"Oi, Naruto," Shikamaru yelled, waving his hand up in the air at the troublesome blonde. Shikamaru was highly irritated, but Hinata had asked him so kindly to retrieve Naruto for her, that it was almost impossible for him to say no. Even though he was Shikamaru, and he normally refused to listen to anyone. Hinata's kindness seemed to have a power over, well, everyone. It was impossible to say no to such a sweet girl. And that's how he had gotten himself into this mess, running back and forth between the building of the High School, all to find one obnoxious blonde.
When he finally found Naruto, the blonde boy seemed to be busy weight lifting. Shikamaru frowned. "I've called you like 10 times, haven't you ever heard of checking your cell phone?"
"Eh, sorry Shikamaru," Naruto replied, surprising Shikamaru with a tint of sadness in his voice. "I guess I got.. Distracted."
"You? Distracted? Never heard of that before," Shikamaru retorted sarcastically. He shook his head and sighed. "Hinata is looking for you. Don't ask why, she wouldn't tell me. Said it was 'personal'. Did you sleep with her?"
At that comment, Naruto seemed to snap out of his dazed face and return to his normal facade. "What? Of course not! How could you even say that - I mean, it's not like I wouldn't want to sleep with her, it's just... She's so sweet! But I didn't -"
"Okay, okay!" Shikamaru interrupted, waving his hands above his head in surrender. "I understand. Just shut up and go to her already."
Naruto gave an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "Will do... Thanks, erm, Shikamaru."
"Just call me back next time," Shikamaru replied, giving another sigh of annoyance.
Sakura panted, leaning over to rest her hands on her knees. She had been making a habit of running along the school's track field every morning before school, but her body was still not use to running a mile without stopping for a breather. Not to mention, the frigid cold air was seeping through her lightweight clothes, chilling the poor girl to the bone. She shivered, and then after taking a couple deep breathes, jogged her way up to the girls' locker room to shower and get ready for the long day ahead. As she expected, she was the only girl in the locker room this early in the morning, so she'd luckily have the showers to herself. There was nothing more awkward than having to shower in front of her whole track team.
The warm water heated up her nearly frozen body, and she had never been more thankful for a shower in her life. She could literally feel the water sliding down her petite frame, carrying away not only the cold, but also the stress these last weeks had brought her. Dealing with the sudden discovery of her hidden ability - which after a night in the library she realized where premonitions - had stressed the pinkette out tremendously. Enough so where the only thing she could think about where the strange people in her visions.
One stuck out in particular - a handsome raven-haired boy who'd she come to known as 'Sasuke'. Her premonitions never revealed his last name, otherwise she would have googled him. As for the other two boys... Google had about a million results for them, and she didn't feel like filtering through it.
Sakura peeked her head out of the shower curtain when she heard the door slam. Her green eyes scanned the room, but she didn't see anyone. Just in case, she turned off the water and wrapped her pink towel around her small frame. When she stepped out, she saw who had entered the room.
"There you are!" Ino gave a dramatic sigh, anger scrawled on her face. "Do you realize that you missed twenty minutes of first hour? They were about ready to call your mom, but you're lucky I know you and what you do in the mornings."
"I'll ignore that kind of stalkerish part at the end, and just say... Oh! My! Gosh! Have I really been showing for twenty minutes?" Sakura replied, smacking her hand hard against her forehead, the noise dimly echoing in the concrete room.
"Yeah, kind of," Ino said impatiently. "Get dress and let's go! This is the last day of school before Christmas break, so hurry it up so we can get the day over with already."
"I'm coming, jeez!" Sakura yelled grabbing her bag and running towards an empty stall to get changed.
As soon as Sasuke's eyes had closed, it was about 5 hours later when Juugo woke Sasuke up. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned that he actually fell asleep after all the sleep he had gotten in the past 24 hours. He was convinced that he slept more than half of yesterday away.
"It's 7:30," Juugo stated, pointing to the clock. "Suigetsu still sleeps."
Sasuke watched the ridiculously tall guy - Hell, Sasuke thought he was ridiculously tall at six foot two inches, but Juugo had him beat hard at six foot five inches - make his way to the small kitchen. A minute later he heard a sizzling pan and the smell of pancakes, which made Sasuke's stomach growl. He had spent all his time sleeping and being bitter, that he had completely forgotten to eat. Which seemed to be becoming reoccurring thing lately.
"Juugo, make me some," Sasuke said, not necessarily in a shout, but loudly enough for Juugo to hear him.
"Sure!" Juugo yelled back from the kitchen, and Sasuke turned his head back towards the blank TV.
Knowing Suigetsu, he wouldn't be up for another three or four hours, and Karin didn't get off work until about noon. So, Sasuke figured it would just be him and Juugo for a while. Sasuke didn't mind that. In fact, out of the three of the housemates, he found Juugo to be the most sufferable one. The twenty-two year old never tried to get into Sasuke's personal business, unlike his two annoying roommates.
Sasuke stomach growled again as Juugo came in with two plates of giant pancakes. Juugo returned to the kitchen for a second to bring back syrup and two glasses of water. Sasuke nodded his thanks, taking a sip of water. That sip turned into what seemed like a desperate gulp as he realized how dehydrated he was. Juugo didn't seem to notice.
"Suigetsu should be at school... But, I think he's taking the High School drop-out route like you and Karin did," Juugo said, trying to make simple conversation.
Sasuke replied between bites. "High School is for people who trick themselves into thinking that life holds some kind of value for them if they waste all their money on college."
"Hmm." Juugo seemed to think on that, staying quiet during the rest of breakfast. He took their dishes into the kitchen and stayed in their for a while; Sasuke figured he was doing the dishes since he heard the water running.
He returned to his place on the couch, not bothering with the TV. Nothing could keep him interested anymore.
"Hinata," Naruto greeted as he came into step by her.
"Naruto..." She said softly, making his heart literally melt with her smile.
Neither one of them acknowledged the cold as they walked in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Every once in a while Hinata would smile up at him, and when he smiled back, a small blush would appear on her face and she'd shyly look down. Naruto had found it adorable, and could never stop the smirk from appearing on his face.
After a couple minutes, Hinata finally spoke up.
"I just wanted you to know that your secret..." Hinata hesitated, fiddling with her thumbs. "Well, I'd never tell anyone, Naruto. I promise. You saved my innocence... It's the least I could do."
"Hinata..." Naruto starred down at her in stunned silence. A small, sad smile appeared. "Thanks, Hinata. Really, just thanks."
Her fingers intertwined with his. "Anything for you, Naruto."
"And finally!" Ino yelled, her hands slamming down on her desk. "I repeat... Leather was so 90s!"
"Wow," Sakura replied, shaking her head as she bit down on a carrot stick. "It took you about thirty minutes to express your disapproval of Tenten's outfit. I actually think she pulls it off."
"Yeah, she should pull it off and throw it into the nearest trash bag!" Ino taunted, and laughed along with two other girls who were sitting next to her. Sakura, however, refused to laugh at someone because of their clothing choice. Especially Tenten, who had always shown her kindness.
"Maybe we should teach that bitch a lesson," Miki suggested, an evil smirk on her round face. Anna nodded, and Ino got that look - the look of complete interest, one that Sakura had known to be something of complete 'evil'.
She had to admit, Ino's quest for High School domination was getting old. Her once nice, caring best friend had turned into something of a dictator, and Sakura didn't like it - at all. Sakura's fear that they would go overboard was the only thing that convinced her to follow the girls to wear Tenten sat outside. It was common for the outcasts to sit outside, even in the bitter coldness of winter.
"Hey, bitch, nice leather. How many pigs did you skin to make that?" Anna said, laughing at her own joke, in which no one else laughed along.
"Anna, shut the fuck up," Ino said sternly. "Leather is made from cows, you dumbass."
"You all sound pretty dumb," Sakura interjected, but her comment was ignored by everyone but Tenten, who gave her a smile.
"Who said you could smile?" Ino asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, Ino dear, but I don't take orders from anyone," Tenten shot back, her glare as strong as Ino's.
"Don't look at her that way!" Miki shouted, giving Tenten a rough push.
That was probably the wrong thing, since Tenten was known for not taking shit from anyone. Tenten grabbed Miki's arm, yanking her out of her way. Miki tried maintaining her balance, but eneded up falling face first in the snow. Sakura's hand flew to her mouth to cover a laugh.
"Did you just throw my friend into the snow?" Ino said in disbelief, her mouth forming a thin, angry line. Ino whipped her hand up, her long nails leaving bloody stratches along Tenten's check. Tenten yelped in shock, her hand resting over the place where two fine red scratches were now visible. Ino ignored Tenten's angry glare, moving to help Miki out of the snow.
"Don't ever bother us again, whore," Miki spit, allowing Anna and Ino to lead her back in the school. Sakura didn't follow this time. Instead, she was preoccupied with being utterly shocked at Ino's action.
"Oh, Tenten!" Sakura sighed, moving Tenten's hand to look at the damage. "It's not really that noticable... Well, it won't be when it stops bleeding. I'm sorry, i didn't think she'd do anything to you."
Tenten gave a nervous chuckle. "I think I brought it on myself.. Three against one, not all that smart to start a fight with one and not expect a reaction from another one..."
"It was still inappropriate for her to do that..." Sakura mumbled, her fingers wiping away the blood.
However, something happened that caused Sakura's eyes to widen. As her fingers trailed along the scratches, they started to fade away. Soon enough, it was like nothing ever happened.
"Sakura...? Is it really that ugly?"
"Uh.. No, like I said... Not even visible." And with that, Sakura turned on her heel and ran back inside the school, leaving a confused Tenten staring after her.