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The Trouble With Men Is
Chapter 9
...They Have Horrible Timing!
"Bitch please. You haven't had to do a single math problem since you gave the head of the math department a lap dance last year."
"Who's there?" The voice cried out in panic.
"Oh God, oh God," Sakura internally sobbed, "How do I get myself into these situations?"
She tried running through all her options in her head. She could just reveal herself to them and explain how it was all an accident and that she would not tell a soul.
Or she could run.
Sakura quickly made her way to the windows and tried to pry the screen off, but it wouldn't budge. Well, it was worth a shot.
She could hear the two sets of footsteps getting closer and closer.
The next couple of seconds happened so fast. It was like something out of the matrix. As the door began to open, she dove for the telephone table beside the door and slid underneath just as she saw two sets of feet walking in.
Her heart was pounding so fast she was sure Shikamaru and his lady friend could hear it.
"Hm... there's no one here." The woman said.
Sakura was pretty much hiding in plain sight. The ajar door was blocking her out of their vision. But if they take a couple more steps into the room, she'll definitely be in their peripheral vision. She was absolutely petrified, literally and figuratively.
"Yeah. Thank God. The wind must've blown the door shut or something." Shikamaru said, "the window's open."
Sakura could feel her rapid heart beat subsiding and she began to calm down. "Just leave now... please just leave now." She could see the female's long, pale legs, and a gorgeous pair of tan heels. She could've sworn she'd seen them before...
"And ugh, you were right. The couch is gross. But it looks like the boys attempted to clean it."
"Wait a minute." Shikamaru paused, "No one ever bothers cleaning except for..." he began walking around and scouring around and his eyes landed right on Haruno, Sakura.
He stared at her in shock.
"What? What's going on?" The woman began to sound panicky, and looked in the direction towards Shikamaru's gaze. "Sakura!? Is that... you!?"
Sakura gulped, and gaped back.
"Ino!? Is that... YOU!?"
"Itachi. I need to talk to you."
"Not now, Sasuke. I have many papers to grade. Ask me again in a couple of hours." Itachi said, not looking up from his laptop as he continued to type vigorously.
"No. NOW." Sasuke slammed down the laptop, nearly hitting Itachi's fingers. Several people sitting around them looked over curiously.
Itachi stared up icily at his little brother. "Are you aware that we are in a public library? Are you really going to make a scene here?"
"Well then I guess we better find somewhere else to talk now."
"Fine. Meet me at Ichiraku's Ramen in half an hour." Itachi said, as he began to pack up his things.
"Really? You really want to talk about this in a public place? Where there are people around?"
"That's why it's the best place to talk. Everyone will be too busy gossiping and chatting loudly about their own lives... who would even think to pay attention to two boring brothers in the corner catching up on things?" Itachi said.
"All right. Don't be late. Also... you're paying."
Itachi sighed, "Fine then. You were never known for your generosity."
"Hey Neji! Wait up!" she called out his name. As usual, he ignored her. Either he had really bad hearing, or he just didn't want to deal with her right now (most likely the latter). She caught up to him and stopped him in his path.
He sighed, "What do you want, Ten-Ten?"
"I want to know why you've been such an asshole." She glared at him, "You stopped returning my messages, you're ignoring my calls, and now you won't even talk to me. What's going on?"
"What can I say?" He replied icily, "I guess I just outgrew you."
"Now what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Ten-Ten retorted back angrily, causing many passing students to turn around in alarm.
"Stop it Ten-Ten." Neji growled as he trudged past her, "You're making a scene."
"What?" Ten-Ten's voice only got louder as she followed behind him, "Am I embarrassing you now? Am I humiliating the great, pompous, I'm-so-special-I-wipe-my-ass-with-tens Hyuuga, Neji?"
"Fine." He turned around, "You want an answer so bad? Meet me at Ichiraku's Ramen in half an hour. Now leave me the fuck alone before I call campus security."
"I am so ready for this second date." Kiba smirked to himself as he adjusted his shirt in the men's locker room.
"Your confidence always amazes me, Kiba." Lee said as he put on his signature green jumpsuit. "Aren't you worried about what Neji might do if he finds out?"
"Man, I still don't understand how Hinata agreed to go out with you." Naruto grumbled, "It's not fair! I was going to ask her out!"
"You snooze, you lose, bro." Kiba grinned.
Naruto gasped, "So that's why you so willingly offered up your cheesecake to me two nights ago! You know I'm slightly lactose intolerant! You did it so I would be out of the way and you could ask Hinata out!"
"No you dingus," Kiba said, "I didn't offer you my cheesecake, you literally grabbed it out of my hand. Besides, you're not my competition, Naruto. Nobody is my competition so as long as I have this special guidebook."
"What book is that?" Lee asked curiously.
Kiba rummaged through his bag and whipped out a novel titled ICHA-ICHA PARADISE: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO FINDING HER LOVESPOT. "Whoever wrote this book is a genius, a real Casanova. I learned so much from him."
Naruto flipped through the book, "What to do when your woman has shark week... what to do when your woman wants to get married and how to change her mind... what to do to convince your woman to have a threesome... what to do when your woman catches you with her sister and how to convince her you were just checking for cancer... wow, this book has everything!"
"And now you know why I'm not worried about our second date. Nothing is going to make me lose my cool."
Sakura has never felt so awkward and uncomfortable in her life. That's including the time she caught Jiraiya going through her undergarments drawer while wearing her bathrobe. Luckily for Sakura, she came out of that fiasco slightly richer, and with new, sturdy deadbolts on her doors and drawers. Jiraiya got to keep the bathrobe.
"Okay someone say something. We've been sitting on this salsa-pop soaked couch for almost fifteen minutes without anyone making a sound." Sakura said. She was sitting between Ino and Shikamaru and she could feel the pop slowly soak into her undergarments.
"I... I don't know what to say." Shikamaru said, scratching his head. "I'm... I'm... still in shock."
"Of all places to hide Sakura," Ino said, "Under a telephone table in plain sight. Really? I expected better of you."
"Really? Really? After what I just heard go down outside in the lobby, that's what you're upset about. My ninja skills." Sakura said exasperatedly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ino replied, going slightly pink. "I've been merely asking Shikamaru to... tutor me. You know me." She chuckled, "Always failing math class."
"Bitch please." Sakura snorted, "You haven't had to do a single math problem since you gave the head of the math department a lap dance last year."
"Darn. I forgot I told you about that." Ino grumbled.
"Wait- what? You gave that old, dusty-"
"Not relevant to this conversation, okay?" Ino said impatiently.
"So... what exactly do we need to talk about here?" Sakura said.
Ino sighed, "Listen Sakura, I know we haven't been the best of friends lately. And I know I haven't been treating you with the respect you deserve, but please, please keep this to yourself. We don't want anyone to know about this."
Sakura frowned, "How come?"
"Because... well, there's nothing to tell. What we have is purely physical. Absolutely no romance involved." Ino said. Sakura could've sworn she saw a flash of pain on Shikamaru's face when Ino said that. "Besides, you know how much I hate all the attention-"
"Yeah right." Sakura snorted. "I still remember in high school when you lied and told everyone-"
"- That's besides the point." Ino said icily before Sakura could finish her sentence. "I just... don't need any more negative attention right now, okay? Not especially after that Hidan fiasco..."
"Hidan fiasco? What Hidan fiasco?"
"What? You don't know? Hm... I thought I spread the rumor pretty well, but I guess not good enough." Ino said, "Well, me and him dated last year, and I dumped his ass and he's been pining after me ever since." She had the tiniest tinge of pride in her voice.
Sakura nodded her head slowly. Now she was beginning to understand why Ino kept bothering her about her date with Hidan.
"So, I guess you can say that by keeping this to yourself, you're not only doing me a huge favor, but also Shikamaru." Ino continued, "I mean... can you imagine what Hidan would do to him if he found out?"
"I don't know," Sakura said, "I think Hidan might be over you."
"Yeah, right!" Ino laughed, "He wishes he was over me... in bed."
"Oh my God, Ino." Sakura cringed, "I won't tell anyone about this... just as long as you never try to make a joke again."
"Thank you so much." Ino sighed in relief, "You don't know how much this means to me, to us."
"No... problem." Sakura chuckled dryly, "All part of the job."
"So you want to go for some ramen or something? I'm starving. My treat!" Ino said perkily.
"Nah, I just ate-" Shikamaru began.
"Not you." Ino gave him a scathing look, and then turned to Sakura with a loving smile, "I was talking about Sakura. It's been so long since we've had a just-us-girls date."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes and made his way to the door, "Since it's clear that I'm no longer getting laid, I'm out of here."
"Bye then." Ino said, not even looking in his direction. She then proceeded to grab Sakura by the hand and pull her up. "Come on, let's go! Ichiraku's Ramen is just around the corner!"
It was exactly 4 pm on a Thursday evening...
When shit hit the fence. Not literally of course, that would be disgusting. But after the certain events that unraveled, the owners of Ichiraku's Ramen probably would've preferred the shit to what actually went down. Ichiraku's Ramen was an ideal place for a date. Lush green curtains hanging from the ceiling separated the tables, giving customers optimal privacy. However, that does not mean sexual intercourse is permitted (one of the many reasons why Jiraiya is permanently banned from entering).
First to enter the popular ramen joint was Sasuke and Itachi. They made their way to the most obscure table on the farthest, left corner of the restaurant.
"I need to know if he's dealing again." Sasuke said quietly to Itachi as they scanned over the menus that were just handed to them. "I think he's back in Konoha."
"What makes you say that." Itachi said, taking a sip of his tea.
"Don't give me that bull shit Itachi." Sasuke growled quietly, "You know as well as I do how those drugs got into Sakura and Hidan's system. It was him. Hidan probably saw him and recognized him-"
"Don't be so Naïve, little brother." Itachi replied, "If Hidan really did recognize him, do you really think he'd still be alive?"
"Then what does Sakura have anything to do with it?"
"I don't know." Itachi said, "But I'm looking into it."
"No. You're not allowed anywhere near her, you hear me?" Sasuke said, "I'll do the digging."
Itachi raised an eyebrow, "Why? Do you like this girl?"
Sasuke scoffed, "No of course not..."
As the two brothers continued their conversation, Hinata and Kiba entered the restaurant and took a spot close to the window on the right, pretty much from the opposite end of where Sasuke and Itachi were sitting. If it weren't for Kiba's nerves, he would have noticed Sasuke's car parked outside the restaurant. If Sasuke weren't so deep in conversation with his brother, he would've noticed Kiba's loud, obnoxious voice.
"Order whatever you like Hinata." Kiba grinned, "I've been saving up money just for this date! I made sure to bring more than enough! I have a total of..." He opened his wallet and begin to counted, "... five dollars?! What the hell!? I bet it was that bastard Naruto! I should've known something was wrong the second he whipped out those gourmet pizza rolls!"
Hinata merely giggled, "Don't worry. I have some extra cash with me. I think forty dollars should be enough to cover the both of us."
Kiba smiled sheepishly, when suddenly his facial expression changed from happy to I'm-going-to-shit-my-panties-scared. He ducked under the table, much to the surprise of a bewildered Hinata. However, she didn't have to look far to find the source of Kiba's trouble.
"Hinata." Neji nodded curtly, "Nice to see you here."
"Y-You too Neji." Hinata tried to smile. She has always felt uncomfortable and extremely intimidated around her older cousin. Even though the feud between their families has been alleviated considerably, there was always an awkward tension whenever they spoke, which was not very often. "How are you? Are you here with someone?"
Neji looked almost as uncomfortable as she did. "Err- not exactly. I- I'm meeting Ten-Ten here. To discuss a project I'm working on with her."
Hinata nodded politely, "I see."
"You know how professors are, always assigning partners for us." Neji continued. "Giving us no free will."
"... Right." Hinata continued to nod in agreement.
At that moment, Ten-Ten showed up. She was very surprised to see Hinata.
"Well then Hinata, I'll see you around." Neji led Ten-Ten to a table on the left near the back. If it weren't for the row of indoor plants strewn right down the middle, segregating the two sides of the room, Neji and Sasuke would have noticed they were right across from each other. However, due to the tension of seeing his cousin, and his mysterious alarm over being seen with Ten-Ten, not only did he fail to notice Sasuke, but he also failed to notice Kiba. That, and the fact that he always saw his cousin as a bit of a loner, was why he was not too surprised to see her dining alone.
Hinata thought she became stronger, more determined. After all, she had gotten the boy, hasn't she? But the second her cousin walked through that door, she became the same scared, shy, alone little girl that she was years ago, always walking in Neji's shadow. Always being reprimanded for not being good enough. The fact that Kiba was so terrified of him proved her point. The second she found a glimmer of light; he had to come and blow it out. In her mind, the second Kiba hid from Neji, she knew that Kiba had chosen his fear over upsetting her cousin over his love for her. That, to her, hurt more than anything else.
"So... what do you need to tell me?" Ten-Ten said nervously.
Neji did not speak for several minutes until finally taking a deep breath. "Ten-Ten, I honestly don't know how to say this to you. I thought avoiding you was the best way to spare your feelings. I am beginning to see that is not the case. But first, you must promise me you won't make a scene. Second, what I am about to tell you... you must swear to me you will not tell anyone. Not even my family and especially not my housemates."
"Neji... you're really freaking me out... what on earth is going on?" Ten-Ten said fearfully.
"Just promise me you won't say a word." Neji said.
"Okay... I promise. Just please tell me what's going on." Ten-Ten was almost begging.
"Ten-Ten... I have terminal cancer."
It was at that moment that the last couple strolled into the ramen shop. Sakura and Ino decided to sit directly across from Hinata and Kiba. However, all four were too preoccupied with their own thoughts to notice each other. Kiba was desperately trying to hide from Neji, Hinata was still shaken up over her meeting with her cousin, Ino was trying to figure out how to turn Sakura into her puppet, and Sakura was still in shock over the new information she recently discovered.
"Ino, what's really going on?"
Ino raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"I think I've known you long enough to know when something's actually bothering you. I've been really thinking about it. It's not like you to just... show up at his place in the middle of the day. I know you're more careful than that. When your social status is on the line, you'll do anything to protect it."
Ino gave Sakura a withering look.
"I don't know." Sakura said, "Like you said, we haven't been close in a while. Maybe you've changed. Maybe you've gotten sloppier or you just don't care-"
"I'm late." Ino blurted out.
"Late for what?"
"I mean... I'm late."
"Late... for what? Do you have class or something? What are you... NO." Sakura gasped, "You're... you can't be... you're that late?"
Ino nodded her head.
"How... how long?"
"It's been almost a week." Ino said, "I'm... I'm scared. I was going to tell him today. I texted him saying that it was urgent but when I actually got there I chickened out and I just couldn't... oh what am I going to do?" At this point, Ino was near tears.
"Have you taken a pregnancy test?" Sakura asked.
Ino shook her head, "I've been too scared. What if I'm actually pregnant? I can't take care of a baby! I can barely take care of myself! Oh God maybe I should just go buy some metal coat hangers and-"
"Please don't do that." Sakura cringed, "I'll... I'll be here for you. Okay?" She gently placed her hand on top of Ino's hands. If you need to go to a clinic... just let me know."
The four pairs continued to chat. Unaware of the other's presence, all lost in each of his or her own problems. As 6 pm drew near, more and more people were coming in for dinner.
The first group to leave was Kiba and Hinata. When Kiba said nothing was going to make him lose his cool... he clearly did not anticipate her date's terrifying cousin showing up (apparently, the book did not cover everything). Hinata was extremely disappointed in Kiba's reaction to her terrifying cousin and was likely not going to agree to a third date. Luckily for her, Kiba was so shaken up that he was likely not going to ask for a third date.
The second group that followed was Sakura and Ino. Ino forgot how nice it was to have someone who was non-judgmental or materialistic and actually keep her secrets. Sakura forgot how exhausting talking to a five year old could be. Yet somehow, both of them came out of the dinner liking each other a little bit more. They made arrangements to meet up the following day so Ino could take a pregnancy test.
Third, Sasuke and Itachi left. Last thing Itachi said before parting was "You take care of yourself, Sasuke. You and I both know too well what happens to those that get on his bad side. Our parents are prime examples."
Lastly... Neji and Ten-Ten.
"When... when did you find out?" Ten-Ten said meekly. She was still in shock.
"Over the summer." Neji said.
"How long do you have?"
"The doctors say six months to a year."
"Why are you still in school? Why aren't you telling anybody?!" Ten-Ten said as tears begin to fall, "This isn't something you should be dealing with on your own!"
"Stop it Ten-Ten," Neji said coldly, "You're making a scene. You promised you wouldn't."
"Well I'm sorry if I'm not handling the news of your imminent death well!" Ten-Ten cried, "I just... I can't believe it. I- I-I- I'm so sorry... I-"
"I can't talk to you when you're like this." Neji said icily, rising from his chair. He threw forty dollars onto the table. "Find me when you calm down."
Neji stormed out of the restaurant. He just didn't know how to deal with crying, emotional women. And also because he didn't want Ten-Ten to see his tears.
I know, not much humor in this chapter... and too much mystery! The suspense is starting to build up! I'll try to add some more lighthearted moments in future chapters! Let me know what you guys think! :) :) :)
Till Next Time,
OnlyTheGoodDieYoung