"Ajirame Dozu, second year Athletic. I-" He was about to say something, when suddenly, he narrowed his eyes at something or someone behind their group and started to growl audibly at it.
Hinata and the others turned around with furrowed brows.
"Hyuuga." Dozu growled.
For a second, Hinata thought he had meant her, but then she saw him. Neji had stepped out of the crowd and stood behind Miharu who jumped to Ikimy's side out of shock immediately.
"N-Neji? W-What are you doing here?" Hinata asked him cautiously. Her cousin didn't look very amused.
"Dozu." He said coldly. "I didn't think I'd see you this year. Did the headmistress let you pass to second year after all? I didn't expect her to. Or did your father some persuading with his money?"
Dozu's eyes narrowed even more. "At least, I didn't have to sleep with her, like some."
Hinata's head flew around to face her cousin. He didn't - did he? Only faintly she saw her actions mimicked by her new friends.
But Neji's expression didn't waver. He only scoffed.
"Of course."
Then he stepped next to Hinata, who stood nearest to Dozu and took her hand.
"You are dealing with my cousin, here, Ajirame. Did you know? I hope you didn't bother her." He said calmly.
"You wouldn't be able to do anything about it, if I did." Dozu answered him coldly.
Hinata could feel her cousin's grip tighten on her hand. Then he smiled coldly and took another step towards Dozu, who shrunk back a little.
"Listen, Ajirame. If you lay a hand on her or her friends, you will not live to tell the tale. Do I make myself clear?" He growled quietly, but still loud enough for the whole group to hear.
Hinata could see Dozu gulp hard and sweat seemed to form on his forehead.
But he didn't say anything else, he growled one more time and then dashed to vanish into the crowd.
"Don't ever get involved with him." Neji said to Hinata, then seemingly like an afterthought, he added: "All of you. He's not worth your trouble."
"Thanks, Neji." Hinata said quietly. Neji nodded.
"Come on." He tugged on her hand. "I'll take you to Kiba, we want to go home."
Hinata nodded and quickly turned to her new friends.
"See you at school!" She waved, smiling slightly and then she was dragged off around the assembled students and to the opposite of the crowd.
When they approached Kiba, Hinata noticed that he looked absolutely pissed. Just like Neji still did.
Her cousin stood her next to the dogboy barked a "Don't lose her!" and vanished again.
Kiba threw his arm around her shoulders told her not to move and then continued growling and being pissed.
What the hell had happened?!
She was about to sigh and succumb to her fate, when, surprisingly, a voice from behind her sounded and she was wrenched out of his grasp.
"Hey!"
Next thing she knew, Sakura was in another embrace. But this time it was not... well, crazy, but protective.
Sakura looked up to see Naruto standing next to her, growling at the frogman.
"What do you think you're doing? Can't you see, that she isn't comfortable with this?" He asked Lee angrily.
"Oh, Naruto- I-" Sakura tried to ease the tension, but Rin yelled her down.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" She stepped up to Naruto and poked his chest angrily.
"I- who- wha-?!" Naruto stuttered stupidly.
"And who the heck are you anyway?!" Rin poked him again and he didn't say anything more, he just stared dumbfoundedly.
Sakura finally freed herself from Naruto's arm and tried again to explain the situation.
"Naruto, thank you, but it's okay. Sorry, Lee. Rin, Lee, everyone, this is my friend, Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto those are Lee, Rin, Gaara, Kankuro and Karin." She explained. "We just met and discovered that Lee is an Athletic, too."
"Really?" Naruto narrowed his eyes at the frogman.
"Yes." Lee said and gave him a thumbs-up. "Are you one of the youthful Athletics, too?"
"Er...Yes." Naruto said.
"Great! Let's be youthful together, then! We can train together, eat together, train together and study together!" Lee grinned broadly.
Sakura dared a look at Naruto's reaction.
"AWESOME!" He yelled and jumped into the air. "You're alright, frogman!"
Sakura stopped dead. Did he really just call him what she had called him in her head all the time?! She just hoped that Lee wasn't insulted by this. He looked pretty strong...
But Lee just laughed. "A frog is very explosive, Rin says. She calls me this since we first met!"
Sakura felt like sinking to the floor. This conversation was too troublesome for her... And now she felt that she sounded like Shikamaru. Great.
"Naruto, did you need something?" She asked the boy to her left.
"Oh... No, Neji just told us to look out for you girls." He shrugged.
"Er... Why?"
"He said there are some weird guys running around."
Simultaneously they turned to look at Lee, who was telling Kankuro how lucky he was to have a brother to spar with.
Sakura giggled. "Thanks Naruto, seriously."
"Yeah, no problem." Then he looked around. "Come on, I can see Kiba and Hinata standing back there, they seem to be waiting for us."
"Bye, frogman!" Naruto yelled and waved as he dragged Sakura away by her shoulders.
"Bye youthful brother!"
Tenten turned to Isaka and Yahiro and opened her mouth to invite them along, too, when a hand slid into hers.
Confused, she turned around.
- 30 minutes earlier -
Then she sighed. Who else would be that bold to just grab her hand that casually?
"Kiba, what do you want?"
"Found some new friends?" He grinned down at her. "Hey, I'm Kiba!"
As the others introduced themselves to the still grinning dogboy, Tenten was surprised to see Neji standing directly behind Kiba.
"Akimichi Chouji." Chouji said. "But I don't think it's friends when you have only talked for five minutes and then be interrupted."
Kiba furrowed his brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Neji stepped next to Kiba and looked down at the chubby boy.
"I'm just saying that you shouldn't interrupt her when we're just planning to get something to eat." Then he looked at the way Neji's and Kiba's bodies had tensed up, he added: "Who are you anyway? She doesn't need bodyguards."
Kiba started to growl at the boy. "What was that?"
"Don't you think that's a little impolite?" Neji asked, with a cold smile.
Tenten grabbed their arms and burried her nails in their flesh as they didn't react to her pulling.
"Shut up. Both of you." She hissed. Isaka and Yahiro just looked on curiously.
"Oh, just the pet dogs?" Chouji snickered.
Kiba growled and leapt forwards, Tenten's nails scratching over his skin until she lost her grip. But to his surprise Neji was already hovering over the boy looking down at him.
"Chouji, we're living together, so I recommend you don't mess with my friends." He said coldly.
Chouji's muscles tensed and were suddenly visible. He wasn't as chubby as Tenten had thought, he was quite muscular.
Nobody moved for a moment, then Isaka, Yahiro and Tenten stepped in at once.
"Hehehe, come on boys, it's enough." Isaka put up his hands soothingly.
"Yeah, I think that's all a great misunderstanding." Yahiro nodded.
"Calm down, let's go now, Neji, Kiba." Tenten grabbed their arms again and started to drag them off, this time with greater success.
Sorry, she mouthed to Isaka and Yahiro, who were blocking her view of Chouji. The twins nodded and waved her goodbye, obviously relieved that the action was over.
"What the hell was that all about?!" Tenten turned around to face them once they were a little away from the crowd. She was more than angry.
"What?!" Barked Kiba. He was still angry, too. "Didn't you get what he wanted?!"
"Wha- What he wanted?! We wanted to get lunch together, Kiba, lunch! You know what that is?!"
"Yeah, you know who I went out to lunch with?!" Kiba yelled.
"Oh come on, you can't- He's not like you! It was my idea to get lunch! To talk, to get to know each other! He's an Athletic, too!"
"Oh great." Kiba groaned. "Yeah, he was fairly intersted in getting to know you."
"What the heck! Are you mad?! Neji! Why didn't you hold him back?! You seemed to know Chouji!" Tenten turned at the other brunette.
"What do you expect me to say?!" He didn't yell like Kiba did, but his voice was still raised, which schocked Tenten into silence for a second.
"I-I want you to tell him that he's got it all wrong!"
"Yeah right." Kiba scoffed.
"Shut up!" She yelled at him, then turned back again. "So?"
"No." Neji said.
"What?"
"No. Tenten, didn't you see the way he looked at you?!" Neji said loudly.
"The way he looked at me?! He was hungry, damnit! So am I! Am I not allowed to talk to hungry people?!" She yelled at them. This was getting ridiculous.
"Tenten." Kiba growled and sighed. "Have you ever thought that it wasn't the same hunger, that you're thinking of?"
"Wha-?"
"Tenten, I'm living with this guy, he's not as innocent and nice as you may think. You shouldn't meet him again. Or the other two guys for that matter." Neji said calmly.
"ARE YOU STUPID?!" Tenten screamed at them. She really didn't care that they were receiving weird looks from the crowd.
"You've been living with him since yesterday, Neji! You ain't know nothing about him! And you know nothing about me! So shut the hell up! And you!" She turned to Kiba. "I really thought you knew that I can look out for myself! I can talk to the people I want, anytime I want and if I chose them to be my friends over you, then you shouldn't be surprised anymore!"
She turned on her heel and stormed off.
"Tenten!" Kiba yelled after her.
"LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!" She screamed back.
Kiba sighed as she vanished around a corner. "Why do girls always have to be so difficult?"
"No idea." Neji sighed. "I'll get the others, I think we should really go home now..."
"Yeah..." Kiba said and looked after where Tenten had vanished.
Neji nodded and set off to find his top priority target - his cousin.
Neither saw the shadow that disappeared around the corner after Tenten.
The redhead started lookig around the crowd for him.
"Ah! There!" She said after a moment and a demonic grin spread across her face.
Ino turned around and saw nobody really looking at them and was a little confused.
"HEEEY! DUMMY!" Suka yelled and waved.
Only seconds later, Sasuke emerged from the crowd.
Ino's jaw dropped. Like, to the floor.
"You- She- Huuuh?!" Ino was totally shocked.
"Oh no." Sasuke said. "I see you've met."
"Hello Sasuke." Suka grinned at him.
"Hey Suka. I feared that you two would get along."
"That's your cousin?!" Ino almost yelled.
Sasuke winced. "Yes, Ino, that's my little cousin, Uchiha Suka."
"Sasukeee!" Suka whined. "How many times do I have to tell you, that you shouldn't always introduce me as your little cousin! Those two weeks make you that much older, you know."
"They still do." Sasuke grinned.
"Idiot!" Suka knocked her cousin on the head.
To Ino's surprise, Sasuke knocked her back and immediately a fight broke out.
Ino stepped back, together with Temari and Kin. Not shortly after that, they started to snicker, chuckle and then openly laughed at the cousins that were still bickering and exchanging punches.
"You're so weird!" Temari was still laughing 5 minutes later, when they had calmed down a little.
Suka and Sasuke looked up at her.
"We're not!" They yelled.
"Seriously?" Ino gasped. "Look at yourselves!"
Sasuke lay on the ground, Suka sitting on top of him, every now and then tickling his sides.
The Uchihas grinned at each other, stood up and then blushed, obviously embarrassed, because they had gathered quite a crowd around them.
"Well," Sasuke cleared his throat. "Come on, Blondie, let's go look what the others are up to, okay?"
"They've most likely seen you roll on the floor." Ino laughed and winked at the girls that giggled back, before Sasuke dragged her off into the crowd.
Halfway through Sasuke and Ino met Naruto who shoved Sakura in front of him through the people.
"Kiba and Hinata seem to be waiting for us back there." Naruto informed them and the other two nodded and followed them.
Neji - who looked surprisingly different today, Ino thought - found them only a few steps after that and lead them to where Kiba still had his arm around Hinata who looked very uncomfortable.
As soon as Neji stepped in front of them Kiba withdrew his arm.
"Thanks." Neji said and Kiba nodded in recognition.
"Found them all?" The dogboy asked.
"Yes." Neji said.
Kiba looked along the lines of his friends, then furrowed his brows. "Where's Shikamaru?"
Everyone else looked around.
"I last saw him when we went to save the girls." Naruto said.
"Save the girls?" Ino asked, her brows furrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." Kiba sighed, he looked tired. "Don't ask, I already had this kind of argument today."
"Where's Akamaru?" Sakura asked suddenly.
Kiba looked a little stupid for a second, then turned his head. "I-I don't know. Akamaru? Akamaru!"
No response. Kiba shrugged. "He'll find his way home."
Neji sighed. This day was terribly exhausting. "Let's go home. I'm getting a headache."
"I'm really hungry." Ino said. "The fridge's right."
"Fridge?" Everyone turned at her, Sakura and Sasuke chuckled.
"Ah, sorry. I mean Neji." She stuck her tongue out and scratched her cheek.
The others laughed.
Even Neji chuckled. "You're alright, Yamanaka."