Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, we would all be in serious trouble.

Warnings: This fic has bad language. Virgin ears be warned!

Chapter 8: The Drama of Teenage Angst

Shikamaru shifted in his seat, expression bored as ever but brown eyes sharp and alert. "C'mon, Chouji, just share a little. Not like it's a big deal."

The larger brunette's fist tightened painfully around the edge of his paper, head shaking slowly. "It might be."

Asuma frowned in confusion, but both Shikamaru and Ino seemed to understand instantly what Chouji was hinting at. He shot the male of the pair a questioning look and watched as the ponytailed boy let his gaze slide over to Ino. That just made Asuma frown harder. Chouji was worried about what Ino would think?

"It won't be, Chouji," Shika assured, giving his friend a pointed look.

Chouji shook his head again. "I don't wanna make anyone uncomfortable or anything."

Asuma still couldn't for the life of him figure out what was going on. He knew Ino made Chouji uneasy sometimes, but Shikamaru's presence had always given the large boy confidence before, enough so that he never really bothered to watch what he said. He'd definitely never been so guarded before.

Ino ran long nails over the edge of her desk, back and forth in a distracting motion, eyes following as they went. "It's fine, Chouji," she said softly, refusing to make eye contact with anyone else in the room. "I don't mind."

"I couldn't think of anyone else," the boy insisted almost desperately, and Ino nodded mutely in response.

The pieces finally flew together for Asuma. Chouji had made his list about Ino, that's why he hadn't wanted to share. The teacher had to admit, it was a little awkward. "Don't worry, Chouji, you don't have to share anything. You have a perfectly good reason not to."

He was offered a weak nod, and Shikamaru immediately started up another argument with Ino, just to break the silence; but nothing could fully erase the heavy tension that hung in the air now.

Dattebayo!

Kurenai watched closely as Hinata fidgeted in her seat, hands either pressing fingers together or playing with the hem of worn sleeves, pale eyes darting about and landing everywhere but the people she was addressing. It was always a little sad to see just how incredibly self-conscious the poor girl was, especially when she had no reason to be. She was sweet, pretty, and intelligent; just what was she so afraid of?

"I, um..." Hinata bit her lip hard, trying to force her racing heart to calm down. The last thing in the world she needed was to have a panic attack when there was absolutely no reason for it. "I d-don't think I should give too much information... on the p-person I made the list about. Because... b-b-because I think everyone here kn-knows him."

The older woman offered her a smile and a proud expression. It was just like Hinata to think of another person's privacy in this type of situation, though Kurenai was curious as to who the shy girl had chosen to make her list on. When the teacher had first explained the activity and used the phrase 'someone who was once close to you and is no longer prominent in your life', Hinata had almost immediately asked an interesting question. Apparently this person was still a prominent part in her life, they had just grown greatly apart over the years, and she wanted to make sure that was okay. Then she had proceeded to write her list with gusto, easily outdoing both of the boys from the glimpses Kurenai had caught. Whoever this person was, Kurenai suspected Hinata still cared for them very much. "That's very thoughtful of you, Hinata."

A shaky nod, some more fidgeting. "Well, the person I made the list about was... a friend, I guess you could say. We were very close when we were younger. Now..." She smiled almost bitterly. "He's not so crazy about me anymore."

Kiba made a noise similar to a snort and lifted his head from its spot on the desk. "He's an idiot then. Who wouldn't be crazy about you?"

Hinata flushed so red at the words they were all sure she would faint.

"Why don't you tell us something you miss about him?"

The girl bit her lip, pondering on what exactly to say and making sure it would give no hints to the person's identity. "I think what I miss most is how he used to be. When we were little he was a very sweet boy. Over the years he got angry at... different things. He got colder." She actually shivered a little. "He's not at all like how he used to be."

"How come he don't like you no more?" Kiba asked somewhat curiously, making Kurenai frown at him, but Hinata just offered another wry smile.

"H-h-he doesn't like much of anything anymore. It's not just me." Though he likes to take it out on me. Even Hinata with her low self-esteem knew when someone blamed her for things she didn't do. When they projected their anger for something completely different onto her. Her family did that a lot it seemed.

Dattebayo!

Lee went on and on with enthusiasm about a girl who, as he had told Gaara, was like a little sister to him for several years. How he knew this girl he didn't say and no one asked, not that they would have been able to get a word in edgewise. Still, despite the slightly annoying tone of his rambling, it was kind of cute how much he clearly cared for this child, whoever she was. Tenten actually felt a smile tug at her lips. Lee was definitely insane, but he wasn't so bad.

"Thank you very much, Lee, for sharing so openly in the spirit of youth!"

Lee's grin managed to widen... somehow. Gaara wondered if his face muscles were built differently than most people's.

"Tenten, would you like to share something about your own youthful love?"

The brunette made a bit of a face but offered a small nod all the same. "Sure... I did it on my grandmother. She died two years ago from a stroke, but she really wasn't that old. Only sixty-nine..." The girl rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. It felt... weird to be talking about this with the people currently in the room. Even most of her friends didn't know this.

"Were you two close?" Gai asked respectfully, and the girl nodded immediately.

"Uh, yeah, we were." Very close. In fact, she had lived with the woman, had been the one to find her body when she got home from school, lying on the bedroom floor, already cold. That she was not going to share. "She was around a lot."

Gai nodded somberly. "Would you mind sharing something you miss about her?"

Tenten cocked her head a bit, thinking, forgetting entirely that she had a whole list in front of her of things she missed about the old woman. "Well, I mean I just plain miss her, y'know. But if you want something specific..." Brown eyes scrunched a bit in contemplation. "We used to bake cookies about once a month, ever since I was little. She really liked baking, and even though I actually hated it, I always looked forward to it. Because she enjoyed it so much. It made me happy to see her so happy. I never told her baking was one of my least favorite things to do."

Once she had finished she felt the back of her neck grow hot with realization. That had been a private memory, something special for her to think about whenever she was feeling down or lonely. She had never told that to anyone, and now she had just shared it with a group of completely insane boys, who were probably going to laugh at her for sounding girly when she so obviously wasn't. Fuck Maito-sensei and his odd, unexplainable way of making her want to talk.

Shutting her eyes momentarily in dejection, she opened them again and bravely faced the pair of boys on her left. Gaara looked the same as he always did, fixing her with a look that was both bored and pissed off, and Lee was giving her puppy eyes, not the kind that said he understood where she had been coming from, but the kind that said he genuinely felt for her. Okay, so maybe she wouldn't have to worry about them, but...

Her gaze snapped forward to the long-haired brunette sitting a table in front of her. He was sideways in his seat, giving her a good view of his profile, and surprisingly, he wasn't smirking in that smug, superior way he so often did. She held her breath, waiting for him to scoff and throw some degrading comment her way, something about her being so sentimental, but there was nothing. He kept his eyes straight ahead, never once glancing at her, and his expression was blank and neutral, if not a little uncomfortable. Like he wanted to get the hell out of there.

Waiting as another moment passed in silence, the girl finally allowed herself to relax, realizing there would be no repercussions for her temporary lapse in sanity. In fact... that really hadn't been all that bad. Not nearly as bad as she thought sharing something semi-private would be.

"Neji-kun, would you like to share something with us?"

Pale eyes flitted over to Gai's form, carefully guarded. "I'd rather not," though his voice was much softer than usual and held none of its normal malice.

The teacher immediately nodded his assent. "Of course, Neji-kun. You are not forced to share anything."

Neji said nothing, just crinkled the list of his dead father in his hand.

Dattebayo!

"I did mine on my grandpa," Shika drawled lazily, eyes drooping in fatigue. He really wished he was high at the moment, or that he could at least have a cigarette. Something to make this less boring. "We were kinda close, he took me fishing and stuff. Fishing's nice. You can just sorta lay back and watch the clouds, just recast the line every once in a while..."

Ino rolled her eyes and muttered, "Lazyass," under her breath.

"Anyway, he's dead now. Died when I was ten. He was a lot of fun to have around, was the only person who could really handle my mom. Was always good for a laugh." He glanced at his classmates. "You guys remember him, right?"

Chouji quickly nodded while Ino groused, "Of course we do. We were at the damn funeral."

"Down, girl. It was just a question."

Asuma just knew that he would have to stop Ino from physically attacking the lazy brunette one day. "Thank you, Shika." He paused, trying to think of something profound to say. He was the adult here, after all. "I'm sure your grandfather's glad you remember him so fondly."

Shikamaru stopped smirking Ino's way and blinked in surprise at the math teacher. "Wow, Asuma-sensei. That was kinda lame."

The other two snickered in obvious agreement, and Asuma felt his cheeks heat up. Damn brats. "Ino, how about you share something?"

Ino hummed in acceptance, pulling her list idly closer. "I did it on a girl I was best friends with for a while, back in elementary school. We were really close before she started acting like such a loser."

Asuma stared, eyebrows raised. How sweet.

"You really think Sakura's that much of a loser?" Shika asked, clearly amused.

"She is a loser."

"I don't think she's a loser. You think she's a loser, Chouji?"

Chouji looked like he'd rather not get involved. "Not... really..."

"What the hell do you two know anyway? You're both losers too! There's a reason I'm not friends with any of you anymore!"

Chouji flinched. Shika smirked a bit again. "Now now, love--"

"Stop using that fucking expression!"

"Don't take your insecurity issues out on us, kitten."

"What insecurity issues, pineapple head?"

"The ones you clearly have hidden deep in your psyche." Shikamaru's taunting smile immediately fell away, leaving behind a deadly serious expression. "Because only people who aren't secure with themselves feel the need to call others losers. And only people who feel bad about themselves try so hard to make other people feel bad."

Dattebayo!

"I don't really wanna talk about who I made my list on." Kiba scratched the back of his shaggy brown hair with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, sensei."

"That's all right, Kiba, you don't have to." The Spanish teacher felt the familiar wave of apprehension wash over her as she turned red eyes towards the quietest member of the group. She always felt almost bad for asking Shino to participate when he so obviously didn't want to.

The hooded boy caught the woman's gaze and shrugged even before she said anything. "I suppose sharing could not hurt."

Kurenai gaped.

"I did it on a boy I was friends with when I was younger. His name was Nathan Davenport."

Kiba sat up straighter in his seat, face alert. Like a puppy with their ears pricked up. "Hey, I remember him. He went to elementary school with us. Then he moved in, like, fourth grade or somethin'."

Shino inclined his head slowly. "Yes."

There was a moment of silence while Kiba's eyes narrowed and he sniffed the air, almost like he was trying to smell his classmate. "You... are you the kid that was always with him? The quiet one with the curly hair?"

Another nod, though this one visibly more hesitant. "Yes."

"That was you?" The surprised yelp was followed by Kiba all but leaping from his seat, straining to get closer to Shino without actually leaving his desk, like it would let him see through the layers of protective clothing the boy wore. "No wonder I didn't remember you from back then. Well, I do remember you, I just didn't know it was you." He paused then, repeating the words in his head to be sure they made sense.

Kurenai had Hinata both shared a small sigh at the smaller boy's antics before the teacher decided to steer the situation back in the right direction. "So, Shino, you and this boy were friends until he moved?"

There was the familiar rustle of clothes as Shino shifted a little. "No. We stopped being friends before he moved... We had a disagreement."

"Hey hey," Kiba demanded, still unwilling to let the issue go. "How come I don't remember seeing you in fifth grade? You just came to middle school like..." He flailed his arms, motioning to the substantial clothing. "That's why I didn't recognize you, I just thought you were a new kid or from another elementary school or somethin'."

Hinata watched the exchange curiously but without a sound.

"I was home-schooled during fifth grade."

"Huh? How come?"

Dark glasses flashed, catching the fluorescent light of the classroom. "None of your business."

The tone of voice didn't change in the least from its usual monotone, but Kiba flinched back as if burned all the same, the proverbial whipped puppy. "Right, man. Sorry."

Kurenai knew without having to ask that Shino was officially done sharing. In fact, she'd be lucky if she ever got him to talk again now.

Dattebayo!

"Sai, would you share a little bit?"

Sai, who had almost instinctively began to doodle on the corner of his paper, locked dark eyes with his for a moment, followed by a nod. "Of course. What exactly would you like to know?"

Kakashi eye-smiled at the boy for his willingness. "Who did you make your list about?"

"My brother."

Sasuke actually twitched in his seat a bit at the words, and both Sakura and Naruto also looked deathly attentive; morbidly curious about what kind of family had spawned their odd classmate. "You and your brother aren't close anymore?" Kakashi offered slowly.

Sai's smile returned. "No. He's dead."

That horror movie feeling was back again. Kakashi tried not to let it show on the visible part of his face how unnerving the pale boy was. "Okay... how about--"

"How'd he die?"

"Naruto!" the teacher hissed, surprised by the interruption and the blunt question from the blond. You didn't just ask someone--

"He was sick. The doctors diagnosed him with leukemia, and he died six months later."

Naruto nodded, blue eyes serious and sympathetic, but not in the generic 'oh poor you' type of way. This seemed much more genuine, like most things Naruto did.

Kakashi thought he should step in before this went into dangerous territory.

"Did he get treatment?" It was Sakura this time. "Like chemo or--"

"Yes. It didn't work."

Very dangerous territory.

"How long ago was this?" Naruto asked.

"Six years ago."

"So you were, like, eight? How old was he?"

He should stop it.

Sai tilted his head in thought for a brief moment. "He was eight as well."

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

"Were you twins?" Sakura asked, trying to make sense of it as well.

He couldn't figure out why he wasn't stopping it.

"No. He was" --another pause-- "five months older than me."

"Huh?"

"Were you half-brothers?" Sasuke, even Sasuke was taking enough of an interest to ask questions. Clearly hell had frozen over.

And then Kakashi knew why he wasn't stopping it. The kids were doing exactly as they were supposed to, discussing the activity, in a group, on their own, without him needing to say a word. It was working just like the program was designed to. The reason it hadn't worked before was because you needed to share and ask questions in order to make it work, and thus far, Sai was the only one willing to openly share. The teacher sank back and just listened, not about to interfere unless necessary. He would watch for now and see where this went.

"No." Sai seemed now to understand where the others confusion was coming from. "He was not really my brother. He was actually a distant cousin, but we both lived with the same relative because our parents were dead."

The two other boys shifted self-consciously.

"What was his name?" Sakura asked.

"Shin." There was a moment of silence and Sai, ever diligent as he was, still remembered that he was supposed to be talking about his list. "I wrote down things I enjoyed about him and used to enjoy doing with him." He glanced towards Kakashi. "Should I read the list?"

"Maa," Kakashi scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "No, you don't have to do that, Sai. Just tell us one or two of the most prominent things on there."

The pale boy nodded before letting his eyes scan through his own writing, immediately freezing when they landed on a particular line. To everyone's sheer amazement, his lips twitched, just the slightest, into a real smile before it disappeared again. "Leggos... He really liked to play with his leggos, and he, of course, always wanted me to play with him. I always wanted to color but... He would build these ridiculously elaborate forts and then get those little plastic green army men. Make me have wars with him... He was very loud and energetic, he always had to be moving. He rarely thought before he spoke... Really, he was very much like Dickless in many ways."

Naruto, for his part, was quite flustered at being compared to his pale classmate's dead 'brother'. That, and they were all surprised by how much Sai had just talked. Normally stringing three or four sentences together seemed to be his limit.

"Thank you, Sai," Kakashi said with full sincerity, carefully watching the boy's face. He glanced towards the others, figuring it would be best to encourage the communication they had going earlier. "You guys have any other questions?"

There was a moment of silence before Naruto hesitantly asked, "Do you miss him? Your brother?"

It was the kind of question that would normally have an obvious answer, but with Sai who seemed to have no real emotions, one could never be sure.

"Miss him?" Sai mumbled softly, the words rolling off his tongue like he was tasting them for the first time. "The feeling of regretting the absence of a certain person or object." Obsidian eyes were locked on the scratched tabletop, brows twitching in something akin to confusion. Kakashi and the three other children watched as Sai's face seemed to war with itself, an expression that could only possibly be described as sadness and longing attempting desperately to break through the usually blank facade.

"Yes." Eyes looked up, the genuine expression on the pale boy's face making him almost unrecognizable as Sai. "I believe I do miss him."

I know these last two chapters have been kind of serious and angsty (hence the chapter title), but it will lighten up again starting next chapter. Promise. The serious stuff is sorta necessary for the plot, so when it shows up, please bear with it.

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