Day 28

There was one thing Ino hated more than being a new student at a new school: new students other than her. They start complaining about their recent move, and recapped a lengthy story about moving in all the furniture into their new house, and now they're far from their friends and they've got to start fresh. She could never stand it, and would always throw something hard at them and yell "Well what do you think it'd be like if you did it twice, maybe three times a year!?"

Not only that, but this new student pissed her off ten times worse. The new arrival was a boy, tall with pale skin and shiny black hair. It was hard to press a label to him; he looked preppy, but he wore dark-colored clothes, namely black jeans and form-fitting black or purple t-shirts.

Sai, she growled, that bastard has come back to haunt me.

It wasn't like she had a bad time hanging around with him back at Roots High. In fact, she thought he was rather gentlemanly. The only thing that pissed her off was how he just brushed off her move from Roots like it was nothing, not even fazed that he had to find a new date.

Ino sighed, resting her head on the table of her computer in Web mastering class. Across the classroom, Shikamaru had pulled out his pillow, climbed under the table and dozed off already. She decided to take his lead and fall asleep, right there in her chair.

In her mind, the previous events of that day replayed in her head…

"Kids, we have a new student today." Kakashi announced monotonously. Jiraiya had handed him a brand new book, hot off the presses, and he was obviously itching to read it. "We have a new student." He pointed to the door, where a boy had barely crept in, looming closely to the frame. "Meet Sai…" he paused, knitting his eyebrows together, "Damnit, I already forgot his last name. Just say hello!"

Kakashi gestured for Sai to walk into the room. The boy complied, creeping in slowly and facing the class. A smile somehow found its way across his face, albeit it was a little creepy. He waved a hand, and muttered a small "Hello."

Ino's jaw dropped. In all her years of moving between schools, she had never had someone follow her along. And yet, here he was, Sai from Roots High, the school she had attended two moves ago.

Kakashi surveyed the room before appointing the new student a seat, "Sit behind Ino there, in the corner. It's the last seat left."

Sai nodded and retreated to the seat. Kakashi went over the day's assignment, turned the lights down and placed instructions on the overhead. The students set to work in a matter of moments, and Kakashi was left to read his new book in peace.

"Well, hello, Miss Beautiful."

"Hello, Sai." Ino mumbled, scribbling notes on the short story she had to read. Beside her, Sakura took a short glance at Sai and bit her lip.

"You're the last person I'd expect to see here, how are you?"

"Trust me, the feeling's mutual. Ino turned her head to look at his sideways, "Why are you here?"

Sai frowned, disappointed that Ino had refused to answer his initial question, but decided to answer hers anyway. "Complications at home, I moved out. I'm living on my own in an apartment nearby now."

Ino didn't question him further; she just turned back to her work and nodded.

"Why are you so cold?"

"Because you're a bastard."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Hey! You two!" Kakashi pulled his nose out of his book and glared at Sai and Ino, "Shut up!"

A moment of silence passed over the class, until Kakashi broke his glare and returned to his book. A moment more passed before Sai spoke to Ino again.

"I don't understand."

"Which part, the 'you are' or the 'bastard'?"

"I don't understand why."

Ino's pencil froze in mid-scribble, and she dropped it to her desk. She flexed her fingers before twisting in her seat, glaring deep into Sai's emotionless eyes, "You didn't give a crap when I moved. You didn't even care that you needed a new date to the homecoming dance."

"Is that it?" Sai raised his eyebrows, astonished, "I just got over it really quickly. I knew there was the possibility of you moving before the dance, so I didn't get my hopes up too quickly. I'm sorry if that offended you."

Ino didn't feel any remorse towards him; she just scoffed and turned back to her work, "You're still a bastard."

"Maybe I can make it up to you," Sai offered, "Coffee, maybe? Or dinner?"

"HEY!" Kakashi roared, slamming his book into his desk and his eyes on fire, "One more word and you're out of here!"

Not another word was spoken in that class that day.

Day 29

Crap, crap, crap!

Ino ran down the school halls as fast as she could. She just had to forget to set her alarm last night, and ended up sleeping in! The only plus side was that her father, since he loves her so much, let her take her time and wrote a note for the attendance clerk to excuse her absence. She still got to get in a full breakfast and had plenty of time to get ready for school.

The payment? Miss first period.

Well, not entirely. If she ran fast enough, she could probably get to class before the bell rang and catch the last bit of notes, and probably get all the work she missed.

Unfortunately, that was a very small chance, because Chemistry was all the way on the other side of the school. The second her hand touched the doorknob, the bell rang and the door was slammed right into her face. She fell back and slammed into the wall.

"Oh… I'm sorry," laughed a voice. Ino looked up and glared at the tall blonde girl before her. Temari smirked at her, before leaving the class, closely followed by Shikamaru.

"Hey," he mumbled, "You're late."

"I'm sorry, did I worry you?" She smiled, straightening herself and walking towards him, away from the wall. Shikamaru mumbled and looked away.

"No…" he blushed lightly. Ino giggled, and they started for English class.

"Hey, I was thinking maybe we could hang out today? I want to see a new movie that just came out."

"I… can't." He hesitated between words, "I'm busy tonight."

"Doing what?"

"Chemistry project," He sighed.

"Ah," She decided that she'd take advantage of the fact that she'd just miss chemistry, and grab the assignment and extra work day tomorrow. "You just know that your mom won't let you do anything, huh?"

"…yeah." He mumbled.

"Is everything all right?" She asked, worried, as she opened the door to Kakashi's classroom.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Everything's fine."

"Ino."

"What do you want, Sai!?"

Kakashi had placed notes on the overhead, laid out perfectly to be copied as he explained them and lectured. Ino was trying to concentrate as Sai whispered in her ear behind her.

"How are you?" He smiled.

"I'm fine, Sai."

"That's good. I was wondering, if you like-"

"I don't like."

"Oh, please, I know you'd love to go see Disturbia tonight."

Ino tapped her pencil on her desk and bit her lip. True, Disturbia was indeed the movie she had intended to see with Shikamaru tonight, but her plans were shot. And she didn't really have a reason not to go…

"I'd rather not."

"Please, Miss Beautiful?"

"No, Sai!" She growled softly, "I'm seeing someone."

"You mean Shikamaru?" He grinned slyly, "I thought he was with Temari."

"He's not."

"I'm pretty sure I saw them chatting this morning, and happily, too."

"Stop trying to throw me off, Sai, it won't work."

"Fine, fine, if you insist."

As Sai retreated back to his note-taking, Ino couldn't help but feel a little frightening jump in her heart.

After school, Ino sat in the cafeteria, slumped over at a table and waiting for Sakura and Naruto to show up. Naruto had offered to give Ino a ride, seeing as Shikamaru couldn't today for an unspoken reason, and Sakura would be grabbing one as well. They were taking an awfully long time, though.

What are the doing, making out somewhere!? Good lord, they're slower than Shikamaru! She growled to herself and drummed her fingers against her elbows.

"Mind if I join you?"

Ino looked up and blinked nonchalantly at her greeter, "Sure, whatever. I shouldn't be her much longer anyway."

"Thanks," Sai smiled, setting his bag down and sitting across from her at the table. Ino rested her chin on her arms and continued to wait for her ride.

"You know," Sai raised his eyebrows at her and let his smile fade, "I saw Nara leaving with that Suna girl."

"Yeah?" She asked, not interested. She knew it was just another fake excuse for Sai to get Ino on his side.

"I'm serious! Does this look like a face that would lie to you?"

Ino didn't answer; she just stared into his emotionless black eyes and waited for him to go on.

"She got into his car," he added with a bit of sympathy, "And they drove off, probably to his house."

Ino sat up and twiddled her thumbs. His eyes, as emotionless as they may be, didn't lie. He was genuinely telling the truth. Besides that, it all made sense. Shikamaru had been acting strange this morning, plus he canceled on her plans. Though he's lazy, Shikamaru had never canceled on her within her last month (nearly) of attending Konoha High. He also couldn't give her a ride home like usual, and said he was busy tonight. Busy with homework, though? Couldn't he just hide his project from his mother for the time being?

"I guess…" she sighed, "I guess you're right. I just don't want to believe you, Shika and I have grown so close…"

"We grew close too, didn't we?" Sai's face relaxed into a neutral stare.

She nodded slowly and stared at her hands, resting in the middle of the table, "Yes, we did. But thanks to misguided conceptions of you, I didn't keep in contact and we grew apart."

Sai reached a hand towards her and rested it atop of hers, "My offer still stands for that movie. I'll buy your ticket and everything."

Ino smiled, though weakly, "Sure, I'll go. But would you give me a ride home? Naruto and Sakura seem to have ditched me to… make out somewhere. Or something."

A NEW PLOT. OMG.

You're going to kill me, XDDDDD

But send in those reviews and we'll see what happens! Because remember…

EVERY TIME YOU READ WITHOUT REVIEWING, A SNAKE SLITHERS OUT OF A BUSH AND SEES A PERSON, SO IT GETS SCARED AND SLITHERS AWAY BUT THE PERSON STEPS ON IT REAL HARD AND IT DIES!

Save the snakes, kids.