Shikamaru was not a morning person. Despite his roommates' best efforts that morning, he was still curled up in a ball, partially freezing to death, on the floor next to his bed. The cold was preventing him from falling asleep fully, but he was determined to not move until he got the five minutes extra sleep he had requested before the crazy blonde idiot had dragged him from his covers.

He couldn't see the time, but he wasn't overly surprised when he heard the front door of the cabin bang shut. He was late and one of his roommates must have taken pity on him and decided to drag him the rest of the way to their morning activities. The footsteps grew louder so he squeezed his eyes shut, praying that whoever it was would just go away.

They did not go away though. Instead they entered the room, pausing for a moment at the door (probably in disbelief that he hadn't at least crawled back into the bed). He didn't start to question anything until he heard rustling above him and then a blanket being gently wrapped around his body. He was just working up the energy to ask what the hell his roommate was doing when he caught a whiff of lavender and lilacs.

He relaxed his limbs again, breathing in the scent of the girl he had known so long ago. Ino always smelled like fresh flowers.

His body instinctually tensed when he felt her hand ghosting over his temple, her touch as light as a feather and as soft as the petals she used to wear in her hair. Her hair tickled his neck as he felt her lean over him, gently lifting his head to rest on her thigh.

He couldn't remember the last time his heart had raced like this, or if it ever had. Her hand was back in his hair, stroking softly. He knew any second now that Ino would hear his raspy breathing, notice the blush rising on his cheeks, feel his erratic heart beat.

"How much longer are you going to pretend to be asleep, Shika?" He fought back a groan as her warm breath washed over his skin and her whispered question tickled his ear. She was too damned predictably perceptive.

He was smart too though and noticed the way she lingered just a bit too long. But all too soon for his liking her smell was gone and instead replaced by the strong scent of bacon.

Bleary eyed, he squinted up at her. Her hair was in a ponytail again today, and it cascaded down her back. She was wearing purple again as well, her favorite color. His eyes fixed on the food she was laying out in front of him, rather surprised by her behavior. She had always been bossy when they were kids. It hadn't been like her to allow him to lie around, and she certainly had never brought him food when he was being lazy on purpose. His mind drifted away from the food to ponder something that had suddenly begun to bother him.

Choji, an old friend from when he used to live next to Ino, had kept tabs on her for him over the years. He had heard all about her flirtatious personality, still as bold as she always had been. He'd heard all about the numerous dates she'd had, rarely with the same guy twice. So he felt a twinge of annoyance as his brain started to process the last few minutes.

Eight years as childhood best friends and she was already treating just like any other guy; shamelessly flirting.

"What's wrong? I know it's been a while, but do you still like bacon?" Shikamaru grunted under his breath as he pushed himself upright, brushing the dust off of his pants leg. He brushed past Ino without a glance and dug around in his suitcase until he had found his swim trunks and a crumpled T-shirt.

Ino was already standing in his doorway by the time he straightened up. He caught the smallest trace of hurt on her face before she replaced it with a flirty grin. "Eat up. And by the way, you're already late for the first activity." She pivoted on one foot and disappeared from sight. A moment later he heard the front door bang shut and he finally let out the breath he had been holding.

He didn't want to be just another guy she flirted with, even if it meant he had to treat her with the same indifference he did everyone else.

…..

Archery was relatively uneventful. The girl with the buns, whose name he had already forgotten, gave everybody a run for their money with her near perfect aim. Even Sasuke had been impressed, though to any onlookers he remained as passive as ever.

Volleyball had been slightly more entertaining/disturbing as they got stuck with Guy (aka Bushier Brows) as an instructor. He had spent most of the hour overusing the words passionate and youthful as he lectured everybody on the importance of teamwork and pushing yourself past the point of human exhaustion.

Sasuke stared straight ahead as the majority of the guys made their way to the soccer field, Naruto jabbering away as usual. He was blissfully imagining what silence must sound like when a flash of pink hair caught his attention. Or rather she grabbed his arm without him noticing her beforehand due to his preoccupation with his own thoughts. It was rare that he didn't notice someone approaching, especially someone who stood out from the crowd like she did.

"Neji is hogging Tenten. Mind if I hang with you two?" She smiled up at him and Naruto.

Sasuke stuck to his vow of silence, returning his gaze towards the front. Naruto, on the other hand, ran through the normal greetings involved with polite human conversation.

"And how it the great Sasuke today?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes in frustration, before realizing that she was being sarcastic because of Naruto's introduction the previous night. In his peripheral vision he could see her expectant face staring up at him, waiting patiently for an answer.

The silence stretched between them until Naruto once again took it upon himself to be Sasuke's answering service. The two continued to chat amicably between themselves until the group made it to the open field.

A groan echoed around the group as everybody saw who their instructor would be….again. Might Guy was standing with his hand held out in a thumbs up, his smile blinding anyone who accidently made eye contact.

"Alright! Yosh! It is always a pleasure to meet new students!" Everybody sweat dropped, considering it had been less than ten minutes since he had last seen them. "Okay, Okay, Okay! I want two groups out on that field exploring the youthfulness of this great and wondrous sport!"

The kids split themselves up, Guy blew his whistle, and the ball went flying into the air. Not surprisingly, Neji was the first one to gain possession of the ball. Also not surprisingly, Tenten was the first to make a steal.

While he didn't care for teamwork, Sasuke did have a particular liking for the sport so he threw himself into the game with the intent of winning.

The hour passed relatively quickly, the score remaining mostly tied. He didn't pay much attention to the people on his team or the people on the other team. Instead his focus remained on the soccer ball as it darted back and forth across the field. His T-shirt was already drenched in sweat, which wasn't a good sign since this was only the third activity of the day.

Sasuke watched as the ball made its way back towards him, steeling it from a rather slow brunette with ease. He was running back up the field toward the goal, focusing all of his attention on the target in front of him, when suddenly there was nothing to kick at his feet. He only had time to register a flash of pink.

He glanced down, but Sakura had already gotten back up from kicking the ball out from under him, and he could see Tenten already weaving her way down the field. As Sakura took off to join her teammate, he stood in the middle of the field somewhat dumbfounded.

"Yo! Teme! Why are you SMILING? You just lost us the ball!"

Sasuke snapped out of his astonishment at once again being surprised by the same girl, and quickly adapted his customary scowl. "Whatever, dobe." Mortified, and radiating a dark aura, he pushed past Naruto to chase after Tenten. It was already too late though as a cheer rose up from the other team and Guy sounded the whistle, signaling the end of the game.

…

Hinata twiddled her thumbs nervously as each of the instructors read off eight names. She was disappointed that Tenten and Ino had already been put into another group for the initiative course, along with Neji (who looked uncharacteristically happy about the activity), Shikamaru, Kankuro, Sai, Temari, and Tayuya.

She perked up as she heard Might Guy call out Naruto's name, and immediately grew flustered as her name followed his. The blonde shot a wide smile in her direction and she had to focus all of her attention on not passing out as she tried to listen as Guy continued to call out Sakura, Sasuke, Lee (who burst into tears and….was that a sunset?), Kiba, Karin, and Suigetsu.

The group was led off towards the edge of the clearing, Lee hanging off of every word that Guy spoke, and everybody else looking enviously back at the kids who still had a chance of getting a sane instructor. Naruto didn't seem as disappointed as the rest of the group, as he seemed to find great delight in calling Lee 'Bushy Brows' and Guy 'Bushier Brows.' Observant as she was, she didn't miss the glances he threw at her every time he got to use one of their 'names.'

They stopped next to a giant oak tree that had rungs like a ladder nailed into it. Hinata eyed it wearily, assuming it wasn't a coincidence that they had been led to this tree specifically. When a mentally stable person thinks of trust exercises, they assume falling into another person's arms. Both participants' feet planted firmly on the ground. An irrational person (*coughGuycough*) would go to extremes. Hinata had a bad feeling that at some point Guy was going to make her climb up that tree. She just prayed that he didn't expect her to JUMP out of it, even if Naruto was the one that might get to catch her.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than when Guy captured everyone's unwitting attention as he climbed up onto one of the more sturdy branches and swung his arms out wildly, nearly plummeting to his death accidently without the insane notion of jumping.

"NO WAY IN HELL AM I JUMPING FROM THERE!" Hinata nodded in agreement with what the red haired girl, Karin, had shrieked. Sakura's eyes had glazed over in horror, and even Sasuke was eying the tree uncertainly.

Naruto was the one who really caught her attention though as he was bent over, laughing so hard that he had tears streaming down his flushed face. She followed his gaze and had to cough back a chuckle of her own. Lee had his arms thrown out wide, completely ready to catch a man more than twice his size from a height three times taller than him. These two really were being rather foolish. Hinata was still holding out for the hope that one of them would break character and start laughing about how it was all a joke.

No such luck.

With a single cry of "YOSH," Guy pitched himself backwards off of the tree limb and fell somewhere behind the tree line. Hinata's scream stuck in her throat, though Sakura's ripped across the clearing, piercingly loud.

The sound almost managed to cover the sound of a splash as Guy hit water, which must have been hidden somewhere behind the bushes that lined the clearing. Lee looked disappointed that he would not be able to prove his strength and trustworthiness by catching their instructor, but everybody else sighed in relief.

Guy appeared from behind the bushes, sopping wet and with a smile plastered across his face. "All of you will get to try that on Friday. Today we have the privilege of learning about each other though in order to form the bonds of lasting friendship and love! If we are really lucky, maybe even a rivalry will surface. One with which you can challenge each other beyond your limits!"

As Guy continued to ramble on an on about his own strange rivalry with the silver-haired instructor, Kakashi, Hinata's gaze wandered towards Naruto. He was still wearing a sloppy grin, and he kept shooting glances over towards Sasuke, causing his smile to get wider and Sasuke's sighs of annoyance to get louder.

The boy named Kiba finally cut off Guy's rant about his last challenge against Kakashi, where Kakashi had managed to get more people to pull over to "help" him while hitch hiking. Apparently not a single person had stopped for Guy. One driver had even hit the gas pedal harder with Guy standing in the middle of the road.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do in a 'Group Initiative Course?'"

Guy straightened his green jumpsuit and smiled brightly. "I'm so glad to see the inner youth that burns brightly in you! Today we will be tackling a simple task: the Balance of Life!"

Everybody sweat dropped, continuing to stare at him due to the rather vague answer. "Follow me young pupils." They walked a few yards along the clearing until they were all standing around a square piece of wood. "Yosh! Here is your task!"

More blank stares. Lee, however, took action, leaping onto the random piece of wood like his life depended on it. "Beautiful pink flower, come out of the water! I shall protect you from drowning using this piece of wreckage from our ship!"

Sakura backed away instinctively, gawking at Lee like he had gone mad. "I'm not standing that close to you!"

"Yosh! Youthful flower, this is the task! All of you must balance on this board in order to survive. If you cannot work together as a team to stay afloat, then you will all drown!"

Hinata's face turned a bit pink as she realized what they were going to be forced to do. Everybody in the group had to take initiative and work together to stay on the piece of wood, which, she realized with a growing unease, was wobbling with just Lee standing on it.

There were sighs of frustration and plenty of not-so-under-their-breath complaints, but grudgingly everyone approached the board. Hinata's blush deepened as she noticed Naruto shift closer to her as she gingerly joined Lee. The board pitched her backwards the second all of her weight was on it, and she was relieved to feel two firm hands gently push her back up.

She turned her head to the side to see Naruto's shining face. "Wouldn't want you to 'drown' now, would we?" He winked at her and it felt like the board was falling out from under her feet again.

Karin was the next one to try getting up on the board. Lee held out his hand to help her, but she smacked it away. The moment she was fully up, the wood jerked wildly again. Hinata was grateful that Naruto still had his hands on either side of her.

Karin, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The person nearest her was Suigetsu. He had quickly side stepped to his right and allowed her body to hit the ground at full force with a thud. She immediately sprang up, screaming in his face about how un-chauvinistic he was. Rather than paying her any mind though, he just slipped a knife out of his pocket and began casually digging the dirt out from underneath his nails. Guy quickly intercepted the knife, causing Suigetsu to roll his eyes.

Karin blatantly refused to climb on again and left the group, marching back across the clearing towards the Rec Center. With silence finally restored, Sakura stepped forward. "I think I'll take your help now Lee. Thanks." Sakura accepted Lee's outstretched hand and stumbled forward into him as the board adjusted under her weight.

Sasuke climbed up behind Sakura, but was forced to hold onto not only her, but also Lee, in order to maintain his balance. He looked rather displeased.

Suigetsu climbed on next with no fuss at all. The guy didn't stumble or grab onto anybody, which of course annoyed everybody else. Guy was yelling lines of encouragement as he circled around them. He reminded Hinata of a shark circling its prey. At this point, a shark would have been preferable.

Naruto was the only member (other than the very miffed Karin) left in the 'water.' Hinata felt his grip on her arms tense a bit as he slowly put one foot on the piece of wood. The board swung wildly in his direction, sending Hinata crashing into his warm chest.

She could feel the heat rising across her face, but luckily her back was still towards her childhood crush. He re-stabilized her first, then put the last of his weight onto the board. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief when nothing happened.

Guy started the countdown from thirty seconds. If they managed to stay aboard until he reached zero, they could go grab an early lunch. The only sound was Guy's counting, everyone held their breath. Hinata's skin crawled as she felt Naruto's whole body pressed up against hers. She could feel his heartbeat, just as erratic as her own, his breathing labored despite the lack of physical activity.

Three…

Two…

One…

The second Guy yelled out congratulations, Sakura pushed backwards with all of her might against Lee, who in light of their victory, had been leaning forward for a kiss. Sakura tumbled backwards into Sasuke, and they went over the edge together, landing with a nasty sounding thud.

Hinata didn't get a chance to see what happened with them as at about the same time, the board pitched her back into Naruto (again) and they too hurtled towards the ground.

As they fell, Naruto's grip loosened just enough so that she was able to twist her body some so that she could cushion her fall with her hands. Instead of her hands hitting the grass like she had expected, they landed against a surprisingly firm chest.

In the half a second it took her to comprehend the awkward position she was in, her legs intertwined with Naruto's and their faces an inch apart, all of the blood rushed to her head and her vision when dark.

…..