Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and Sakura does not own me. I am simply her "teddy bear."
Author's Note: Yes, this story is back from the dead. And I'm sorry for the gap you're about to see. I also hope Shino does not find it necessary to harm me after this chapter…
Chapter 5: Wake Me Up When September Ends
Five or so months after Chapter 4. Now the Senior year of the Table…
Ino walked into the school, only a few minutes later than usual. She went over to her locker on the side of the Senior Hallway, expertly dodging random freshman and sophomores. As she did the combination, a voice called out her name.
"Hey, there's Ino!" Sakura had yelled, and Ino saw her standing there with Shino. Shino suddenly seemed to look like a deer caught in the headlights while Sakura looked… relieved?
"What are you guys doing down here?" Ino asked, as they normally would have been sitting at what was now their morning Table. Yes, the whole Table had been split up in their Senior Year. They had different lunch periods. Sakura and Ino were alone at their lunch while Ayame, Shino, Tenten, and Temari all had the other lunch period. Last but not least, Temari's brother Naruto had moved with her parents.
"Oh, Shino needed help with math and we were going to go get it," Sakura explained, walking towards Ino. Shino pointedly remained behind, still looking lost. Ino could not help but stare back and forth between the two. Shino said something fast that neither girl entirely understood, and he then swooped back into the cover of the Table.
"Ok, that was weird," Sakura commented, waiting patiently by her best friend's locker.
"Yeah…" Ino trailed off and took a few books from her locker.
"He's been weird lately," Sakura admitted as Ino closed her locker. Ino merely nodded, knowing the story all too well. Over summer vacation Shino had opened up and learned to relax rather well. Times with him in CWP (that's Contemporary World Problems, a wonderful required class) had actually been pretty fun. Even if one of those times had been because they were laughing at him for accidentally (yes, accidentally) looking up Sakura's skirt. Yet lately, he had grown awkward and arguments with Sakura had increased.
It did not help that Sakura was on edge anyways. She had been on several complaint rants for the past few days. It had even spread to Ino, who developed not only Sakura's skill for complaining but the tendency to procrastinate on assignments. The combination resulted in a very stressful weekend and a lesson well learned.
But the authoress digresses; the girls had easily noticed Shino's mood change. This day Sakura chose for the two to go to their first period early as opposed to waiting like they usually did. Later upon reflection, Ino wondered if this had anything to do with the way Shino had been acting. He seemed to be annoying the rosette one more and more lately.
The girls fell into the usual schedule. They laughed as much as usual during first period, and bumped into Shino on the way to second period: CWP. Second period was boring, and the girls split up before lunch.
This was where Ino's day took a unique turn. The strange experience from that morning was explained to Ino, who had a hard time letting it sink in. For the first time in at least two months, she knew something that she would not be able to tell one of her best friends. Not the greatest feeling in the world, that was for sure.
Ino then went downstairs to the Table she and Sakura had adopted. The revelation from Shino stayed in her mind vividly, but soon was distracted by the antics of her school's spirit week. She sat down next to Rayko, a new student from a few states away that had only found them as friends, and watched the scene before her.
On the stage set up in the cafeteria, four students laid down on the ground and wore garbage bags. Then their partners would scoop ice cream and try to drop it accurately into the cone held in the other partner's mouth. This was then followed by covering it with chocolate syrup.
"I would let you try and drop it on me," Ino told Rikin, grinning slightly. Sakura still had not returned for where ever she had gone, but Ino could already hear her disbelieving grunt.
"Hmm…. No, not me," Rikin said. "But I bet Rayko would." Ino thought for a moment and watched as they struggled to find a second group to do the ice cream drop.
Needless to say, soon Ino was on stage in a garbage bag and had even brought Rayko up with her. They had Ino lay down and put a cone in her mouth, which soon made her feel especially nervous. She soon discovered the ice cream was a lot heavier than it seemed. Rayko's first try fell dully around her chin, and rolled down slowly. Ino tried not to laugh, she ended up failing and biting a small hole in the cone. Rayko finally succeeded on her third try, also reaching down to correct it. By now Ino was only opening her eyes to see what Rayko would be up to next.
When the chocolate syrup came, Ino found that it was no longer the comfort food she had always believed it to be. It was a horribly sticky mess, and soon they were done but Ino could not get up. Rayko was toweling her off so she could at least sit up, but soon Rayko panicked, as well as one of the activity's directors. A scoop of ice cream was still rolling down Ino's back over the garbage bag. Her hair had been covered in chocolate syrup and it had gotten all over the back of her shirt.
A voice in the back of Ino's head wished Miroku was there to help clean up the chocolate, but she simply smiled and grabbed a towel once the garbage bag was off. Toweling off your hair; troublesome. Toweling off your hair and catching a glimpse of the Yearbook staff snapping yet another picture of you covered in chocolate syrup; priceless.
And yet, it was worth the free ice cream they gave her.
-x-X-x-
Ino was glad when Temari's meeting was over. It was fine that they would shop for Sakura's birthday present and have some much needed girl time -- something Ino was learning to divide up amongst her friends-- but this meeting was odd. Yeah, sign language was a great thing. But Ino was in her fourth year of German, making her feel incredibly out of her element.
"So you were thinking the mall?" Ino asked as she backed out of her parking spot and began to leave the parking lot.
"Yeah…" Temari said noncommittally. It was basically solidified in both girl's minds: they would be checking out anime things first, hoping to find a present for Sakura there.
Little did they know, this was going to be a night that would be forever written in their memories….
Author's Note: Bwahahaha, now my Table friends you must start reviewing to get me to update!!! Shino-kun, Sakura-chan, it IS possible to leave an anonymous review. You don't need a account, so leave me a review already!!!