through clenched teeth.

As she slowly backed away, Lizzi let out a fake cough. "I think I might be catching a cold!" she said in disbelief.

"You can't leave me after what I just said about Shikamaru!" Kari practically yelled as Lizzi kept getting further away from her.

Lizzi coughed again. "Be strong!" she said in a mock hoarse voice. Suddenly, her voice changed into a very sweet tone, "Sayonara!" Turning on her heel, Lizzi quickly rushed off in the opposite direction of the park.

"Lizzi-chan!" Kari called but the only reply that she recieved was a small wave. Accepting her defeat, Kari sighed and headed towards the park for her demise.

Okay, just stay calm. Besides, it's not like you're going to be alone with him!

The sky was becoming dark and cloudy. It looked as if to predict rain. The temperature had dropped a few degerees since after school. It didn't feel like spring anymore.

Just relax. You can talk to Naruto! Just Naruto, don't bother with anyone else. Kari nodded to herself in agreement to her plan. She finally felt calm and prepared.

When she reached the park, Kari was welcomed by only one, solitary person. He stood next to the slide and held a cigarrette in his hand. Seeing Kari, he took the last drag of it and exhaled in a sigh. Slowly, rain started falling from the sky. The boy flicked his cigarrette on the ground. He walked towards Kari, stepping on it as he went. He approached Kari and placed one hand on her shoulder, the other cupping her cheek.

"Watashi-" Kari began, but he stopped her with a kiss.

She started to kiss back, but then realized what she was doing. Kari stopped and stepped away from him "Sasuke! I'm sorry, but I don't like you!"

Sasuke ignored her refusal and forced another kiss onto her lips. Kari was very passive towards Sasuke's aggressive tongue entering her mouth. She found the taste of him awful. The ash flavor horrified her, yet Kari couldn't make herself back away from it's owner. Sasuke pushed Kari up against the back of the slide and started moving his hand up her shirt. She went to stop his hand, but her body froze when she opened her eyes to see the people whom she originally came here for.

Eyes set upon a rather angry and annoyed group of boys, Kari pushed Sasuke off of her and took a step toawrds her friends. Shikamaru looked at the ground and shook his head.

"Troublesome" was all he said before briskly walking away.

Everyone stood in silence. The only noise that could be heard was the tapping of the rain as it grew heavier and heavier.

Go after him! This isn't some typical drama show! If you want him, then go get him!

Kari now understood why in movies and shows the character who was just in a fight with their love interest wouldn't follow them afterward. It was simple, really. They were scared. They were afraid of making things worse, amoung plenty of other things. But, Kari didn't let her fear get in her way of chasing after what she wanted; who she really wanted. She didn't care about the popular and rich pretty boy, Hyuuga Neji, whom she had always crushed on. She didn't care about the emo, yet extremely attractive, Uchiha Sasuke, who she could never say no to and could have at the press of a button. All she wanted was to be with the one boy who had been by her side since she had arrived in Japan. The boy who she could be serious and careless with. The boy who actually had manners and was polite to her even though they we completely unformal.

Kari wanted Shikamaru.

She ran past an angry Naruto and an utterly confused Chouji and Lee. After she was out of sight, Naruto turned to Sasuke. The cocky raven-haired boy stood next to the slide with a smirk across his face. It was as if he thought he had somehow finally won Kari over.

Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted and lunged towards Sasuke with a punch. Impact was made and fight broke out amoungst the boys in the park.

"Shikamaru!" Kari called, "Shikamaru!" She had finally caught up to him, but only because he stopped moving. Shikamaru turned around to look at the distraught Kari. She honestly looked worse because of the rain. He, however, found her to look as beautiful as ever.

"Shikamaru..." Kari spoke very quietly.

"Kari, how could you?" he asked fiercely.

Kari felt ashamed and embarrassed for what she had done. "I didn't mean for that to happen, you have to believe me! He just sort of... forced himself on me. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Shikamaru." Her words were sincere, especially the final sentence.

Shikamaru let out something like a scoff. "You couldn't have pushed him away, could you? I'm not an idiot, Kari. You should've just told me that you didn't like me..." his voice got lower as he talked.

Kari gave him a nasty look. "You know, maybe I did want to kiss him! I am single, after all! It's not like you asked me out, so it's not like I have to save myself for you. I can kiss any boy I want to!" Kari argued in a very haughty tone. Shikamaru was shocked and hurt. He didn't say anymore before he left, leaving Kari alone in the rain.

Kari started walking. Not in any particular direction, she just walked. She walked and thought. She thought about Shikamaru. She thought about Sasuke. She thought about Naruto, and that was when it hit her.

He must be pissed.

She let out a sigh and looked up only to realize that she didn't know where she was.

That sucks.