Original Publish Date: Monday, July 31, 2006.
Warnings: none.
Disclaimer: I realize that I don't own Naruto, and never will.
愛Something of Love: Ai no Koto
の
事
Chapter Two...by Taes
Naruto stared at Sasuke, who did his best to ignore the sulking blond, and Shikamaru watched them both. Despite their unusual chatter the hour before the flight, the moment the plane had taken off, they'd both quieted. Shikamaru wondered, as he looked at the two, whether or not they realized then how many eyes followed their movements.
There'd been that moment, of course, right after Iruka had gone off to break up a squabble between Kiba and Hinata, when Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm. The blond had wanted to try and pull a frustrated Sasuke to a more covered—and thus more secluded—crook in the wall. Sasuke had smirked widely, and according to flying voices in heated whisper-wails, Sasuke had asked, 'so who was it, Naruto...who said not to do anything rash in public?'
Naruto had reportedly flushed an angry red, and half the assembly could testify to the oncoming, 'bastard, I'll kill you'—followed by a tumbling pair of teenage limbs...
...after the brief clash, many giggling, ogling students had wondered, "do you think they enjoyed that little wrestle...?"
Sasuke held his icy composure, but Naruto continued to eye Sasuke with single-minded annoyance.
Shikamaru sighed, and found himself watching the clouds again. Despite his thoughtfulness in getting Chouji to stick with Shikamaru's group, Naruto's reasons were far from selfless. The 'clever' blond had obviously gone for pairing himself with the always haughty Uchiha. Shikamaru grumbled quietly to himself, and sat in otherwise comfortable silence with the largest of his year-mates.
"Na," Uzumaki began, "hey, Sasuke?" while no verbal reply was made, Naruto seemed to take the slight twitch of Sasuke's eyes as an inclination of interest. "What are you looking forward to the most?"
A few minutes of silence reigned as the Uchiha supposedly contemplated his answer. In reality, Shikamaru was certain the young man was merely doing his damnedest to ignore the persistent fool.
Naruto, not quite as aware of this as Shikamaru, tried again. "Ne, Sasuke, I said—"
"—matcha," it was a bitter green tea traditionally made for tea ceremony, not for idle conversation.
Naruto cocked his head in bewilderment. "Tea ceremony?" he asked, bemused and startled all at once. "I thought you said that's stupid—"
Sasuke looked down and murmured, "...it has its merits..." he held his breath for a long instant, before he added, "...and I meant drinking it, not making it..."
Shikamaru's lips twitched. Just like Sasuke, to prefer something as bitter as that particular brand of tea.
To his side, smirking lips parted to reveal pinkened tongues and glassy teeth. A quiet, mocking voice declares, "you know, I saw them kissing..." a chuckle, "right after school was out. I was the first one to know—"
"—and tell everybody." Shikamaru raised one irritable eyebrow. "Yeah. We know." He rolled ebony eyes upwards in imitation of the smirking girl. "Why are you bragging about it?"
Laughter then, and then she turns away, on to another subject.
Naruto's eyes were downward cast. "...matcha, huh?" he sighed. "...I just wanna see something different after all..."
Silence resumed, and Shikamaru tried to find solace in the clouds below them...but somehow, with everything switched up and down...it didn't seem quite the same.
Shikamaru sighed.
From sky to ground, many students found more interesting things to talk about at the crowded air terminal. The various goods being sold, the small postal offices for which to send these little trinkets brought out many students' wallets and purses.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru found himself scanning the crowd, rather than the merchandise, and seemed rather amused by the amounts of money being spent. To his left, his less-than-liked classmates shopped on, and to his right he saw the cluster his and Naruto's groups made. Shikamaru laughed quietly as the blond tugged absently on his school blazer's sleeve, and it seemed to the other that Naruto was nearly as amused by his classmates as Shikamaru had been by the clouds...vaguely frustrated, and somehow disappointed. Shikamaru opened his mouth to distract his yearmate, but a gentle sigh from the side told him to do otherwise.
"...hey, they're selling Tokyo's specialty over there...the cakes filled with sweet bean paste? These are in the shapes of baby chickens—"
"—chicks," Shikamaru corrected absently.
Chouji's voice was unhindered by embarrassment or second thought. "Yeah, those..." He offered a smile that struck Shikamaru as vaguely sweet. "I told my mom I'd send her and dad something from every city...why don't you come buy it with me?"
Shikamaru shrugged. He wasn't particularly partial to the idea, but he couldn't come up with a good enough excuse. As he turned away, he watched as Sasuke took himself closer to the fidgeting blond. There was a flicker of movement in the corner of Shikamar's eye, and a stark-white hand reached out to touch Naruto's shoulder...a strange smile upwards turned Sasuke's mouth.
...but Chouji was halfway gone, and Shikamaru didn't want to lose another friend chasing after the one he'd already lost.
Ten minutes and a deal of money later, and Shikamaru had his hands in his pockets, bored and frustrated, but trying not to let it show. To his surprise, there wasn't much by way of variety to the snacks Chouji sent home—two boxes per parent, it turned out—and the boy wanted a box for himself, too. Subsequently, the boy would likely offer at least one of the chicks to his "well thought of" classmates.
But it wasn't this that left the top-knotted boy clenching his teeth. No, this was only part of Shikamaru's frustration. At that time, it was all in the amount of time a change could happen...this could all be very fast, within a few seconds even...however, the boys and girls around him reacted slowly, despite the limited number of possibilities. For instance, there were only a few numbers for Chouji to add up, Shikamaru had noticed. The rounder boy should have realized he'd need more than the single bill he'd brought, but instead, he had to ring up everything, and then waste some effort by having to trot back to his carry-on for more cash...
In the meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto had meandered away, with Sakura's irritating, piping voice calling after them in no time...she was fighting a useless battle, Shikamaru knew, and all because she thought—
—good grief. Shikamaru thought, I'm getting too worked up over stupid things...
"Get back here!" the pink-haired girl was hollering. To everyone's surprise, she managed to get a firm grip on Naruto's collar, tugging him backwards with enough strength to make the other ffhhh with the force of it. "I told you we've only got fifteen minutes left," she hissed, "you're not going to get me in trouble by mauling each other like—" she turned red. "—what did Iruka-sensei tell you before, huh!"
Naruto rolled his eyes, stuck out his tongue a little, and returned to where his group leader and the other girl, someone Shikamaru didn't know, waited. He waved a hand side to side to illustrate his lazy, "yeah, yeah," reply.
Deprived of his sweetheart, Sasuke could only turn to the schedule. He coughed a little. "Everyone sit down," he commanded.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, but did so.
"Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura. And lastly, Nara Shikamaru..." he listed their names off slowly, mockingly. "Sit. Quietly." Just as exasperated as ever.
Shikamaru vaguely wondered how it was he'd wound up in the Uchiha group. He strongly suspected Sasuke—and Naruto, to tell the truth—had a great deal to do with it...each group was evenly divided with boys and girls, and theirs just happened to be filled with the leftovers...those who didn't have friends to speak of in the prestigious class, ni-no-ichi, the first class of second year students.
"Sasuke," Sakura quipped, green eyes flashing a little with irritation. "I think it'd be better if we pass the time with a you know," her slow speech picked up pace as she gained energy, "a quick, energetic pep-talk to get us going, huh?" she laughed a little nervously.
The bleak, stony-eyed Uchiha was barely listening, by the looks of it. He sneered into his collar, but declined a response.
Shikamaru sighed. "Pep-talk?" he shook his head. "That sounds like effort—"
Sakura coughed, annoyed. Her voice came sharp, pointed. "Well, you can just listen!" she turned to Sasuke. "Don't you have anything you want to tell us...?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and said with a small amount of venom to douse his dignity, "No."
The pink-haired girl tried not to look disappointed. She pulled on Hinata's collared shirt-sleeve, as though to put Sasuke out of her mind completely. "Let's go, Minami Ko, South High! We'll learn all there is to know about Nara today," her eyes flickered to Shikamaru, who shared the name of the famous city, "and then find out more tomorrow! Hahah, we'll do loads!" she grinned.
"I can buy a new amulet, hee!" She changed the subject so quickly it was difficult to follow her train of thought. "So, maybe we can find a charm that'll let us get boy—"
"—Konoha Minami Kouko," Konoha South High School, "Iruka called from the far end of their gathering. "Your plane has arrived. I expect you all to be ready to board in two minutes!" the teacher made a movement with his arms that suggested no further argument.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and they all toned out Iruka's further instructions as the lazy genius remarked, "How's that for a pep-talk, Sakura?"
The pink-haired girl blushed angrily, but gave no remark.
Shikamaru couldn't help but notice Sasuke's and Naruto's meeting of eyes. Shikamaru wondered, then, what the two had really planned. So he watched intently as Naruto nodded.
They boarded the plane.
tbc...
Author's note:
No, I'm not done with this chapter...for whatever reason, this "school trip" has been giving me grief. So, with that in mind, I'll probably be making it shorter than originally intended...I don't know when I'll be done.
Long time, huh? This story's been on the back-burner for a while now...
Soon enough, I'll be reuploading all of these chapters, because I realized the footnotes got screwed over, and I've been rereading, making minor changes. Hope to see you there.
Please tell me what you think...I don't think I can finish this story without support.