A/N: Okay, so, this chapter's been edited to be a combination of the original chapter three and the shorter chapter four. I figured that it'd be easier for me to deal with both chapters together as a whole since they're the shorter chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
LAST CHAPTER
"I…Is it b-bad for me to b-be here?" Hinata managed to whisper through her somewhat uncooperative throat. Shino's eyebrows rose, and Hinata felt the air around them become slightly more relaxed.
"Perhaps if you and your friends were to be caught. However, by no means is it a negative thing for you to be here. In fact, I would say that there is a lot of good that may come of it. The benefits of a group of girls being at this academy may outweigh the potential consequences by far." Hinata let out a breath of relief that she had no idea that she had been holding.
"Th-that's good…" Shino outstretched his hand to reach the door, and as he gripped at the handle, he turned to her. She couldn't quite make out his expression, but she noticed the ghost of the edges of his lips upturning, though she felt like she had just imagined it as a way to calm herself.
"And do not assume, based on my earlier questioning, that I find your presence at this school at all a bad thing." His face seemed stone-set, but the encouraging words made Hinata smile slightly. The metal door swung open, and from the air in front of her, Hinata saw only something large and white before she was knocked to the ground.
Chapter Three: Getting to Know You
'My body…' Hinata thought to herself, her mind processing in slow-motion, '…it feels so heavy. I can't get up…there's something on me.' At that, Hinata found her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. The poor, dim lighting of the stairwell was easy to adjust to, but she paid it no mind, because lying on top of her was one of the largest white dogs she had ever seen in her life. Thinking quickly, she tried to scramble out from underneath it, but was too slow, and met her fate as a long, pink tongue lapped her face and knocked off her baseball cap.
"Akamaru! Get offa her, buddy!" Kiba called from behind the dog, panting hard from having to run after the dog. The dog considered it for a moment, but decided to comply as it pulled back onto its haunches, its tail wagging enough to create a small breeze in the room. Shino, who had been witness to the entire scene, had reacted the moment the door swung open and positioned himself so that he was out of assaulting range. Judging by his face, this was nothing new. Kiba let out a tired sigh, trying to give Akamaru what was supposed to be a scolding look, only to fail. The dog licked his face as well, and the boy found it in him to grin at his best friend.
"Sorry, Hiashi! He gets outta hand sometimes, and I kinda forgot to warn ya about it, so…" At the sound of her fake name, Hinata sat up and tried to wipe some of the dog drool off of her face with her sleeve. Her hair had been drenched in the liquid, and it was sticking to her face, as well as in strange directions. Kiba gave her an odd, though amused look.
"I-it's okay…I was just surprised, that's a-all," Hinata answered truthfully, a small grin making its way to her face as she looked at the large dog, which was giving her a somewhat pitiful expression. She reached out to pet it on the head, and the dog met her halfway. Forgetting her situation, she allowed a tiny giggle to escape her lips, which earned her a questioning look from Kiba.
"Whoa, guys don't giggle. You sure you aren't a girl?" Kiba asked, though he had meant it as more of a joke than a serious question. Luckily, Shino decided to save Hinata right at that moment.
"If I recall, you were supposed to feed him, Kiba. He is only ever this excited when he is not content." Kiba pouted, having forgotten his previous jest almost immediately.
"Hey, I tried. But the moment I opened the door, he just jumped right out and ran down the hallway to the stairs. I didn't even get to step inside the room, I was too busy chasing him and trying to keep him contained so nobody could catch him in the dorms." Kiba turned towards his dog, who was trying to win sympathy by whining pathetically at his owner. "But the guy's a rascal. And a really fast one, might I add."
"H-he's cute…" Hinata said, which got a proud smile out of Kiba.
"Yep, he's been my best buddy since I was little. We did everything together, and we still do. 'Cept he doesn't have to go to school for the next few months." Hinata laughed, patting the dog a few more times for good measure. "Anyway, what say we go back and clean my side of the room now?"
"I am not cleaning your half of the room," Shino stated firmly, his arms crossed. Kiba just playfully glared at him in response.
"Not you. Hiashi's gonna help me, ain't that right?" Kiba sent an implicative look towards the girl, who just smiled shyly and nodded. Kiba turned back to his stoic friend and stuck his tongue out at him. "See? Told'ja." Had they been able to see Shino's eyes, they would've seen him roll them. They decided to get out of the stairwell—after having checked if the coast was clear—and head back to their room, Akamaru in tow. Room 863 was further down the hall, and Hinata was able to notice the different signs on the doors that implied who stayed in them. Room 823, for example, had numerous scratches and dents in the room number plaque, while room 840 was polished and unscathed, as if it were brand new. Others had small pieces of something on them, sometimes food, sometimes a something that Hinata couldn't, and didn't want to, place. When they were almost to the end of the hall, Hinata caught a glimpse of the plaque on her new, shared room. It had tiny scratches on it, not like the serious cuts on room 823, and was only slightly dirty, but it was otherwise one of the cleaner, more well-kept ones. Kiba pulled out a key from his pants pocket, and inserted it into the small keyhole in the door, turning it. A small, audible click was heard as the door gave way.
"Home sweet home!" Kiba said cheerily as Akamaru immediately bounded into the room. Hinata watched as the state of the room became visible to her, and she found herself inwardly laughing at just how separated the room really looked. On the right hand side, there was a simple twin-sized bed with no bedframe, and beside it, a small wooden desk and chair. Piled on top of these things were stacks of dirty clothes, board games, a stray game system, and several other small trinkets that made the furniture look almost nonexistent. A little more than halfway towards the left side of the room, there seemed to be some kind of invisible barrier that kept the piles among piles of junk on the right side from overflowing into the left. The left side, Hinata could wholeheartedly say, was far cleaner than the right side. There was a simple desk with a laptop, an office chair of the swivel kind, a twin-sized bed with a basic wooden bedframe, and a nightstand with what looked like a terrarium on top of it. There was a neat basket of dirty clothing in a far, almost desolate corner, along with a bookshelf along the wall. The floor looked almost polished.
"It moved again," Hinata heard Shino lament from beside her. She looked at him in a confused manner, but he made no move for explanation. Kiba gave a grunt.
"It did not, you're just imagining it." Shino took a step towards where the invisible barrier seemed to be erected, and stood to look at it, Kiba doing the same.
"I am sure of it." Kiba pfft'd at him, before pointing at where the room seemed to split.
"See that line there in the floor? That's where it was yesterday. It hasn't moved!" Hinata became more confused, but didn't want to ask. Shino shook his head slightly in disapproval.
"Yesterday, it was there," he said, kneeling down and placing his finger at a location mere millimeters away from the line Kiba had been speaking of, "and now it is here." His second finger moved to the current location, showing an almost unnoticeable amount of distance between his two fingers. Kiba stared at his friend in disbelief.
"Dude, who cares? It's only like, a centimeter, it doesn't make any difference!" Shino pointedly glared at him this time, standing up.
"Tell me that when it has completely overwhelmed my side of the room within the week." Suddenly, Hinata felt like laughing out loud. They were talking about the barrier.
"Whatever, we're gonna clean it today, anyways," Kiba said, pouting and folding his arms across his chest defiantly. "And if you don't want all this crap to just eat your side, you better help us."
"Are you going to be all right, Tenten-chan?" Sakura asked as her and Ino stepped out of the rickety elevator. Tenten just gave them a thumbs up and a smile.
"I'll be fine. I'd worry more about yourselves," she said before the elevator doors hid her from view. The two girls sent one last look towards the elevator, then to each other, before moving down the hallway to find room 1021. Luckily for them, room 1021 was one of the ones near the elevator at the beginning of the hall, and it didn't take long for them to find it without any interference from stray hallway dwellers. Ino gulped before giving the door a tentative knock. Seconds seemed to tick by like hours, and both girls nearly jumped when the door actually unlocked and clicked open before them. From the hallway, they made out the face of the room's occupant to be rather chubby with two swirls on his cheeks. Considering the fact that he didn't look like the guy from the hallway, they both came to the conclusion that this was Chouji. The bag of potato chips in his hand crackled.
"Who are you?" The two girls glanced at each other before turning back to the chubby boy.
"We're new here," Sakura answered him.
"I'm your new roommate; she's just staying for a little while to get used to this place," Ino added in. "Her real room's with a Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." A look of realization seemed to pass over Chouji's face, and he stepped out of the way to let them pass. The scene was almost appalling.
"What in the…" Sakura started, but she never finished. The floors of the room were littered with a variety of potato chips, as well as some dirty laundry and socks, and there was barely any furniture inside except for a single desk, a bunk bed in a far corner, and a couch lining the opposite wall. There seemed to be a small TV on the desk, and a meager chair cast off to the side. The trash can in the other corner seemed to be full to the brim, and there was more laundry outside of hamper than in it. It was as if they had played a game of basketball with their clothing—from outside the door. Chouji passed them as he entered the room, plopping himself down on the couch and powering the TV.
"Sorry for the mess; it's been awhile since we cleaned in here," he said between chips. "Shikamaru thinks cleaning's too troublesome. Shikamaru's my roommate." The two girls were at a loss for words, but before they could gather their bearings, another voice drawled from behind them.
"I guess that old headmistress was right, we do have new students. How troublesome." Ino and Sakura turned to face the lazy boy they had seen earlier that day, and they noticed his eyes widening only slightly before going back to their normal size. "And they're those people I saw earlier in the hall."
"Um, it's nice to meet you. I'm Saku Haruno," Sakura finally said, managing to gather herself enough to speak. "I'm not really assigned to this room, I'm just trying to avoid my actual roommates. I heard they were pretty bad." He gave her a strange look, then turned to Ino, causing her to snap out of her frozen state, realizing she hadn't introduced herself either.
"Oh! I'm Inoichi Yamanaka. It's nice to meet you." Shikamaru just nodded in acknowledgement. He scratched the back of his head and yawned.
"I'm Shikamaru Nara. That's Chouji Akimichi. So, who're you avoiding?" Chouji took the floor on that one.
"Sasuke and Naruto." Shikamaru looked surprised, but not overly so. He smiled lazily at this information, and, at that moment, remembered to shut the door behind him. He made his way over to the couch to join the still eating boy, not exactly engulfed in whatever show was on the tube. He bothered to glance at the two new roommates.
"So? Get comfortable, although it's troublesome."
"Room G507…room G507…" Tenten chanted as she walked along the hall. She had passed several doors already, and had to wonder just how far this room was supposed to be. She had figured, since the dorms were probably in numerical order from least to greatest, she would be there soon, but it didn't seem that way with this bizarre floor. "Room G505…room G508…room G50…7! I found it!" Tenten mentally cheered before quickly rapping her knuckle on the door. The plaque on the room's door was sparkly clean, something she had not seen on the other doors. Almost as soon as her knocking was done, the door swung open to reveal a boy with a short bowl-cut hairstyle, green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and bushy eyebrows. Tenten took a cautious step back, unable to discern whether she should be laughing at his attire and appearance, or trying to run away before it was too late. She chose the middle ground and did nothing.
"And who are you?" he asked, his voice excited and loud. Tenten could've sworn she heard a sound of possible interest from within, but was too preoccupied to really care for it. She quickly pulled out her paper.
"I'm your new roommate, I guess," she answered, and she knew she had seen something sparkle in his large eyes. Suddenly, the air around him seemed to engulfed in flames, and his excited aura flared tenfold.
"That is wonderful! Another youthful soul to share this room with! Let us all share the glorious moments of our springtime youth together!"
"Lee, stop that," a voice called from inside, and the boy named Lee seemed to calm down by only a miniscule amount. Another boy appeared from beside Lee, and his piercing pale eyes stared at Tenten with a vigor she had never felt before. It was wholly unnerving and scary. "What's your name?"
"Ah, Tenshi. You guys are Neji Hyuuga and Rock Lee, right?" Lee just beamed at her, his teeth letting out an odd shine, and jutting out a thumbs up in her face.
"You are correct, Tenshi-san! I am the lovely green beast of Konoha Academy, Rock Lee!" 'I don't know about lovely,' Tenten thought, though she kept it to herself. The other boy, Neji, just Hn'd at her before crossing his arms cold over his chest. He turned away and headed back inside, though not before calling out to her.
"Make yourself comfortable and don't be a nuisance." Tenten frowned at him, already annoyed with the boy she hadn't even actually spoken to yet. It was definitely going to be an interesting stay. Beside her, Lee rambled on about his morning, lunch, and late-night training excursions. Tenten had to admit, the parts she was paying attention to were quite impressive, but she would have to decline in joining him in his exercises; they were probably too much for anybody that wasn't him.
"How can you possibly live in this?" Shino asked, tossing a large stack of beyond dirty clothes into the trash bag next to him. After much begging on Kiba's part, and some help from Hinata—it was purely unintentional or was coerced by Kiba—they had roped the hooded boy into assisting with the cleaning. Half of the clothes in the bag, which were going to be thoroughly washed at some point, were most likely going to be thrown into the actual garbage can, and those that weren't smelled like sewage and whatever else filth Shino could think Kiba would roll himself in.
"H-he's probably used to i-it…" Hinata said, dusting off the now-laundry-free desk. They had brought in heavy towels to wipe some of the caked in dirt on Kiba's side of the room, and it left Hinata wondering just how some of it managed to get on the ceiling.
"Yeah, it's been awhile since I've actually seen my floor," Kiba joked, though in all actuality, he couldn't attest to having even walked on his floor because of all of the stuff on it. "I'll make sure to polish it more often, though. It wouldn't hurt to see my face in the floor every morning." Hinata giggled at his vanity. In the short time they had spent cleaning Kiba's room, both boys had gotten used to her giggling, despite the fact that only one of them knew she was really a girl. Kiba had passed her off as being just a really girly boy that giggled and found things to be cute.
"No, it wouldn't hurt…at least, not us," Shino said, gesturing to everyone except Kiba. Said boy looked at Shino oddly before it clicked in his mind.
"Hey! That's not cool!" Hinata could only laugh at their antics. Once she had completed dusting off the desk, she began on making his bed…or, at least, what she believed to be his bed. They hadn't begun gathering all of the objects on his mattress yet, and she wasn't even sure where to start. She glanced at one end of the stack, then the other, and finally to the middle. Sighing, she decided to start extricating objects from the left, then making her way to the right. She tossed several layers of socks towards the dirty laundry bag at Shino's feet, and a number of slobbery dog toys into a plastic bin at Kiba's feet. She dug into the mass of items until she had completed a large section of the mattress, pleased with her work. The comforter had small dog bones printed on it.
"Maybe we can find some treasure in my piles of shit," Kiba exclaimed, excitement clear in his voice. Shino made a face at him, but chose not to comment on that statement. Hinata chose to nod eagerly, quickly sifting through what was left of the trash on the bed. She made a small noise of accomplishment as she pulled a worn and torn box from underneath the pile. Both boys turned to her, wondering what she had found.
"I found a checkers game!" she called, holding the medium-sized box in front of her. Kiba frowned and made a disappointed noise.
"Checkers? You can throw that away, I'll probably never use it," Kiba muttered, going back to sorting out his laundry. "Or maybe if you guys wanna keep it, go ahead."
Cleaning had taken them a long time, but working together had proven a good idea, as they finished at least ten times faster than Kiba would've had he done it alone. Kiba had gone off to throw his first batch of laundry into the school's campus Laundromat on the ground floor of the dorm building, leaving Hinata and Shino alone with the box of checkers. Glancing at the box, Hinata looked towards Shino, as if ushering him to play checkers with her. His reach for the box meant his compliance.
"Do you like checkers?" Shino asked as he sat on the wooden floor and set up the board game. Hinata, sitting across from him, only nodded.
"I l-like chess more, though," she replied, grabbing at the red pieces and placing them in their appropriate squares on the board. "Th-the pieces have m-more movement, so s-strategizing is h-harder." Shino just hmm'd as he, too, set up his pieces on the board. Once the three rows of alternating pieces were set up, they played a short, two-out-of-three game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who went first. Shino won. He glanced at the board for a long while, surveying each piece and the possibilities of the game before making his first move.
"Do you l-like chess?" Hinata asked as she, too, moved one of her red pieces. She played it safe, moving her piece diagonally to the safest location on the board: the wall. He made a noncommittal noise.
"I prefer checkers. I believe that it is a more interesting game of strategy than chess." He moved another piece forward.
"Why?" she asked, genuine curiosity in her voice as she chose to move her second piece on the opposite side of the board, hoping to also place it into a safe position on the wall opposite to the one her first piece was located. Shino shifted his next piece into the safe location before hers could reach it on the next turn.
"Chess is comprised of a variety of different pieces, each piece able to move in its own particular way. There are endless possibilities of which to position your pieces in order to win. Checkers, however, limits your movement to a single space diagonally. You cannot move in a straight line; you are always attacking your opponent from a position that is not right in front of them." She shifted another piece into a safe position between two other pieces, one hers and the other his. He did the same in a different location.
"Y-you do the s-same in chess s-sometimes." She continued the safe path in-between pieces. Shino found a safe open location on the board, and shifted his piece into it.
"Correct. However, movement is not as limited. Checkers incorporates a game of chess with nothing but pawns that may only move in a diagonal direction. In a battle of wits, one attacks, and his opponent attacks back, until someone claims the upperhand. Openings are given…" Hinata moved a piece into a location that would be safe from being jumped, and was capable of jumping another piece, or was able to move the piece into a position was open to being jumped by another waiting piece. "...and are used to distract the enemy in order to turn the tables." He jumped her piece with one of his own, sealing off movement for one of her base pieces. She blinked, but quickly regained composure enough to shift another piece into a safe position.
'I can still do this!' Hinata inwardly motivated, glancing at the board and trying to figure out what his plan of attack was. She noticed her pieces were in a safety formation, a square, and sealed off any movement from his one piece at the board's wall. She noticed him move one of his pieces to a safe spot between one of her pieces and one of his, breaking his own square. Thinking quickly, she shifted one of the pieces behind her square to another safe location, sure that he would not shift his other piece for fear that she would jump it.
"Ch-chess can be similar," Hinata responded, her eyes now staring at her opponent in an attempt to read him. He seemed to be focusing on the board, though it was difficult to tell with his sunglasses on. He shifted a piece from his second row to a safe location. She found an opening in his setup and shifted her piece between two of his own, leaving him unable to attack it, but allowing her to jump his piece without any worry of being jumped back the next turn. He adjusted his glasses, only moving on of his pieces to a location that left not one, but two of his pieces open to attack from two different directions.
"Perhaps. Both games can be small strategies that interlock to form one large plan. The difference," he began as Hinata decided to move in a safe direction that prevented her from being double-jumped, something she realized as she mapped out her possibilities, "is that checkers utilizes the player's effective use of limited range." He jumped one of her open pieces, something she had already anticipated in her prior move. She moved one of her safe pieces, the one she had reserved at the beginning of the game, into the now-safe zone near Shino's base.
"It is fairly easy to read possible movements in a game of checkers. It is similar to revealing your mindset to your adversary after you have done it; they will know a possible plan of yours for the next time they face you. In chess, it is more difficult to easily analyze movements, for each piece will move differently, and will open more possibilities than pieces in checkers." He moved his piece to a location that sealed off movement from another of her base pieces. She shifted her piece into a safety zone closer to his base. "If your opponent knows all of your moves, or is able to anticipate them, you are at a clear disadvantage in the field." He shifted his piece to a safety zone near her base row. She responded by moving a piece in another part of the map to a safe location.
"Why would you put yourself at a disadvantage?" He asked rhetorically as he moved his second piece near her base row to a point vulnerable to two attacks from base pieces. She eyed him cautiously before choosing a safe piece to jump him with. He responded by moving a piece to the empty zone in front of him. She shifted her piece to block his movements, lest he be jumped. "It will provide the player with a challenge. To overcome obstacles when your moves have already been anticipated," he stated, shifting his piece to be jumped by another of her own. She jumped him in kind, "is to truly exercise strategic movements." He double-jumped her from another location, much to her surprise. She, however, jumped that piece with her corner base piece. He shifted a safe piece from its position, forward. She shifted a piece that would not be jumped on the following turn. He moved into a safe location between two of her pieces.
"That is why I choose to play checkers," he stated simply before standing up, stretching slightly. Hinata looked up at him in a confused manner.
"W-we haven't f-finished the game," she said, the questioning look in her eyes. He merely gestured towards the board.
"I have already won." He watched as her eyes looked towards the board, then widened. On the board, she counted nine pieces in her arsenal, and seven in his own. None of them had been reached the base row, but the setup of the pieces caught her attention. At certain points during the gameplay, he had succeeded in discreetly destroying her safety square, coercing two of her base pieces out of their positions, and locking in every single one of her pieces without even moving his own base pieces. She looked up at him, slightly awed. She had no more time to comment on it, however, because Kiba had found his way through the door, his laundry bags empty and a grin on his face.
"All done!" Kiba cried joyfully, launching himself into his newly made bed. He folded his hands behind his head, turning to look at the remnants of their checkers game. He frowned. "You guys spent the entire time in here player checkers? Bo-ring!" He closed his eyes, and almost instantly fell into a snoring fit. Shino and Hinata glanced at him before glancing at each other.
"If you would prefer to engage in a game of chess, you may ask Shikamaru to join you." Hinata just smiled at that, a determined look finding its way onto her face. She shook her head slowly.
"I-I'd like to continue playing ch-checkers with you."
"So, lemme get this straight, Temari. You and your prissy friends are here, at an all boys academy, disguised as guys, because you got bored of your own school?" An eerie silence enveloped Room S671 as Temari nodded for nth time. She had explained the whole situation to her brothers after the rest of her group left, and Kankurou just couldn't seem to wrap his head around the idea. At first, Temari had just laughed at his confused face, but after the fifth time he had reiterated the exact same story using different words, she grew irritated, and she knew that Gaara was becoming unsettled, too.
"That's insane!" Kankurou cried out, again. The two other occupants just sighed, tired of his slowness.
"Look, you guys can't tell anyone else here about it. I'm not worried about Gaara telling, but you, on the other hand," Temari began, giving her exceptionally louder brother a pointed look, "are another story. I don't care how many 'besties' you have here, or how close you are; you can't let anyone know. If this leaks out, there's gonna be a real problem, and someone's," here, she looked at him again, "going to be dead within the hour. Understand?" The boy gulped, then nodded quickly. Temari sighed, glad to have that out of the way.
"That's kinda dumb, don't you think? Joining this academy just to have a little fun," Kankurou mentioned, regaining his ability to speak. "I know you, and even you wouldn't think to do something this stupid."
"It wasn't my idea. Hinata thought this one up all on her own." At this, even Gaara had the decency to look over at her in slight surprise. During their period of separation, Temari had been occasionally contacting both of her brothers and telling them about her school adventures, which were few and far between. She had also mentioned to them about her friends, though she had never sent pictures or anything of the sort. Given the fact that they did attend a school full of nothing but guys, there was no telling what sending them pictures of the ever-rare girls would entail.
"The shy one?" Gaara asked, speaking for the first time since the others had gone. Temari could remember a time, some few years ago, when Gaara would be a total recluse and just shut everybody else out of his life. At that point, he had trust issues with everyone around him because their father operated in a rather controversial business, and any attempt at an assassination of Gaara's life, especially since he was to be his father's successor despite having an older brother, was nothing new. When their father had finally decided that enough was enough, he boarded both Gaara and Kankurou off to Konoha Academy where the situation was explained to the headmistress. Temari had been let out of the house to live on her own not too long afterwards, and in the previous year, had relocated herself to Konoha.
"Yep, that's the one. It surprised me, too, to be honest. I don't know what she's thinking, but I get the feeling it has something to do with her family," Temari divulged, staring intently at the wall in front of her. "That 'we're going because it's a better school and more interesting' excuse just sounds like a load of bull to me, but I'll go along with it. If Hinata came up with an idea like this, then it must be for an important reason to her."
"That's great and all, but just 'cause it's important doesn't mean you'll get through a year here so easily. We're guys, and we still find it dangerous to be here," Kankurou admitted, looking Temari dead in the side of her head, which had turned to meet eyes with him. "There are some seriously messed up people here, total nutcases, and they won't hesitate anything when they find out your secret." They stared down each other for a long while, daring the other to give up.
"That's why, while I'm here, you can't say anything unless we're in this room and away from stray ears. For everyone else, my name is going to be Temaru, not Temari. Don't slip up. Just once, and it might be all over. Since you're both my brothers, I think the other girls will know that you guys know about it, so it's safe to talk to them about it, too. Whatever Hinata's planning, I kind of want it to work for her. She usually doesn't ask anything of us, and this experience might be kinda interesting." Kankurou feh'd at her, finally folding his arms over his chest and looking away, a disapproving look on his face.
"You won't be saying that when your secret's found out and a bunch of random guys try to fuck you." Temari glared and kicked him in the head. Gaara coughed into his fist, drawing their attention.
"We should go to collect our schedules for tomorrow." He nodded at the digital clock in the corner of the room, the blinking screen telling them that it was close to midnight. Temari's eyes widened.
"It's that late already?" Her only response from her younger sibling was a nod as he made his way for the door. Kankurou gathered himself from the floor as Temari quickly readjusted her disguise, both following Gaara out the door.
An odd silence enveloped the room, only breaking when Shikamaru lightly slammed his fist on the signal-less TV, whose static noise had soon become a part of the background. Ino and Sakura sat on the floor of the room, as far away from the two boys as the area would permit without seeming as though they were intentionally trying to avoid coming in close contact. When the TV was no longer planning to respond—or maybe it was just that Shikamaru decided to give up on trying to fix it—Chouji grabbed the remote and turned the electric box off. Now, it seemed, the only notable noise was that of Chouji crunching on yet another bag of potato chips. Ino and Sakura both looked to the other for some idea of what to do to break the uncomfortable and highly awkward silence, but neither had any idea what to say. Shikamaru had told them to "get comfortable," but it seemed much harder to do than they had initially thought. After having stared lazily at the TV for what seemed to be forever—or maybe he was looking at empty space, they couldn't tell—he turned to them and gave them an odd look.
"You guys look uncomfortable," he said as though he didn't actually care, but decided it had been worth mentioning. Both girls almost visibly froze at his observation.
"It's nothing, really! We're just…" Ino trailed off, sneaking sidelong glances at Sakura, calling for help. Luckily, Sakura got the message.
"We're just a bit nervous about being at a new school, that's all. We don't really know anyone here besides each other and our other friends, but that's out of a whole academy of students. It's a bit nerve-wracking," Sakura said, and Shikamaru seemed to acknowledge their reason for discomfort. He plopped himself back on the couch, his hands folded neatly behind his head as he leaned back into the cushion.
"Yeah, moving schools is really troublesome. You leave all your friends behind, then you gotta make new ones and get used to everything…it's a real pain. And totally unnecessary to boot." They nodded, their heads resembling bobbleheads, before the conversation seemed to die and morph back into the awkward silence from before. Sakura decided that she would take this time to bring up conversation she had been wondering about for a while.
"Hey, could you tell me more about my two roommates? Naruto and Sasuke, I think they were named." Shikamaru's eyes, which had been closed so he could daydream, opened lazily as he stared up at the blank ceiling, finding whatever was up there very interesting.
"They're a real troublesome pair of guys. Sasuke's a playboy. Every girl he's ever met has wanted to get in his pants, every guy wants to be like him. Well, almost every guy. It's too troublesome being that desirable anyway. He's dark, angsty, and cool; I guess girls like that kinda stuff. I'll never understand why," Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head. "Naruto, on the other hand, is a hyperactive moron who does before he thinks. He hates Sasuke's guts. They're rivals in everything, but they're also best friends. Putting them in a room together was the biggest mistake the headmistress has ever made, and I think she's trying to fix that by putting a peacemaker, you, in there to even things out between them." The lazy boy looked over at his chubby companion, who had fallen asleep with chip bag in hand and was snoring peacefully beside him. Shikamaru grinned before turning back to the ceiling and shutting his eyes.
"I don't think putting a girl in the same room as them is going to make things better, though." Now, both girls did freeze. Shikamaru didn't notice their obvious internal dilemma, his eyes closed and all.
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Ino said nervously, weakly laughing. Shikamaru opened one of his eyes and tilted his head slightly so that he was looking at them. His face just spelled out "how troublesome" as he glanced at them from his peripheral.
"How troublesome. I already knew from earlier, when I passed you in the hallway. You don't do a very good job of disguising yourselves. In fact, Shino probably already noticed it, too. The guy has a knack for noticing small things. Kiba, on the other hand, probably doesn't know yet, so I guess you're still pretty safe." His other eye cracked open, this time towards a nearby clock, and he let out a small grunt of annoyance. Grudgingly pulling himself from the couch and stretching as he stood, he made his way towards the door.
"Where're you going?" Sakura asked, getting over her initial shock at being discovered so quickly. She noted that, although he looked lazy and passive, he was very perceptive. She would need to keep her guard up if she didn't want any other observant boys figuring it out.
"Getting my schedule. It may be troublesome, but collecting your schedule right now helps to avoid the huge crowd at the mailboxes tomorrow morning before classes start. They should be in the mail right about now; it's almost midnight. I'm gonna be picking Chouji's up for him; are you two going with me or not?" Both girls turned to each other, unsure of whether to go or not. After being discovered so early on in the game, they weren't certain that going outside was smart. Shikamaru's unpleasant sigh broke them out of their thoughts.
"If you go, you might see your other groupies. I'm pretty sure they'll want to avoid the crowd, too." That settled it. They jumped off the floor to follow him through the door.
"You will like Gai-sensei when you meet him! He is the epitome of youthfulness!" Lee exclaimed excitedly, seating himself next to Tenten, who sat on the floor surveying her surroundings. She had not been listening to him entirely as he rambled on about the school's gym teacher, Maito Gai, whom Tenten deemed as insane from Lee's descriptions. The room she sat in was impeccably clean, with any dust bunnies that would have been found in a normal room having been eradicated, and there was only one bed. There was also only a single desk, a wooden chair stationed neatly under it. A closet was to her left, and a small door off to another section of the room was, by her guess, probably the bathroom. Other than those, little furniture was found, and their belongings were few in number. Neji sat silently off to another corner of the room, meditating it seemed. Tenten thought back to his cold attitude from earlier. Nothing like Hinata-chan, she thought.
"Lee-san, why's there only one bed? Unless you guys…" but she was stopped short as she felt Neji's piercing glare on her back. She would've sent him a glare right back had Lee not already begun explaining to her their arrangements.
"No, it's nothing like that, Tenshi-san. I sleep on a futon—it's in the closet right now—as part of my body conditioning and survival training. It is nothing to worry about, I have gotten used to the floor, and it is just as comfortable to me as a bed now," Lee said, giving her a million watt smile. She looked doubtfully at him, but decided not to question his oddities. They were much too numerous. She just sighed, staring off into space as Lee continued to trail off on some subject or other. Lee was obviously very spirited, and Tenten knew she would get along with him fine, but the other boy was something else entirely. His cold demeanor annoyed her to almost no end, and she knew that speaking to him would probably do nothing. It was going to be a stroke of luck if they got along.
"So, what do you guys do in here all day long?"
"Neji meditates, or reads a book, or goes out to do some one-on-one training with me when I need a sparring partner. I like to enjoy the full extension of my springtime of youth by training by body with Gai-sensei! You should join us, too!" Lee had a sparkle in his eyes as he looked at her eagerly, but she just backed away and declined.
"Mind if I look in your closet? I'm not much for hand-to-hand combat or sitting around reading all day long," Tenten said, motioning towards the closet beside her. Lee just looked at her sheepishly.
"We don't have much, but please, make do with whatever you wish in there. As our new roommate, you are entitled to anything within this room! Unless it's Neji's," he added quickly, noticing Neji's face break into a frown. Tenten seemed to not be listening as she rummaged through the objects in the closet. He was right, there weren't too many things inside, mostly various types of weights or piles of worn books. Something caught her eye, though, and she made a small noise of accomplishment as she pulled out an old darts box, which looked as though it hadn't been opened yet.
"A darts game? Cool!" Lee looked over at it, realization falling upon him.
"Oh, Neji and I found that one day and we tried to play. We had a contest, and he kept winning, so I practiced day and night until I could at least tie scores with him, maybe beat him. Honestly, we weren't really all that good at it…" Lee trailed off, the sheepish look returning to his face.
"Ehh…" Tenten began, the interest in her voice. She neatly opened the box and, with permission, placed the dartboard on the wall opposite her. She stood as far away from the board as she could, gathering each of the colored darts in her hand and focusing on the center of the board. Neji had subtly cracked his eye open a tiny fraction to witness her first attempt at playing darts, while Lee none-too-quietly cheered her on from the side. With a quick flick of her wrist and impressive speed, she sent the first dart, a yellow one, flying at the dartboard where it hit the center circle dead-on. Lee cheered louder, his awe obvious, as Neji's own countenance took on a look that said that even he was impressed.
"You have an impressive aim," Neji said from where he sat, causing Tenten to look at him in surprise.
"You spoke to me," she said back, causing his eyebrow to quirk. "I actually got Mr. Icicle to talk to me. Now that's what I call an accomplishment!" Tenten beamed at herself, and Neji made an offended face at being called an icicle while Lee just joined her in her victory, which none of them had known existed until just now. Neji's frown only deepened as they united in a moment that he could only call pure idiocy, discussing about him openly. He got up silently, his arms folded, as he made his way towards their door.
"Eh? Neji, where're you going?" Lee asked from his new spot on the floor, Tenten sitting beside him with an equally curious expression.
"The mail should be in about now. I'm going to pick up my schedule." Tenten and Lee both shared a look as they jumped to pursue him out the door.
Hinata and Shino sat in an oddly comfortable silence as Kiba's snoring filled their ears. After their checkers game, and having the room cleaned to an extent, they sat in companionable silence, almost soothed by the occasional snores from the wild boy and his dog. To his left, Shino heard Hinata yawn. He tilted his head in her direction just as she finished, and just looked at her for a moment, as if he was trying to think of a plan.
"If you would like, you may use my bed to sleep," he finally said, indicating the bed he was currently leaning on. "It is of reasonable cleanliness." Hinata shook her head almost immediately at his offer, flustered.
"N-no! I-I couldn't…where would y-you sleep?"
"I am perfectly content with sleeping here. It is only temporary; Kiba will most likely realize that you have nowhere to sleep tomorrow and find you a bed." Hinata understood the logic, but she couldn't bring herself to accept it. Even if it was only for one night, depriving the boy of his bed seemed like too much for her, not to mention that he would be sleeping in his current position, propped up against the foot of the bed. He seemed to sense her indecision as he began again. "We do not have any spare futons or pillows, and you are in an environment that is uncomfortable to you. It is merely a courtesy that I offer you my bed; Kiba would do the same if he knew your secret. His intentions in that type of scenario would be unknown, but he would at least offer." She still seemed doubtful, almost amazingly so, but she could already guess by his tone of voice that he was not going to back down, and that his offer was not just an offer, but practically a command.
"I-I…thank you. B-but…I don't w-want you sleeping on th-the floor," she said back, making sure her voice was a bit stronger. If she was going to be taking his bed, then she would make sure that he would, at least, sleep somewhere more comfortable than the floor. She willed herself not to stutter as she made her counter-offer. "We'll split the bed."
She noticed surprise evident on his face by the way his eyebrow quickly rose close to his hairline. They both knew how absurd that kind of an offer was, especially since they were opposite sexes, and almost immediately Hinata wanted to take back her request. She kept herself from regretting her choice, though, by making sure to strengthen her resolve. To prove her point, she took some of the pillows on the bed and placed them at a halfway point on the bed, creating a makeshift barrier on the two halves. They were small halves, but at least it would be more comfortable than the hardwood floor.
"Are you sure? It would be incredibly uncomfortable for you." She nodded resolutely, her eyes focusing on not fluctuating.
"I-I'll be living in here with two b-boys. If we're going to be roommates, I'll n-need to be comfortable with you, right?" She silently applauded herself for only stuttering three times. Shino made no more comment on it, though he hesitated. However, instead of finding a spot on the bed, he stood up and made his way towards the door. Hinata looked up at him, bewildered at the sudden change.
"Wh-where are you g-going?"
"It is almost midnight. The dorm building mail should be arriving with the students' schedules at about this time. I am going to retrieve mine and Kiba's. Would you like me to get yours as well?" Hinata shook her head, quietly hopping off of the bed she had seated herself on.
"I'll g-go with you."
A/N: Okay, originally the chapters were separated at the end of the checkers game, but since I've combined it, I'll cut down on the number of chapters, and the chapter becomes longer. In the future, I'll probably go back and edit some of these chapters, maybe combine a few more of them together so it'll be easier to manage.