Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… Although I'm beginning to wonder about my friend with that nickname…
Author's Note: A picture that goes with this story can be found here: http/ is just fun, hehehe. And thanks for the review deathrosekitty (hope I got the name right . ) it was very nice of you. Also, Ino's on the school bowling team, lol.
XXX
Chapter 2: The Story Begins…
"We're starting the what?" Ino asked and Temari continued to talk enthusiastically with Sakura.
"Weird List," Temari finally looked over at Ino. "To see who's the weirdest."
"Okay…" Ino looked over at Tenten and the two exchanged confused looks. Ino and Sakura continued to bounce ideas back and forth in the meantime.
"Bring a weird dessert for the whole table…" Temari said and continued to think.
"Wait I know! Kiss the opposite sex and French the same sex!" Sakura exclaimed. Temari and Sakura laughed and the rest of the table was silent.
"…You say it like it's difficult…" Ino finally said and Naruto burst out laughing. Ino eyed him carefully, remembering the various times the situation had come up during truth or dare. Temari turned red, Sakura cracked up, and Shino looked like a caged animal. He always heard more details than he wanted to know.
And that was the beginning of the list. It would swell to at least 46 items, including smacking people's butts at random, screaming "No I will NOT sleep with you" at someone, and wearing a Halloween costume to the mall. Before long it had dominated the daily activities of the members of the Table.
But now back to the whole "kiss opposite sex, French same sex" issue that had come up. This was possibly the most anticipated activity on the Weird List, yet it was one of the last ones to be started. Shino claimed he only looked forward to the first part of it while others just thought it would be fun. In the beginning, Ino was really looking forward to it because she was the only non-straight person at the table and she knew that she would likely get most of the interest since there was a majority of girls. But as it turns out, she was wrong about being the only one.
"I had a dream about you two last night," Sakura brought up once, and pointed at Temari and Ino. Both girls looked surprised and immediately turned to listen. This time Ino was on the other side of Shino, Sakura next to him, and Temari next to her.
"Was it like that other one you had about me?…" Ino asked, and Sakura looked confused. "The one you wouldn't tell me about because you thought I'd hurt you or be angry or something" which probably would be the opposite of the reality… Ino thought the last part but didn't say it.
"Yeah, kind of," Sakura smiled sweetly- a look that was truly deceiving. "We were staying in this one place where we all had our own rooms and then we each went into them and got naked."
Sakura's smile widened and Shino began to turn pink. Ino and Temari were now focusing totally on Sakura's story now, Ino started to smile and never noticed if Temari did or not.
"So we're all naked. Then people start to switch rooms, and there's a hidden passage behind the rooms so that we can all meet up wherever we want to-"
"-and not see people we don't want to see," Temari added.
"Cool," Ino grinned.
"And let me just say," Sakura was turning very pink now, "Molesting people is fun!"
Poor Shino leaned back in surprise, pink-faced and nervously smiling, at this announcement. Temari and Ino were busy laughing at this while other members of the Table either listened with interest or had tuned out completely by now. Naruto, for one, seemed pretty interested.
"So was it you and me, or me and her, or both at the same time?" Ino wondered.
"Yes," Sakura said with a satisfied smile and Ino's eyes widened. It sounded like a fun dream.
"Are you sure you're straight?" Ino asked, since last time the topic had come up she hadn't gotten a straight (no pun intended) answer from her friend.
"I already told you I was bi," Sakura said like it was a universal fact. Shino was taken aback while Inner Ino danced around happily.
"You realize," Shino kept looking back and forth between the three girls who had been involved in the dream, "This seriously hurts my chances here."
"Well it definitely improves mine," Ino replied with a smirk. Shino did a double take at the expression on her face- like he doubted her seriousness- and ended up just staring.
"What?" He looked dumb-founded.
"You heard me," Ino tried not to laugh and a song inspired the following argument. "Keep your hands off my girlfriend."
"Oh? Make me," Shino countered and Ino narrowed her eyes.
"I'll watch you leave here limping," Ino retorted and was laughing too hard to hear a reply. "I'll take my bowling ball and knock your balls off."
They went silent after that, Ino convinced herself that it was because he had no comeback, and settled into a glaring contest.
XXX
Ino was charged with typing up the weird list and distributing it to the other people at the table. She stuffed it into her purse, slung it over her shoulder and headed out of the cafeteria with Temari at her left. Shino was waiting for them, an occurrence becoming more frequent, and they'd barely reached him before the questions started.
"Are you really attracted to her?" Shino directed at Ino and she blinked.
"Huh?" was the response, one that Ino used more often than she liked to admit.
"Sakura, are you really attracted to her?" Shino repeated and Ino shrugged while Temari listened with little interest.
"Well, yeah. Why not? That hair-" Ino was interrupted by Temari as she spoke.
"What is with people and the hair? Why does it matter so much? I don't get it!" Temari used her hands to emphasize the point, causing Shino and Ino to hide grins at the overzealous display.
XXX
Ino and Sakura's Note the following day: (Sakura's words are bold)
Author's Note: Something to keep in mind is that when it gets to the note we're no longer talking about the characters from the story but the actual series. It confused me too…
So, what was yesterday?
Shino seemed very interested about whether or not I was actually attracted to you.
Shino is odd. He came on saying "I know I annoy you and I'll go away if you want". I told him to grow up and just stop telling me about how he thinks I look.
Guess that works, I doubt he'll stop. He's trying to be nice.
He is trying to get me to like him. No chance.
I know.
So… You are not going to be here tomorrow?
Right… History test
/cry
/poke
No
/poke
/giggle
/poke
/duck
/chase
/run for your life-- Naruto style!
/calls for back up… Neji-kun!
/stops… Neji-kun :pervert:
/Hands off my man… er… her.. confused
Me too
/more back up…Sasuke-kun!
/Neji-kun puppy eyes
/Byakuugan
/Mangekyou Sharingan
/Hold on… Naruto, you dead?
/pulls of mask… Itachi!
/Run
/Appears
/Shit… Kage Bunshin Vanish
/appears again
/Kyuubi
/Akatsuki
/Shukaku
/Orochimaru
/Jiraiya
/Kimimaro, back from the dead!
/Sesshomaru
/Naraku
/Hinata and friend
/Shikamaru and Ino
/Temari and Gaara's limp body (because Shukaku is out)
/Lee and Gai
/Kakashi and Iruka(naked)
/Kurenai and Asuma
/Tsunade
/Third and Fourth Hokage
/Tenten
/Steals back Tenten
/Steals Itachi! Rock on!
/You discover that Sakura has poisoned him
/Kills Sakura
/Now you've removed the only person who knew the antidote…
………
……
…
Ino was distracted from the note by a rather rude jab in the arm from Sasuke, and she turned to glare at him. But when he mimed for her to raise her hand, she realized she had spaced out during roll call. Ino raised her hand and said here twice before the substitute teacher took note of it. She relaxed and Sasuke shook his head at her, a teasing look in his eyes and a mocking grin on his lips. Ino narrowed her eyes in response and turned back to Sakura.
It wasn't that she didn't like Sasuke, he had been a good friend this last year, it was more that she liked him more than she wanted to. He got stoned or drunk almost every weekend, and just didn't care about anything. He could write some of the most incredible fantasy stories, and was great for a political debate but when he decided to give a cutting remark it went deep. They were friends, and so they messed with each other. But after that day when he crossed a line she knew it would never go beyond it. There was a reason he was her friend and not Sakura's.
Now Neji, sitting on the other side or Sasuke, made some remark to the girl next to him and she smiled in response. The basketball lover, the ball being his only true love since all of his relationships failed. One of his ex-girlfriends claims that he was just too clingy, and that didn't seem to far from the truth. He thought he was so smart, and yet most of his intelligence was just not as funny as he seemed to think. Yeah, Sakura had liked him for awhile until he hurt her feelings. Then two months later Ino had fallen for the pale faced boy's charms- fallen hard. Then she learned that, like with Sasuke, it just wouldn't happen.
Perhaps it was the unique personality traits of these two, or just a strong sense of boredom in the two authoresses Ino and Sakura, but before long the girls had started a story about a potential gay relationship between Sasuke and Neji.
Neji and Sasuke. For some odd reason it just sounded right together. On occasion it even looked like they posed for what could potentially could be a cover for the novel Ino and Sakura would eventually write. Under Ino's penname, of course. It was well worth the odd looks Sasuke would give her for laughing at him.
Would they ever figure it out, that the story was really about them? It bothered Ino and kept her from posting the story for awhile, until she figured they wouldn't even read it. And why would they? It was yaoi, and the two guys were straight. Sure, Sasuke is comfortable with saying that Johnny Depp is hot but that doesn't really mean anything in the long run. Neji on the other hand seems willing to support his not-so-straight friends, but acts as though he freaks him out when a man hits on him.
It might have been the combination of these factors that lead the girls to writing a yaoi story about Sasuke and Neji.
Or they could have been just that bored.
Either way, it looked as though a long epic had begun. Ino found herself liking how she could make the love-hate element possible between the "stoner" and the "jock". Sakura on the other hand just wanted to write the sex scene, and this left Ino to try and salvage the actual story line.
Which worked, since she knew the main characters so well.
Before long, Ino started getting glares from Sasuke because she kept cracking up whenever she looked at him. It wasn't unusual for him to look at Sakura and ask "What is she on?"
Then again, it was hard not to laugh at someone when you had written this about them:
(A/N: Ino's part of the story, takes place slightly after the beginning but you'll catch on.)
Sasuke sat there with his arms crossed, his head throbbing and he felt a strong need for a cigarette as he watched the jock try to mold the clay on the pottery wheel. His eyebrow twitched at Neji's clumsy movements, with each one being too strong and causing the clay to cave in. It was killing Sasuke. Not only was he hung over for his favorite class, he had to sit by and watch his artistically handicapped partner struggle. Why couldn't the teacher have let him go first?
"Stop it," Sasuke shoved Neji aside, only to receive a scowl form the white-eyed boy. With heavy eyelids threatening to close on him, Sasuke stared at the project and slowly formed the clay so that Neji could see what to do. Sasuke didn't notice the way Neji was glaring at him, he was in the zone now and couldn't be bothered. Even his hangover seemed to have faded away.
"I get it," Neji pulled Sasuke back and tried once more. Sasuke blinked in surprise, and then frowned as Neji immediately ruined his work.
Oh, hell no.
"Are you really this stupid?" Sasuke slapped Neji's hands away and tried to reverse the damage. "Or does it impress the chicks?"
Neji glared daggers at Sasuke, who glared back. Sasuke didn't care that this guy was a jock, and he didn't care if Neji was five inches taller and a year older. An asshole was still an asshole; and Sasuke felt it was his duty to give said assholes as bad of a time as they gave him.
Neji's Point of View:
He didn't need this from a stoner. Neji got up and started to walk out of the room, fuming at this guy for upsetting him. Him! He was THE Neji Hyuuga, basketball star, and here was this dead beat stoner trying to screw him up before a big game. Neji wasn't going to take it.
"If you don't work with me, you're going to fail. And there goes your GPA, your college, AND your basketball," Sasuke didn't even spare him a glance, but Neji still froze.
Scratch dead-beat stoner, make that smart-ass stoner.
Neji groaned inwardly and scowled at everything. He turned around and dropped angrily into the seat he had just vacated. Sasuke seemed just a little too happy with this change in the tides. Neji crossed his arms. This was SO not his day.
Sasuke leaned forward and took Neji's hands. The athlete jerked back and Sasuke gave him a questionable look. "I can't help you unless I have you do it yourself," Sasuke looked tiredly at Neji. "Like with most people, I assume you learn by doing."
Neji sighed and let Sasuke direct his hands onto the clay. Something just wasn't right about how the stoner's warm hands kept his from pressing too hard into the cold clay. It was an odd angle, and so Sasuke's legs kept bumping into his. Why the hell did Sasuke seem so warm?
Sasuke hardly even seemed to notice, he had his hands full-- literally-- as he tried to keep Neji from ruining their piece. Neji frowned when he saw how well the clay was taking shape. He knew it was all thanks to Sasuke. Why did he have to be with this stoner?
"Thanks," Neji muttered when they finished and Sasuke had released his hands. Sasuke just blinked cluelessly and stared at the piece. The teacher came by and looked over their completed work, making curious sounds as she went. Neji didn't care, he was too busy hoping the clay on his hands wouldn't affect his game later.
"Very good, boys," She took a few notes on her clipboard. "Neji, you could really use Sasuke's guidance. He appears to be a good influence."
She walked away, and Neji's scowl was met by Sasuke's egotistical smirk. The stoner looked more awake now than he had all day. Neji looked away, he couldn't take having someone looking at him like that. No; he couldn't take Sasuke looking at him like that. Why did he have to be so smug?
"I could beat you at any sport any day," Neji said, more to himself than to Sasuke.
"Want to bet on that?" Sasuke's smirk reached an evil level now. Neji couldn't help but be reminded of a jackal.
"Sure, fifteen bucks," Neji challenged. "What do you think you can beat me at?"
"Soccer," Sasuke answered plainly, "So you can't use your hands. We each bring our own goalie, no one from the soccer team."
"You're on," John smirked, trying to think of what he'd do with that fifteen he was sure to win.
……
….
…
Sasuke stared at Ino with a mix of concern and horror in his eyes. She'd been bursting out in random fits of giggles for almost five days now. And it was whenever she looked at him. What the heck was going on here?
"What?" He asked her and she looked at him with a grin and red cheeks from laughing.
"Just a story I… read, recently," She answered and started laughing again.
Author's Note: Anybody want to talk to my Temari? She hasn't had much of a part yet, but her penname is Amber Lust if you want another view of things…