Aah, chemistry. A reprieve from all the drama with its scientific glory. And oh, what's this? There seems to be a little spark here. Let's see where it takes us: into a beautiful flame, or a raging inferno…But enough with the pyro-talk.
"Sorry I'm late Anko-sensei. I wasn't feeling well this morning, so I guess I'm still recovering," Naruko said as she ran into the room.
"You better be sorry, maggot! You've got a lot of work to catch up on, and don't be expecting me to give you all the answers," the crazed teacher said. "Ask your partner for notes if you need them."
"Hai Anko-sensei," Naruko replied. She walked over to Sasuke and sat down beside him as Anko went back to explaining what she had written on the board. She sighed heavily before turning to the boy next to her, realizing she really would need those notes.
"Hey, can I copy your notes teme?" she asked nicely, seeming to forget that she had been mad at the boy the other day. Sasuke rolled his eyes and pushed his notebook toward the girl, deciding not to be a stuck up jerk. He actually felt a little guilt for being so inconsiderate and thinking of only himself as unfortunate…not that he would admit it. He was an Uchiha, and he had his pride. And an Uchiha did not admit he was guilty of anything.
"Arigatou, Sasuke-teme! You aren't so bad after all," she said happily. And while Sasuke rolled his eyes once again, he groaned almost inaudibly. It was that feeling again. The one that poked and prodded and nagged that Sasuke didn't dislike Naruko as much as he acted like he did.
"Whatever dobe. Just make sure I get them back by the end of class," Sasuke said. She wasn't much bothered by his name calling anymore, and so only nodded at his statement with a smile as she continued copying notes from the notebook and Anko's lecture. Class ended once again with no major explosions of chemicals or verbal assaults. Anko found it rather interesting, watching Sasuke and Naruko work together without actually working together. But now they were doing it on a calmer level than before. She smirked at the pair as they packed their things at the end of class.
"Hey dobe…" Sasuke called. That stupid feeling had been nagging at him the entire period, and he really didn't feel like having it nag him for the rest of the day. Naruko turned to him with a curious stare.
"Yes teme?" she answered. He refused to look her straight in the eyes and continued to put his books in his bag.
"About the other day…" he started. Naruko's eyes widened as if she just remembered something.
"Oh…" she said slowly. "It's…okay Sasuke-teme. I shouldn't have yelled at you. You were hurting too, but you just happened to…open old scars, so I yelled."
"Yeah," Sasuke replied. Although he hadn't said it, she knew what he wanted to say. As long as his point got across that he hadn't meant to yell at her…
"Obaa-san said we should be friends, not enemies, so…why don't we start over? As friends," Naruko suggested. The raven-haired boy thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Alright. Friends," he said.
"Friends," Naruko repeated with a fox-like grin. "I'll see you later. Bye Sasuke-teme!"
Sasuke smiled a little at this. She was cute when she smiled like that. Like a baby fox.
"Sakura-chan! Hinata-chan! Ino-chan! I've missed you all!" Naruko shouted as she burst through the door to the roof. She ran to hug her friends, but found one missing and remembered the fight her pink and blonde haired friends had.
"Naruko-chan!" Sakura cried, hugging the girl with a smile. "How are you feeling? I haven't seen you since last week!"
"Welcome b-back Naruko-chan," Hinata said in a louder voice than usual. She was smiling as well to see her friend back in school and well.
"I'm still recovering, but I'm much better now. How have you guys been?" Naruko asked.
"Well it's definitely been a lot quieter here than usual without your loudmouth. We've been getting along just fine. But Gaara came to look for you up here one day. I think you should go give him a visit before the end of the period," Sakura told her. Naruko nodded.
"Okay. Soon as I'm done with my lunch. How's Ino-chan doing?" she asked. Sakura shut her mouth and refused to answer, making the blonde sigh. She turned to Hinata who gave a sympathetic smile.
"She's okay. Go visit her too, N-Naruko-chan. She's been worried as well," she said. Naruko nodded again. The three began to eat their food before she remembered her conversation with the pinkette's obsession.
"Ah…oh yeah. Sakura, you like Sasuke-teme right?" she asked.
"Don't call him that," Sakura said, hitting the blonde over the head with a blush on her face. "And…yeah, I do."
"Great. I'll introduce you guys then! I was planning on finding him too," Naruko told her.
"W-what! Wha…how are you going to introduce us? I mean, I thought you and Sasuke-kun didn't like each other," Sakura said in a surprised voice.
"Well…we didn't. Buuut we talked things out and decided to start over," Naruko answered. "Soo we're trying out the whole friends thing now."
"T-that's great Naruko-chan," Hinata said with a smile.
"Yeah. He's still a teme, but he's not so bad I guess," replied the blonde. She turned back to the pinkette. "So do you want me to introduce you or not?"
"Of course I do!" Sakura exclaimed. She sighed and continued in a dreamy voice, "I will finally be able to talk to Sasuke-kun, and he will see at last that we are meant to be together!"
Naruko rolled her eyes once again at her friend's obsession with the boy, but smiled despite that. At least she could make her friend happy. Naruko and Hinata finished their lunch quickly due to Sakura's commands to eat faster so she could meet Sasuke-kun.
"Gaara-kuuuuun!" Naruko exclaimed loudly enough for the red head to hear from the other side of the lunchroom. Said boy jumped in surprise at the voice calling his name, not used to be called out of the crowd. He raised his head and looked for the source of the sound. Sasuke gave him a questioning look and then tried to find what Gaara happened to be looking for. He didn't see anything of any importance, and simply went back to his lunch.
"Gaara!" Naruko cried again as she pummeled him with a hug and her customary kiss on the cheek. The red head's cheeks tinted a light pink, never having been used to close contact, but it was almost unnoticeable. Sasuke sat back, mildly surprised at the scene. He'd always thought Gaara would be the type to rip someone's head off is they even thought of hugging him like Naruko had just done. Seeing the blonde completely absorbed with the red head, as well as her other friends that had tagged along, he decided to wait until they noticed him sitting there.
"Hello to you as well, Uzumaki. How are you feeling? I heard you were sick from your aunt," Gaara said calmly and impassive for the most part.
"I'm better now. I really didn't want to miss school, but mom insisted. How about you Gaara-" Naruko said, cutting herself off and doing a double take when she noticed Sasuke sitting across the table from her red headed friend. She looked back and forth between the two boys. Before finally setting her gaze upon Sasuke.
"I didn't know you were friends with Gaara! I thought you sat alone at lunch because you haven't made any friends and you scare away all your fangirls!" Naruko said bluntly. Sasuke almost face vaulted at that comment, but he caught himself. Though Sakura, Hinata, and Gaara weren't as lucky.
"I'm not. We're more of acquaintances. I just sit here for lunch," Sasuke replied.
"Oh…okay," Naruko said. Sakura elbowed the blonde in the side who yelped in response. Then she remembered why the pinkette was there. "Oh yeah. This is Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan. I thought you should have some more friends, so I decided to introduce you to some people."
Naruko grinned at him and Sasuke simply raised a brow at her before turning to the other two girls and simply saying, "Nice to meet you."
Sakura blushed and stuttered back to him with Hinata, "N-nice to meet you too."
"Hey," a voice said off to the side. They turned to see Neji standing there with his lunch in hand. He glanced at them all, his eyes lingering more on Hinata. "Konichiwa, Hinata-sama."
"A-aa, konichiwa…Neji-kun. H-how are you?" she asked.
"I'm well. And you?" he asked in return.
"I-I am also well," she replied with a smile. Naruko smiled at the two. She'd seen them talking together occasionally, and truly was glad that they were getting along now. Deciding she could leave her friends here for the moment since Sakura would be occupied with Sasuke, and Hinata would be talking with her cousin, Naruko left the group quietly after telling Gaara (the only one not really involved in conversation with anyone, as he liked it) where she was going. And that would be to Ino's table.
Her blonde friend decided she could sit at the table with the lazy genius Nara Shikamaru, and living garbage disposal Akamachi Choji. The two boys had always been inseparable since grade school, and Ino had eventually weaseled her way into their tiny friend circle somewhere during middle school. Ino would nag both of them all the time, but she knew neither of them would listen. And they knew she would never stop nagging, so they just got used to it.
As Naruko looked around for the other blonde, Ino spotted her first. Excited to see her friend for the first time in nearly a week, she got up and jumped Naruko crying out the girl's name.
"Ino-chan!" Naruko exclaimed happily. The two hugged and then went back to the table Ino had been eating at. She grinned and waved at the boys. "Hey Shika, hey Choji."
"Yo," was Shikamaru's simple response.
"Hey," Choji replied between bites. Ino urged her to sit with them and Naruko accepted the offer readily.
"So how are you? I heard you were sick all week!" Ino said.
"Oh, yeah. I'm much better now. Mom just…insisted I stay home, you know," Naruko replied with a grin. Silently she berated herself on the slight falter, but she was convinced that no one saw, so decided to think about it later. She didn't notice Shikamaru's continuously calculating eyes. No one ever did since it was always hidden behind his lazy expression. But he wouldn't say anything either unless it was absolutely necessary, really. And so they talked a while until the period was nearly over when Naruko remembered what she'd said to Sakura. It would be unfair if she left Ino out, wouldn't it?
"Hey Ino, you still like Sasuke-teme right?" she asked suddenly.
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Ino stuttered out, "Uh y-yeah. Why?"
"Well…the teme and I have come to a truce recently, so we're trying to be friends now I guess. And he doesn't really have many friends, so I decided maybe I should introduce him to some of my friends so he won't be so anti-social," Naruko replied.
"So you want me to talk to him?" Ino said looking a bit perplexed.
"Um…yeah. Basically," Naruko said with a nod. Ino jumped up with a grin, her expression changing from perplexed to excitement.
"Well then come on, let's go! Lunch is almost over," she practically squealed.
"Alright, alright," Naruko said, getting up and following her friend after waving good-bye to the other two boys who had ignored most of the conversation. "Sakura-chan is there too though, so please don't fight. I mean I know you will since neither of you have made up yet, but just leave it alone for today."
Ino sighed with a frown, though it wasn't exactly an angry frown. She replied, "Alright, I'll hold back for today since you've only just gotten back. But she better not push my buttons, in which case, I can't guarantee what I'll do."
"That's fine. Thanks, Ino-chan. I'll have to tell Sakura-chan too though," Naruko said. They arrived at the table, and the new blonde was introduced to Sasuke quickly enough. Naruko pulled her pink haired friend away before she could start any arguments and told what she'd said to Ino. Sakura agreed with a sigh and a threat of what she'd do if Ino got her too riled up. But the blonde was fine with that. As long as they weren't fighting, and at least trying to get along, she thought maybe they would make up sooner. She certainly hoped so, at least.
Shizune sighed for about the millionth time that day. Tsunade, who had left not even an hour after the school day had started, was not back from her check up on Naruto's mother, Yumi. School was almost over, and she was beginning to worry about the blonde woman…well, not that she hadn't started worrying after an hour had gone by and Tsunade hadn't come back. She hadn't even gotten so much as a call from the other. And then…her cell phone rang. Well isn't that convenient.
"Tsunade-sama," she greeted into the receiver as she flipped it on without bothering to look at the number. She assumed it was Tsunade since she rarely ever got calls while she was at work, and she was right. Though the said woman didn't sound as if she were faring very well.
"Shizune…I-I need you to take Naruto-kun to the hospital as soon as possible…" she said softly yet sternly. Hearing the tone, Shizune immediately straightened as if she were speaking to the other woman directly.
"H-hai, Tsunade-sama. But what happened? Why are you at the hospital?" she asked concernedly. "Are you hurt at all?"
"…No. I'm not the one that's hurt," Tsunade replied. "Just…get Naruto here. I need to talk to him now."
"H-hai, Tsunade-sama," Shizune said. She hung up and sighed again. Looking at the time, she saw the dismissal bell would ring in only about fifteen minutes. So she quickly straightened up the office and cleared off the desk before rushing into the office where Deidara sat with a bored expression, typing on his computer. Noticing the Shizune's slightly disheveled appearance he looked at her with concern.
"Shizune-san. Are you okay? You look perturbed," he said.
"I'm fine. I need to call for Naruko-chan as quickly as possible though. Do you think you could do that?" she asked.
"Sure," he replied slowly. He walked to a phone hanging on the wall of the office, pressed a few buttons and waited a moment until a harsh 'beep' went through the school. Then he said, "Would Uzumaki Naruko please come to the office. I repeat, would Uzumaki Naruko please come to the office. That is all, thank you."
"Thank you so much Deidara-san, but wouldn't you usually call the class they are in?" Shizune said with a smile.
"Of course, but this saves time in looking up her schedule and then the number of the classroom. You said you needed her quickly," he replied. "So what's this about? Is she still sick?"
"I don't know. All I know is that Tsunade-sama wants me to bring her to the hospital," she told him.
"Oh dear, I hope nothing too serious has happened," Deidara said.
"I hope so too," she said seriously. She smiled again as she saw Naruto approaching. "I'm sure it won't be anything too bad, so don't worry about it."
"Hey Shizune-san," Naruto said, walking in with a smile. "Hey Dei-chan! What's up with calling me out early? I thought Tsunade-baasan was going to be taking me home."
Shizune smiled and said, "She was, but she told me to take you somewhere else. Now come on. We need to hurry."
"A-alright. Bye Dei-chan," Naruto said with a confused smile.
"Sayonara chibi," Deidara replied with a wave. The pair exited and went to the brunette's car, driving off toward the hospital.
A/N: omg, writer's block!!! Grrr! I'm soooooooooo, so, so, so, so, so sorry! It feels like forever since I've even looked at this thing. I wanted to make this longer since I made you all wait so long for this. But then I thought if I did that, I'd take even longer. And you wouldn't like that now would you? So I decided, I'd give you something, and then try to make the next one longer, but it all depends on how things are going. I've got so much to do in the next two weeks…gah!
But enough about me, thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews! I kept thinking of them, and how long I was making you wait when I think I said it would be up soon when it wasn't. And so my guilt produced this. It sucks, and is basically a filler chapter, which I hate. But yeah. It's something! Please review and tell me how horrible it is. I know it is, and I can take it. But if you have any words of encouragement, they would be greatly appreciated. Once again thank you, and review.
Disclaimer: don't own it, never will.