Whoohoo! Updating's not getting to be so hard anymore. Actually, I can't wait to update next time! I'm so pumped! Yeah! Ahem, anyway, I'm still waiting for the right moments for multiple pairings I might try. Also, I'm looking back on Nori's original character design and personality to see who would be compatible (or in some cases, I'll make them compatible). Anywho, there may be some relationships that I overlooked that I actually put in some chapters, so if there is that means that my strategy is working! Oh, and thanks for the reviews!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Master Misashi Kishimoto. What a lucky dog.
GYM
The other few classes were a breeze for mostly everyone who had half a brain. However, gym didn't really require a brain.
"GOOD AFTERNOON MY STUDENTS!" the gym teacher shouted vigorously.
He rendered most of the class half-deaf. The class was made up of seventh graders and eighth graders. Lee, Neji, and Tenten were in Nori's class.
"Okay, now I'm deaf in my right ear," Nori said, rubbing her ear.
"You get used to it," Tenten whispered.
"GOOD AFTERNOON GAI-SENSEI!" Lee shouted back, his hand to his forehead like a navy seal.
"There goes my left ear."
Gai sighed grandly. "If only all of you worthless weaklings could be like that youthful, handsome, young man right over there!" Gai said, pointing to Lee. "Then maybe I would have a reason to strive as a better teacher!"
"He doesn't hesitate to show favoritism," Neji muttered, annoyed. "Let's just get on with this class!"
Gai stared at Neji for a second. "All right! The name of the game is Dodgeball! The last man—er, or woman—standing doesn't have to do a hundred laps around the school!" He heaved a bucket of red rubber balls and threw them onto the basketball courts. "GO NOW!"
The students scattered. Nobody wanted to do that. But no matter how hard all the students tried, they couldn't really compare to Neji or Lee. The two were the only ones left. Then with a swift throw, Neji hit Lee squarely on the backside.
"NO!" Lee shouted dramatically as he unnecessarily hit the ground.
"Lee, get up," Neji said, towering over him. "I didn't throw that hard."
"You just can't compare to him, can you, Lee?" Tenten said, shaking her head and looking down at him.
Lee sighed. He put a hand to his chest. "I vow to work even harder to be able to claim victory over my one true rival!"
"Whatever, Lee."
"Passionate, isn't he?"
"About everything," Tenten said, rolling her eyes. "Why can't he just get that he won't be able to defeat Neji?"
"Actually, I think it's kind of amusing," Nori smiled. "He's like a kid."
"He is a kid. At heart and age," Tenten remarked.
"KEEP RUNNING!"
"HAI GAI-SENSEI!"
The girls sweat dropped.
Neji was just sitting against the wall looking superior and doing nothing. He was obviously enjoying everyone's misery on the inside.
"Sometimes I kind of wish that Lee would beat Neji, though," Tenten confessed. "Lee's been running laps all the time, even without it as a punishment."
"I can tell," Nori said. She glanced at Neji as they passed. "He looks so pompous."
"He is. But he has a reason."
"True."
Lee finished a long time before everyone, gasping and panting, finished.
"All right, go on home!" Gai shouted. He struck a pose and his teeth sparkled. "And remember, don't smoke crack and brush at least two times a day!"
"You are so wise!" Lee said passionately.
The class sweat dropped.
SKATING RINK…
Nori sat at a table with her school bag seated on a chair with bundles of wonderful glorious homework. Without the wonderfulness or gloriousness that is. She never brought home a perfect report card, but her parents never really cared too much. Of course they wanted her to do great in school, but they always knew that she tried her best. They somehow always knew. Maybe she's be able to get all A's this year. For them.
Flashback
"Let's see that report card, Nori," mother said.
"What report card?"
"The one you got today, dear."
"Uh…the school had a small problem. There were these electricity-eating bugs that took over the computer systems and the teachers couldn't print out the report card," I said innocently.
Her mother and father smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Well, I guess we'll have to wait—" At that moment, father grabbed my backpack and pulled out my transcript.
MATH B
SCIENCE B
ENGLISH A-
SOCIAL STUDIES C
PE A
ART B+
"I'm sorry," I said sadly, my eyes starting to sting.
"You almost got all A's and B's!" mother said proudly. "I am so proud of you!"
"But you said you wanted all A's," I said.
"The important thing is that you did your best, Nori," father said. "That's all that matters. Heck, it's better than my fifth grade grades!"
I giggled. "What did you get again?"
"Straight D's for Dude, that's great!"
I laughed more. They always understood.
End Flashback
"Hey. Are you crying?"
Nori looked up to see Gaara standing there. "Of course not." She pretended to flip a stray strand of hair and wiped her eye. "Didn't think you'd show up."
Gaara shrugged. "Got nothing better to do."
"Right."
"Hey," Shikamaru said, coming over with Sasuke and Sakura. "Are you ready to get this group exercise thing done?"
The two nodded.
"Don't just stand there, you guys," Nori said, putting her bag on the floor. "Sit down."
Everyone sat.
"Do you guys want to do homework or—"
"Homework is a hassle," Shikamaru said, propping his head on his hand. "But I finished it."
"Me too," Sakura said.
"Yeah," Gaara said.
"Well obviously I finished," Sasuke said.
"Well thanks for telling me, guys," Nori said, shutting her book. "Then maybe we should just skate."
"I'm going home. This is lame," Sasuke said, getting up.
"Sit down, Uchiha," Nori said dangerously. "Do you want to flunk the assignment?"
Sasuke scowled and planted his dairy-air to the chairy-air. "Don't order me around," he mumbled.
"You guys aren't even wearing skates," Nori said, crossing her arms.
"So?" the boys said.
"So you're missing the whole point of the skating rink," Nori said obviously.
The others decided not to anger her and rented some skates. After that they pretty much just stood there.
Nori threw her hands up in the air. "You guys are hopeless!"
"No we aren't," Shikamaru said.
"Why do you even bother anyway?" Sasuke asked coolly. "Why don't we just make something up and get on with our lives?"
"Because that's cheating," Nori said. Then she thought for a bit and put her finger to her chin. "Although…"
"No, you're right," Sakura sighed. "We can't cheat. Can we?"
"Of course not," Nori said, shaking her head. "We can't cheat."
"Then what do you propose we do?" Gaara asked. "Just say that we went to the skate park and did nothing?"
"No," Nori said. "Here's an idea." She leaned in close to the group. "Let's skate."
"Fine," Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome…"
"It wouldn't kill anyone, I suppose," Gaara said. (A/N: lol OH GAARA)
Sasuke clearly didn't want to be standing there in roller skates like a fool with Sakura ready to hook her arm with his so he said, "I guess I'm coming too."
"I will too!" Sakura said immediately.
"Cool. Let's go," Nori said, grabbing the two hands that were closest which just happened to be Shikamaru's and Gaara's. She pulled them along while they tried to keep their balance.
"C'mon, you two!" Nori called back over her shoulder to Sasuke and Sakura.
Sasuke started skating while trying to keep up with the determined girl while Sakura followed after him.
They entered the rink which was full of friends and lovers holding hands. Nori let the two struggling boys loose and they fell flat on the ground.
Gaara and Shikamaru cursed, (A/N: Like I said, I'm a virgin. Sorry cursers) rubbing their backsides.
"You guys don't know how to skate, do you?" Nori said, squatting down.
"Of course I can skate," Shikamaru said, standing up and steadying his self. "I choose not to. And I'd rather skate without someone dragging me along."
Nori put on an innocent smile.
Gaara got up without a word and wobbled. He mumbled indescribably and skate-walked to the side of the rink.
"What's wrong, Gaara?" Nori asked.
Gaara stared at her.
"Okay, I know what's wrong," Nori admitted.
"I. Am. Going. Home."
"No you're not," Nori said. "You have to stay. Everyone else is!"
The two glanced at Shikamaru who was moving two miles per hour and Sasuke who was tearing up the place with Sakura behind him shouting "Sasuke-kun! Wait!"
"See, they're having fun," Nori said. "Besides, we only started."
"And we ended," Gaara said.
Nori smirked. "If you can't skate, that's fine. Sasuke skates well enough for all of us anyway. See you later, Gaara."
Gaara glared at her. "That's not going to work."
"It's too bad you can't just learn how to skate or something," Nori said. "I'm not all that great either."
"I'm leaving."
"All right."
Gaara headed for the exit when Nori snagged his arm and started skating as quickly as Sasuke.
"What the heck!"
Nori laughed. "Isn't this fun?" Her auburn hair flew behind her as she turned a corner.
Gaara's eyes were wide. "Stop!"
"Why?"
They passed Sakura then Sasuke. Sakura decided that this was the perfect time to try out her move on Sasuke. "Whoa!" Sakura squealed as she "tripped" forward. "Sasuke, help!"
Sasuke, because of the gentleman he was and on instinct…let her drop.
"Ow!"
"Oops."
"Sasuke-kun! Help please!"
Sasuke groaned, picked her up by the hands and started to wrench himself out of her grasp. "You can let go now."
"Sorry." She reluctantly let go.
By this time, Shikamaru had gotten to the two one-sided lovers and Gaara and Nori were making another round.
"Look out!"
"What the—"
"Sasuke-kun!"
"Argh!"
The five crumbled into a steaming pile of students. Nori and Gaara on the bottom, Shikamaru on top of them, and Sasuke and Sakura on top of him.
Nori cracked up. "Ha, ha! That was wicked awesome!"
"My intestines…" Shikamaru moaned.
"Okay, I've had enough fun," Gaara stated. "Now everyone please get off of me."
Gaara was being so polite about it so everyone removed themselves from crushing him physically.
"Well, that was surprising," Sakura said, brushing herself off.
"I'm done here," Sasuke said.
"Me too," Shikamaru said. "I skated a around the whole rink."
"You skated half of the rink," Nori corrected.
"Half, whole, whatever. Either one is troublesome enough," Shikamaru said. "Of course, you're welcome to trip over more people. I've had my fair share."
"Heh, isn't apologizing a hundred times enough? You seemed less temperamental when we met."
"Yeah well, I was in a good mood."
"I for one think that we've spent enough quality time to do the rest of this accursed assignment," Gaara said. With a small wave, he was out the doors.
"Er, I don't think we've had enough time," Sakura said, blushing. "Sasuke-kun, how about—"
"—I go home," Sasuke finished. "Later losers."
"I'm regarding that last comment, Uchiha," Nori said, poking him in the back. "Just get out of here."
Sasuke looked back and gave her a death glare. "Whatever."
"That guy is trouble," Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "Later." He left as well.
"I think I'd better see if Sasuke-kun's all right," Sakura said. "He took a pretty bad fall."
Nori was about to tell her that Sasuke was the one that fell on top of everyone, but decided against it. The Uchiha needed some "spark" in his life, and Sakura was the one to give him that "spark". Hehe. Poor guy. "All right."
Sakura ran off.
9:00 PM
Nori sat in her bed with the lamp dimly lit. Her notebook was open and she was finishing off her English homework.
Although everyone has different personalities, I think that our day was pretty good on my part. Who knows? We may even become to like each other.
She shut her notebook, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
7:50 AM
"Kakashi-sensei?" Nori said timidly as she opened the door to the classroom. She was with Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Gaara.
"Hm?" Kakashi said distantly as his pupil followed the lines of the pages in his dirty book.
"Is there any chance that there is…an alternate assignment for us?"
Kakashi paused and turned to the group. "Why, is there any trouble?"
"Sort of," Nori said. You are loving this, aren't you sensei?
"Hm. Well, actually, there is an alternate assignment," Kakashi said.
"Really?" Nori breathed.
"Yes. You are all aware of my favorite series, aren't you?" Kakashi asked.
Everyone stared at the book he was holding and nodded.
"Well, I want you to read two volumes and demonstrate—"
"Never mind, we're good," Nori said nervously. She pushed her group out of the classroom.
"I don't even want to know what he had in mind," Sakura shivered.
"We'll just have to cope, okay?" Nori said.
"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome sensei…"
"Well, we'll cope, but it doesn't mean we have to like it," Sasuke said indifferently.
"No one said that they'd like hanging out with you," Nori snapped.
The two glared at each other.
"Oh boy," Shikamaru groaned.
"Hey Nori! Hey baka," Naruto shouted.
"What do you want?" they both said angrily.
"Uh…"
"Let's not waste our time," Gaara advised as he went back into Kakashi's classroom.
Sasuke put on his I'm-too-cool-for-you look on his face and entered as well.
"Um…" Sakura said uncertainly. "Bye!" She retreated into the classroom as well.
Shikamaru shook his head and went in too.
"Did I miss something?" Naruto asked.
"Well—"
BRING!
"Let's just go in," Nori said, opening the door.
"Okay…" Naruto said.
AFTER SCHOOL
"What fun will we have today?" Shikamaru said sarcastically.
"Well, maybe we could go—"
"I want to choose today, if it's okay with you," Sakura interrupted. "After all, you got to choose yesterday."
"Fine," Nori said, a little offended. "What do you want to do?"
"I thought that maybe we could go see a movie," Sakura answered.
"What's it called?"
"Lovers in Twilight," Sakura said dreamily. (A/N: That was off the top of my head.)
Everyone made a gagging sound.
"What?" Sakura said, crossing her arms.
"No offense, but that's a chick flick," Shikamaru said.
"Well! Then what do you want to do smarty?"
"Maybe just go to the park…watch the clouds…" Shikamaru said. "Or we could just save ourselves the trouble and watch them from here."
"Boring," Nori drawled.
"Fine then." Shikamaru looked insulted.
"Sorry, Shikamaru," Nori said. "But how about we do something more exciting?"
"Like what? Bungee jumping?" Sasuke said.
"That—"
"No," Gaara said immediately. "We aren't going to get ourselves killed (A/N: HA) over this pointless assignment. I say that we just do something simple…like go over to someone's house or something."
"Are you volunteering?" Sasuke asked.
"Well I—"
"That's good enough for us," Shikamaru said impatiently. "Let's just go to Gaara's house, have some kind of study group or something, and get on with our lives."
"Fine with me," Sasuke said.
"Me too," Sakura said.
"Okay," Nori shrugged. "If that's okay with you, Gaara."
"Whatever," Gaara sulked.
A few minutes later…
"Wait…" Sakura said, stopping. "I know this place…"
The others looked at her strangely.
"What are you talking about?" Nori asked.
"This…this is…this is Ino's neighborhood!" Sakura exclaimed.
"So…?"
"So? So! Ino is the meanest girl in school," Sakura explained.
"I thought she was the most popular…" Shikamaru said slowly.
Sakura made a face. "Only because of her looks."
"Well we aren't going over to her house," Nori said, rolling her eyes. "What's the big—"
"Oh Sasuke-kun!"
"Argh!"
Ino had attacked Sasuke…again.
"Get off."
Ino giggled. "Oh Sasuke-kun, what are you doing in my little old neighborhood?"
"That's no of your business, Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted.
"And more importantly," Ino said, getting off of poor Sasuke. "What are you doing with Forehead Girl?"
"We're just going to Gaara's house," Nori said. "What's with you?"
"Nothing," Ino said, flipping her hair. "I was just wondering what you guys were doing. You all look pretty suspicious, you know."
"Do we now?" Shikamaru said uninterestedly.
Ino shot daggers at him. "Well, I must be going then." She flounced off. "Oh. And see you later, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke glared.
"That was close!" Sakura breathed.
"That girl is all kinds of weird," Nori remarked.
"Ino…" Sakura looked devious. A flame sprouted behind her and an evil aura enveloped her. Her clenched fists shook.
The others stared at her and backed away.
If that scantily clad pig thinks she can steal Sasuke-kun from me she's got another thing coming! RAWR! She's gonna wish she never set eyes on my Sasuke-kun! Sakura thought angrily punching an imaginary Ino.
"Sorry to interrupt your inner rage," Shikamaru said. "But we're due at Gaara's house."
"Right!" Sakura said brightly. "Lead the way!"
They sweat dropped.
"My house is here," Gaara said, walking up the driveway of a small quaint house. It was the color of—you guessed it—sand.
"I'm home," Gaara called.
"Duck and cover!" a male's voice shouted. "I mean, how was your day, Gaara?"
A guy taller than Gaara with purple face paint stood up from behind a couch.
"Fine," Gaara mumbled.
"Are you hungry?" A girl with blond hair pulled into four spiky ponytails walked out from the kitchen. "We can order out."
"Who're these…people?" the boy asked.
"My study group," Gaara answered.
"Oh."
Gaara started walking into the hallway.
"Gaara?"
"What?"
"Don't you want to…I don't know, introduce your uh…siblings?" Nori asked.
"No."
They stared at him as he quietly turned and walked into a room. The door creaked shut.
"Don't mind him," the girl said, laughing nervously. "He's going through some preteen faze."
The twelve-year olds nodded. "Sure…"
"So, I'm Temari, Gaara's older sister," the girl said. "And this is Kankuro."
"Hey," Kankuro said quietly. "Just don't touch anything here, got it?"
"We aren't here to wreck your house, if that's what you think," Shikamaru said matter-of-factly.
Temari muffled a giggle.
Kankuro snorted. "Whatever, kid."
"We keep getting side-tracked," Sasuke said. "Let's just go already."
Gaara's got some kind some study group, Temari thought.
Stupid kids, Kankuro thought.
The group filed into Gaara's room. It was…bare. The wallpaper was tan. He had a small bed at the side and a desk with a computer. Another door trailed into a closet. The floor was so spotless you could see your reflection in the floorboards.
"…Nice room, Gaara," Nori said.
The students got some homework done and that was it. Not much arguing arose and there was no blood. They all left quietly except for Gaara who lived there. Things weren't going so bad.
CHEMISTRY (Kurenai's class)
"How were your first two days of bonding?" Kiba joked.
"Fine," Nori said. She smiled sweetly. "What about you? I heard that you got Ino and Chouji in your group."
Kiba made a face. "Ino's annoying and Chouji complains that he's hungry every two seconds. With all the junk he eats it's a mystery how he's able to walk around."
Kiba poured a blue liquid into a beaker of clear liquid. It started changing color.
"Ugh, we had a run-in with Ino the other day," Nori said.
"She just loves spreading misery," Kiba said. "She practically killed Akamaru for coming into her room. Heck, she almost killed me and Chouji for coming into her room."
"I can picture that." Nori wrote a few notes down.
"Yeah. But luckily, we only have to spend today with our nightmares and the stupid homework is over." He put in a few drops of yellow liquid.
"Kiba no!"
"Holy—"
BOOM!
Green liquid exploded over the two. Nori lifted her goggles and glared at Kiba.
"Eh…heheh…" Kiba said nervously. "KurenaisenseiIhavetogotothebathroomI'lljusttakeapassbye!" (Eh…heheh….Kurenai-sensei I have to go to the bathroom I'll just take a pass bye!) Kiba dashed out of the room with a bathroom pass.
"Yeah, you'd better run fool!" Nori shouted, shaking her fist at Kiba. "You're in BIG trouble when you get back!"
The next day they went to see Sakura's movie, though mostly everyone was reluctant. Sakura always glanced at Sasuke and stared at his hand that was seated on the chair arm. Sasuke made sure to make a grab for popcorn whenever Sakura tried to hold his hand. Shikamaru just sat there with a bored look on his face and sipped a soda. Nori was twitching throughout the mushy parts. Gaara stared murderously at the screen.
Sakura desperately waited for a scary part. Right now, the lovers were in the twilight (WOW) and were about to lock lips when something jumped out of them. Sakura wasn't expecting that, so she squealed and grabbed onto Sasuke.
"What the heck?" Sasuke seemed paralyzed. "Sakura…let…go…"
Nori smirked. "Having fun, Sasuke?"
"Sorry!" Sakura exclaimed, letting go slowly.
"Thank you," Sasuke muttered.
"This is troublesome and boring," Shikamaru sighed. "I'm going to go wait outside. I'm done watching this perverted junk." He stood up only to be pushed down by some person who was really getting into the movie.
"Sit down! Some of us want to see the movie!"
"Well that's fine for you," Shikamaru said, annoyed. "But I don't want to—"
"Will someone shut those two up?"
"Sh!"
"Don't shush me!"
"Shut up!"
"Argh! No slapping!"
"What the he—"
"Freak!"
The group ducked as popcorn and candy flew around the audience.
"This was so not a good idea," Nori said.
"Gee, you think?" Gaara said. "Let's get out of here!"
"Okay!"
The group hustled out of that madhouse.
"Well, that was fun," Nori said, brushing off her clothes.
"No it wasn't."
"You started it, Shikamaru," Nori pointed out.
"It doesn't mean I enjoyed it."
"I think it was exciting!" Sakura exclaimed. She was obviously happy because she got to cling onto Sasuke for a heavenly ten seconds.
"Not me," Sasuke said.
Gaara shook his head. "That was…that was murder."
"I thought a movie theater would be a peaceful place," Shikamaru moaned. "Guess I was wrong for once."
HOME ECONOMICS (with Ebisu)
Nori was in Home Ec with Chouji and Shino. (A/N:Yeah. Shino. Weird? Beyond belief.) She had been dragging on about her desolation and woes. Surprisingly, they were very good listeners.
"Shikamaru started that?" Chouji said, dazed. "Wow."
"That is unbelievable," Shino said.
"Well, it's true," Nori said. "So what about you guys?"
"Kiba and his dog drives Ino nuts who drives me nuts which reminds me of nuts which makes me hungry," Chouji said, reaching into a bag of nuts.
"Nuts go into the brownies," Ebisu said, slapping Chouji's hand with a wooden spoon.
"Ow…closet pervert…"
An unsuspecting ant crawled across the table.
Nori was about to squish it when Shino caught her hand. "What?"
"Ants have feelings too." He let it crawl onto his finger and put it near a crack in the wall.
"Okay…" She glanced into the bowl of dark, chocolate brown cake mix and made a face. "Chouji!"
"What?"
"You left the bowl by the window! There are millions of ants in here!"
The class stared at them and made faces.
"GROSS!"
"Ew!"
"Chocolate ants?"
Shino looked as crestfallen as Shino could look. "So many lives…"
On their last day together, Shikamaru won them over with his complaining. They all went to the park to have a picnic and…laid there…watching clouds…YAWN. Nap time.
"Shikamaru? Shikamaru? SHIKAMARU!"
"Huh, what?" Shikamaru said, jumping up. "What?"
"Get off," Nori ordered. "Man, I'm surprised you don't sustain any injuries when you sleep!"
"Sorry."
"Forget it," Nori said, rolling onto her stomach. She took a soda, opened it, and held it high. "Here's to the last day of Kakashi's assignment!"
"Here, here," Sasuke said, holding up his drink.
They all clinked soda cans and took a drink. At the same time.
"You know, I'd hat to say it, but it wasn't that bad," Gaara admitted. Yes. Gaara.
The others started snorting and cracking up. Soda flew out of noses and mouths.
"Ugh! Gaara!" Nori exclaimed, laughing and pushing him playfully. "Now you choose to have a sense of humor?"
FRIDAY
Kakashi had taken the assignments from his students. It was the end of the day and everyone was awaiting their well-deserved weekend. "I'd like to remind all of you that a special guest speaker is coming in on Monday." Kakashi looked completely ecstatic. "So don't be late for class and dress in your best school clothes."
There were a few things wrong with Kakashi that day.
1. He showed excitement.
2. He was lecturing about not being late.
3. He was telling them to wear nice clothes.
That definitely spelled trouble.
Long chapter! Told you I was pumped.Yeah, I decided to put the rest of Kakashi's assignment in ONE CHAPTER. WOW. I need reviews to keep my streak up! Oh, and for the record, Gaara is winning!
R&R please!
-TTF