"Stupid tall people," Kayuri muttered under her breath. She had found the hard way that it was quite difficult for a short person to get through a bustling hallway of people much taller than herself. However, she had also learned that it was a good idea to stick close to people whose personal bubbles were appreciated, like Sasuke.
Kayuri sighed, absentmindedly rubbing the part of her arm that had been damaged in the process of learning how invisible short people were in a hallway of taller, bustling students.
Looking up ahead, she noticed people parting for what appeared to be another small group whose personal space was appreciated. As the group drew closer, Kayuri and Sasuke saw the faces of Naruto, Aiko and Gaara. Kayuri had to stand on her tip toes to wave above the crowd, to which Aiko responded with a grin. The two groups stopped as they finally met.
"Damn, this place is packed!" Aiko commented to her sister, who nodded in agreement and understanding.
"Mn. You're telling me – I was almost made into a glamorous little pancake. These people have no respect for short persons." Kayuri huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at the passer-bys. "I had to hide behind Sasuke. People actually see him."
"Huh. We had no trouble getting through…" Aiko thought for a second. "Then again, maybe it's just you."
"Nah, it's 'cause everyone else knows that I'm top dog!" Naruto said over-confidently. Aiko made a 'tsk' noise.
"Actually… I think it's because the other kids find Gaara over there intimidating," Kayuri chuckled quietly. Gaara gave her a sideways look that told her that he wasn't impressed by her antics.
Across and over the heads in the crowd, Kayuri then noticed a spiky black thing that resembled the top of a pineapple bobbing up and down as it moved through the swarms of students.
"Hey, do you think that's…?" Kayuri began, head tilted towards Aiko.
"… Nah, it couldn't be…" Aiko disagreed, but looked like she was having second thoughts as she too stared at the spiky black shape. "Then again, that hairstyle is pretty weird…"
Kayuri raised an eyebrow at her sister, sending meaningful glances at passing by students, most of which had odd hair dos.
"I meant that specific hairstyle, baka," Aiko sighed.
"Well, I still think that it could be-" Kayuri stopped in mid sentence as the person whose head was connected with the black shape they had been talking about broke away from the crowd, revealing the owner to be…
"SHIKAAAA!!!" Both of the girls screamed, running at him at full speed and throwing their arms around his neck.
'Glomped," Aiko thought happily.
"What a drag." Shika mumbled as soon as he recognised the two girls who had attached themselves to him.
Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara made their way over to the girls and their glomp victim. Naruto was the first to speak of his confusion.
"Uh… hey, what the hell is this?" He pointed at the glomp scene (Yes, glomp scene. It's much similar to a crime scene) and made a funny face. The girls glanced at each other. They seemed to be having a silent conversation that only sisters have the ability to have.
'Do you think we should get off of him now?' Aiko's expression seemed to ask.
'Nah, I'm comfortable where I am. You?'
'Damn right, I'm not getting off. I'm sure Naruto can listen just as well with us hanging off of Shika.'
And with that, the silent conversation ended.
"He's like our distant cousin or something," Kayuri said.
"Fourth cousin on your mother's side…" Shikamaru corrected her in a grumbly tone. He was exhibiting a perfect example of what the girls commonly referred to as a "typical Shika face" – a face that expressed one's boredom, laziness, reluctance and fear of becoming as stupid as the people that the user is surrounded by.
"Surely you don't expect us to remember that…?" Aiko almost laughed at the idea. The Kosora girls had notoriously bad memories for long names such as that. Really, "Fourth cousin on their mother's side"? Aiko and Kayuri didn't even know what that really implied, spare the 'mother's side' part.
"We met 'im at one of those huge family reunions where you don't know who anybody is or how you're related to them." Aiko explained further to the blonde, who was starting to look like he understood the situation a bit more. Meanwhile, Shikamaru struggled to regain some personal space, but found that Aiko and Kayuri were stuck like superglue. He swore quietly under his breath and gave up.
"Weelll, sorry to ruin the reunion, but we should be getting to class…" Naruto scratched his neck. Aiko and Kayuri finally detached themselves from their relative. Aiko suddenly noticed how tall Shikamaru was now that she was standing next to him instead of dangling from his neck.
"Damn… we have such tall relatives…" Aiko frowned. Kayuri scowled.
'God damned height difference…' The copper haired girl hissed in her mind. 'I'm always the short one…. WHHHYYYY???'
"Drama queen," Aiko murmured, lightly poking her sister on the shoulder. Kayuri sent her a quick glare. Aiko looked at her blankly, as if saying "You know it's true. You can't even deny it".
"Well, off to Hell now." Aiko stared at the floor, thinking depressed thoughts. If there was any one thing that she despised on that earth, it was the torture that masqueraded as a school subject; physical education.
"Haha, lol. Off to heaven for me." Kayuri lol-ed.
"Stupid sister, and her stupid favourite subject-getting first thing on a Monday morning." Aiko mumbled, and groaned, thinking about how horrible PE was. "Well, see ya Shika."
And then, Aiko left with her vampire friends, leaving Kayuri alone with the doomed Shikamaru. Shikamaru was slowly inching away from his copper-haired relative, as if he was about to make a run for it.
"So, Shikamaru… my magical predictions are telling me that you have drama with me next… correct?"
"… What a drag," He sighed and slid his hands into his pockets. Kayuri smiled and poked him in the most loving way possible.
"Hey, you!"
Kayuri spun around to see the voice's owner. Her eyes met a girl with long pink hair, with a group of other random girls behind her. None of them looked too friendly.
"Uh… yeah?" Kayuri blinked at them. Hostility already?
"I heard you were sleeping with Sasuke-kun. You better have been joking," The pink haired girl hissed, leaning forward menacingly. Kayuri gave her an almost bored look, unimpressed by this girl's attempt at malevolence.
"Huh. What cha gonna do if I'm not?" Kayuri spat back, crossing her arms across her chest. Kayuri was getting a little pissed – how was what she did any of this girl's business?
"Sakura, just leave the noob alone," A passing girl with sandy blonde hair in four pigtails sighed as she slowly walked past, as if this treatment was routine.
"Stay out of it, Temari," The pink haired girl hissed at the blonde. "You're in no position to tell me what to do. You've seen what I can do, so butt out!"
"Whatever," Temari shook her head and continued walking. She didn't seem too worried about Sakura's threat, but she obviously wasn't bothered enough to make her go through with it, either.
"And you," Sakura focused her attention back on the Kosora girl in front of her, "If you keep that behaviour up, you can bet that you'll regret it."
"Sure thing, sweetie," Kayuri smirked at Sakura before grabbing Shikamaru and walking off down the hall, leaving Sakura to grit her teeth and glare after them.
********
Gaara stood with his arms folded as he leaned against the wall in between the girls' and boys' bathrooms as he waited for Sasuke, Naruto and Aiko. He sighed, and at that moment Naruto emerged from behind the door to his right.
"Hey, what's up?" Naruto asked with a smile, throwing his arm around Gaara's neck, having heard the red-head's sigh. Gaara gave him an annoyed look.
"None of your business," He huffed. Naruto laughed.
"Of course it is, we're a team – you, me and Sasuke!"
"…" Gaara sighed again and looked away.
"Oh, its sexual frustration, isn't it?" Naruto suggested, making Gaara blush slightly and pull away from the blonde with somewhat wide eyes. Naruto continued. "Yeah, I guessed that this might happen, having two chicks in the same dorm as us. But don't worry about it – you'll get over it."
"Naruto, you dobe," Sasuke said, opening the door. "Just leave him be."
"Sasuke-teme, don't you think he needs help with this?" Naruto argued, ignoring the death glare Gaara was giving him.
"Needs help with what?" Aiko asked as she came out of the girls' bathrooms. All three turned to stare at her awkwardly. There was silence. "I could probably help, if you want. Kayuri and I are better psychologists than we may appear to be."
"No, it's fine." Sasuke said simply.
"You sure?"
"Unquestionably."
"Well, if you say so…" Aiko muttered, starting to catch on that it was a topic that involved her sister and her self. But what subcategory of that would Gaara need help with?
"Time for PE, then!" Naruto said, laughing suspiciously. Aiko noted the 'if-you-say-a-word-I-will-kill-you' look that Gaara was giving the poor blonde. They all shuffled off down the hall, and Naruto suddenly started up a lively conversation about favourite foods.
Gaara and Sasuke tagged along behind, not really joining in on the conversation; apart from Sasuke clarifying that he had a dislike for sweets. After they had exited the main building and were walking out onto the oval, Sasuke shot Gaara a serious sideways look.
"Remember… be careful." Sasuke said quietly.
"Same to you, Uchiha."
**********
Kayuri had arrived with Shika to the drama room forward-slash second, smaller auditorium. Kayuri observed the students sitting in the various rows of cinema reminiscent seats, all of them chatting away. Shikamaru took up the opportunity to quietly sneak away to a dark, secluded part of the room (Nap time).
It was about five minutes until Kayuri noticed that Shikamaru hadn't said anything during the conversation she thought she was having with him. When she spun around to glare at him in his far-off corner, she managed to slam into someone.
"Sorry,"
"Here, let me give you a hand…"
By the time they were both standing up, they recognised each other.
"Ah, you're Kayuri Kosora, aren't you?" The blonde girl from before, Temari, asked in a friendly tone.
"Yup," Kayuri smiled back. "And you're Temari, yeah?"
"Sabaku no Temari," She confirmed with a smile.
"You're a Sabaku?" Kayuri blinked in surprise at Temari, who looked confused at the copper-haired girl's reaction.
"Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"I think my sister may have the hots for your bother." Kayuri said in a hushed voice, and then quickly added, "But don't tell her I told you that."
"What? Do you mean Gaara?" Temari asked in a shocked tone. She definitely hadn't been expecting that. Kayuri nodded silently.
"It's going to be tough for her – living in the same dorm as him, I mean. Poor girl. I wonder when she'll finally bring it upon herself to call upon my skills and knowledge."
"Wait, say what?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, Aiko and I are sharing a dorm with Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara. Because of Grandpa Daigo's numb-brain syndrome, that's how things have ended up."
"Well, thank god you weren't talking about Kankuro. God forbid if he ever gets a girlfriend." Temari rolled her eyes. But before Kayuri could ask who Kankuro was, a woman with purple hair suddenly jumped onto the stage out of nowhere.
"SIT DOWN AND LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS!" She yelled, hands on hips. Surprisingly, the students obeyed instantly, those who were standing scrambling into their seats. A second later, after a rather blurry moment in which Kayuri had been completely disorientated and unaware of what was going on, she found herself sitting next to Temari in one of the red seats. She frowned, not quite sure how she got there.
"Rule number one about Anko: always do what she says." Temari instructed Kayuri in a whisper, looking serious. Kayuri sat silently and glanced at the woman on stage.
She had her purple hair sticking up at the back, and she was staring the students down with her fierce light brown eyes. Unlike Kakashi, she was not wearing normal, boring teacher clothes - in fact, she was wearing something Kayuri had never seen a teacher wear: a long, fawn coloured coat that reached down to her knees.
"ALRIGHT, MAGGOTS! Today we're doing improvisations! Get in teams of four! MAKE IT SNAPPY!" She yelled again, making the kids jump up and scatter like ants that had their nest stepped on.
Next thing Kayuri knew, she was being dragged along by Temari, who was practically running. Luckily, it wasn't as dizzying and confusing as last time, so Kayuri managed to see who she was being put into a group with.
Temari's next victim was none other than Shika, who didn't even have time to be grumpy with Temari about so roughly yanking him out of his chair due to the speed she was dragging them along at.
The next member was a girl with a long blonde ponytail, who seemed to have the same understanding as Temari, and therefore was not victimised.
"Hn. Did she say what we had to do?" Kayuri asked.
"No-"
"ALRIGHT! NOW I WANNA SEE WHAT YOU MAGGOTS CAN DO!" Anko shouted. Kayuri liked this teacher.
Heya guys,
It's your favourite shorty here, Kayuri. (Aiko: Nobody loves youuuu, NOBODYYY!) Wow... I think this has something to do with... Hitting her or something... *sigh*
Anyway, so we're on holiday, and working on the story. And to our 'fans' (AKA. The people who actually have reviewed) thanks for reviewing, seriously, you guys make us scream with over-happiness. And the people who just alert us, or whatever, you love you guys just as much. -_-
So yeah. Much to my dismay, we are going to lack a little on the update front when holidays are over, but, we are still writing.
xx Kayu... (NOT YURI!!!!!)