So it's not Tuesday, but be glad I was able to update at all. In fact, I've had this chapter written for a week now just haven't had the time to post it. But here you go don't forget to review.

I don't own anything Naruto.

Chapter 9- What are you doing Friday?

Nanami went to Chemistry with her stomach growling from lack of attention at lunch. She walked in expecting to find a place next to Tenten but found that she had been replaced with Neji. Now the only open seat was next to Lee.

"Nanami, I missed seeing your youthful face at lunch." Lee announced as soon as she sat down.

"Yeah, I ate in the cafeteria." Nanami explained.

"Oh I see. Enjoying the youthfulness of our younger friends can be quite stimulating."

"Okay, sure Lee." Nanami answered unsurely.

"I know one friend who she had probably wanted to see in particular." Neji commented from in front of them.

"Oh Neji, cut her a break." Tenten complained.

"Yes Neji. It is not nice to poke fun of our friend's infatuation with Kiba." Lee objected as well.

Nanami blushed. "Why do you guys always come back to this subject?"

"Because it's the truth." Neji told her cockily.

"Well, for your information, you're wrong. I sat with Gaara today." Nanami declared triumphantly.

Lee gasped and Neji and Tenten looked shocked.

"With Gaara, Gaara Sabuku?" Neji asked incredulously.

"That is too cute!" Tenten squealed.

"Wait, you know him?" Nanami asked Neji.

"I've seen his work, but not firsthand." He growled looking towards Lee.

Nanami looked toward Lee surprised by Neji's words. She didn't understand what he meant by 'Gaara's work'. When she looked at Lee she saw that his smile was gone and his eyes were downcast. Nanami was surprised by Lee's uncharacteristic behavior. She wondered if maybe Lee knew something about Gaara that she didn't.

"Lee, how do you know Gaara?" Nanami asked softly.

"It's not something I want to talk about." He answered back.

Nanami looked to Neji for help since he obviously knew something, but he shot her an angry look and faced the front. Nanami looked at Tenten, but she only shrugged showing that she didn't know anything more than Nanami. Nanami sighed, winning the bet was going to be pretty hard if everyone knew something that nobody was telling.

Somehow the four of them had managed to have that entire conversation without attracting any other attention from the rest of the class or the teacher. Once Chemistry ended, Nanami went on to English with Mr. Hatake which was boring. She didn't share this class with any of her friends, and she had yet to meet anyone else. Finally, after an eternity, the bell rang for Athletics.

Nanami headed over to the gym wondering whether she should have brought clothes to dress out in. As soon as she saw who the teacher was, she knew that she was screwed. Ms. Anko Mitarashi, the only teacher to actually teach on the first day, was her coach.

"Well, Uzumaki, isn't it? Kinda surprised to see you here. What sports do you play?"

"Never played before although I was going to try basketball." Nanami admitted.

"Never played, huh? Well we'll see if you're any good. Suit up!" She hollered at her.

"But I don't have any workout clothes, ma'am." Nanami protested.

"Don't worry we'll find you something." She grinned mischievously.

Nanami should have known that this wouldn't be easy. Somehow Ms. Mitarashi, or Coach Anko as she liked to be called in the gym, managed to find a set of warm-ups that barely fit and stunk to high heaven. Nanami felt like taking a long hot shower just looking at them. Unfortunately, she complied with Coach Anko's wishes and dressed out for class. Ten minutes later, Nanami was ready to get this class over with.

"Okay let's have a couple of warm-up laps around the gym. Then we can start try-outs for basketball. If you were going out for volleyball, then too bad. Practice for them started a month ago."

Nanami noticed a couple of disappointed girls walk out right then. She was starting to get the feeling that maybe she should have faked it and left while she still had the chance.

"Anybody else? Good, let's get started." Anko hollered, signaling for them to start running.

Nanami wasn't that bad an athlete. It was just being homeschooled for most of her life meant that she hadn't been able to participate in school activities like basketball. So she knew that she was surprising Anko just being at the front of the pack as she ran by.

"Nanami!"

Nanami turned around to see Sakura and Ino waving at her not too far back. Nanami slowed her pace just enough for them to catch up with her.

"Hey Nanami! We didn't know you would be in this class." Sakura told her with a slight pant.

"Yeah, I was kind of surprised myself to see that Jiraiya enrolled me in Athletics." Nanami agreed.

"So you're trying out for basketball too?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, I thought I might as well."

"Well good luck." They both told her as she thanked them back.

Finally, Anko called them back into center court.

"Okay, darlings, let's see how you handle a basketball. We're going to play a quick game of bubble. You all will be dribbling the ball while trying to knock out someone else's. If you lose control of the ball, you're out. I'll be watching and taking notes. If everyone's ready, begin!"

They all ran over and got a basketball and started dribbling. Nanami got herself in a rhythm and left herself free to scope the floor. Already a ton of girls were out. Nanami stayed focused and succeeded in escaping a girl's swipe for her ball. She turned around and knocked that girl's ball out while she was off balance. Then Nanami went in search of another victim. It continued like this until the numbers dwindled down to ten, then four, and finally it was Nanami against a girl with four blonde pigtails.

"You're not half-bad." The girl admitted.

"Thanks, you're pretty good too." Nanami told her waiting for an opportunity to swipe her ball.

"You're Nanami Uzumaki, right?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"And your brother is Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yeah."

"But you guys haven't lived together your whole life?"

Nanami furrowed up her brows. She had no idea why her personal life was so important to this girl, and especially when they were in the middle of a game. While Nanami was distracted by the question, the girl tried to swoop in and take Nanami's ball. Nanami managed to move her ball out of harm's way, but ended up taking the shot with her body. Off balance, Nanami crashed to the ground losing control of the ball.

"No fair!" One of the girls who was already out hollered.

"She cheated!" Someone else called.

Nanami ignored them and looked up at the girl who had bested her. She smiled down at Nanami cockily.

"Good job, Temari. That a way to show them Senior. By the way Uzumaki, you were pretty good for someone who hasn't played before."

Nanami looked up to see Coach Anko's hand in front of her face. She took it pulling herself back up.

"Well I've never played team ball, but I used to play one-on-one with some of my foster siblings." Nanami told her. "Self-taught of course." She added.

"I think I want to see what else you got." Anko told her sizing her up.

Nanami and the rest of the girls were put through more drills and games as she weeded out her better players. The Temari girl kept looking over at her, but never had another chance to talk to Nanami. For as good of shape as she thought she was in, Nanami was finding herself dragging by the end. Finally, Coach Anko called them all together.

"Alright, good work girls. I'm pretty sure I've seen all I want to see to make my choice, but try-outs are open all week. However, if you didn't feel good about today, don't bother showing up tomorrow. You're dismissed."

The girls started heading back to the locker room, some groaning while others talked excitedly. Nanami didn't care one way or the other. She liked the class and figured she would stay unless Anko kicked her out.

"Hey Nanami, you did really good!" Sakura congratulated her.

"Thanks you weren't too bad either." Nanami replied remembering the great jump shot Sakura had taken over Nanami's outreached arms.

"Thanks, I just hope I was good enough." She admitted.

"What do you mean? I bet the three of us are going to be starters!" Ino piped up optimistically.

"I wouldn't bet on it, freshman." A voice sneered.

Nanami turned around to see that it was that Temari girl again. Nanami wasn't sure how she felt about her yet.

"So Nanami, you never did answer me out there on the court." Temari started up.

"Why are you so curious about me and Naruto?" Nanami asked.

She shrugged. "Just thought it was a pretty weird situation. I wanted to know more about it. Of course you did mention something about foster siblings?"

Before Nanami could say anything Ino came to her defense. "She doesn't have to tell you anything, Temari Sabuku!"

"Yeah! Especially after that cheap shot you pulled!" Sakura seconded.

"Please, she practically fell down on her own."

Sakura and Ino started getting into a heated argument with her after that, but something else had caught Nanami's attention.

"Wait, you're last name is Sabuku?" Nanami asked.

The other three stared at her momentarily forgetting what they were doing.

"Yeah, what of it?" Temari asked.

"You wouldn't happen to be related to Gaara Sabuku, would you?" She pressed.

Temari looked taken back. She quickly regained her composure. "He was so sure that was going to work. Oh well, guess I'll have to tell him to find a different plan. Yeah, to answer your question, I'm his sister."

Sakura and Ino looked confused, but Nanami knew what she was talking about. Nanami couldn't believe she had been so careless. She had almost handed Gaara the bet within the first day it was made. She couldn't help but admire his determination to send his own sister to find out for him.

"Ha! You should tell him that I won't be tricked that easily!" Nanami cried triumphantly.

"Please, if blabber-mouth hadn't spilled my last name, you would have handed over the information like that." She said snapping her fingers for emphasize. "Besides, I now know that you lived in a foster home before you came here which is more than what you've got on Gaara."

Nanami gritted her teeth realizing that she was right. How could she have been stupid enough to let that much slip?

"Guess I'll catch you losers later." She mocked before walking out.

"What a bitch!" Ino called after she left.

"What was that all about, Nanami?" Sakura asked ignoring Ino.

"Um, I'll tell you later. Right now I should probably go find Naruto." Nanami told them realizing that school had been over for an hour.

"Well he's probably still in football practice and won't be out for awhile. In fact, Ino and I are going to cheerleading tryouts. Wanna go with us?" Sakura asked excited.

"To cheerleading tryouts? No, I'll just stick with basketball." Nanami laughed.

"C'mon, it'll be fun. Plus, we'll be right on the field next to Sasuke!" Ino squealed.

"Oh, and that makes all the difference in the world." Nanami remarked sarcastically.

They tried a couple of other ways to convince Nanami, but gave up on it in the end. Nanami was not going to budge on this issue. She really thought that cheerleading was a waste of school resources. Nanami walked out front to her car and texted Jiraiya asking him if she needed to wait for Naruto. She instantly got a reply saying that he would take care of him. Feeling relieved that she knew her brother had a ride, Nanami gladly got into her car and started it up.

"Hey Nanami!"

Nanami looked up to see Kiba running over to her.

"Hey Kiba!" She called back cheerfully getting out of the car to talk.

"How was your first day?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Interesting I guess."

"Yeah, look I'm sorry about the Sai thing. I shouldn't have gotten angry like that." He apologized rubbing the back of his head.

"Please, I had already blown up over the same thing, otherwise I would have been right there with you."

"Then why didn't you come back and sit with us?"

"Oh well I saw Naruto sitting with Gaara, and I was curious about how they knew each other."

"Yeah, I still have trouble understanding that one as well."

"So you know the story behind that?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah, but I'll leave it to one of them to explain."

"Oh." Nanami said deflated.

They stood around for a little bit longer in silence. Nanami was wondering how she was going to win this bet if everyone she could go to avoided the topic.

"Hey Nanami?" Kiba asked not looking her in the eye.

"Yes."

"A-Are you doing anything Friday?" He asked his blush spreading.

"I don't think so. Why?" She asked not sure where his embarrassment was coming from.

"Well because I thought maybe we could catch a movie or something."

"Okay, who else is going?"

"W-who else?"

"Wait, did you mean just you and me?" Nanami asked surprised.

"Um, no, of course not. Yeah, who else. Well I'll need to get some definite answers from the others, but you're in?"

"Sure. Do you want a ride?" She offered.

"I'm fine. Thanks anyways."

Kiba took off running through the parking lot leaving Nanami and Little Red. She still wasn't sure what just happened, but she was starting to think that Kiba just tried to ask her out on a date. She waved it off, no matter what anybody said they were just friends. At least that's what she thought they were.

Okay so what did you think? Review and tell me how you like it or don't like it :( so far.