Hey everyone! I had intended to post this chapter wayyyy sooner, but better late than never right? Anyways, I hoping to get the dynamic kinda established between all the characters in the next few chapters so we can progress with the story. I know we haven't had much Shikamaru action yet but it's coming, I promise! We do LOVE a slow burn don't we?

! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()

Tuesday and Wednesday had came and went faster than I could keep track of the days. At lunch Ino reminded me that she wanted to finalize some party plans with me and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out after school that day. Hinata suggested we go to Étoile Crown, a café a few blocks from school. We had gone there a few times to hang out before and it had always been fun. Plus, a little girl time sounded fantastic. I agreed and texted Obito that I would be home late, but Hinata's driver would be dropping me off. By the time school ended and we were crawling in the back of the limousine he still hadn't texted me back. I assumed it was either fine with him, or he hadn't checked his phone yet. Either way my philosophy was always 'better to ask for forgiveness than permission'.

The four of us walked up the stairs and strolled into the little café. As soon as we sat down at the table, I began looking at the pictures of food and drinks underneath the layer of glass. The waitress came over to take our order and I ended up asking for a blueberry milk tea.

It took about five minutes for the waitress to come back with the drinks everyone had ordered. It took about six for Sakura to finally bring up what I had been avoiding for the last two and a half days.

"So spill the tea girl! What did Kakashi say to you?" she had me cornered.

I took a long sip through the straw, stalling even further, until even Hinata gave me a cynical stare, "Uggghhhh! First of all, we're probably looking wayyyy too much into this."

"Why don't you let us be the judge," Sakura looked over at Hinata for confirmation. She nodded.

I rolled my eyes, "So we were sitting on the couch smoking a bowl before school. He told me I was going to be late. I told him I'd have enough time if someone would take his turn and stop acting like my daddy."

"Annnnddddd?!" I had paused to take another sip and Sakura was practically on the edge of her seat.

"He told me 'Someone needs to act like your daddy'," Sakura let out a high-pitched squeal, I could practically see the steam leaking out of her ears, and poor Hinata choked on a strawberry.

"See! I told you it wasn't just nothing!" Ino smirked.

"Oh, whatever Ino! Look, I'm not getting my hopes up…at least not while I'm still seventeen. I know for sure Kakashi wouldn't go for that. He may be flirting but that's all it is. Besides, there's no way in hell I'm going to make a move and risk looking like a total idiot if I get rejected," I slurped up the last of my drink. I flagged the waitress down as she passed by and ordered another.

"Wait! I think I've got a way to test it out," Ino slammed her fist down onto her other hand's open palm.

"Here we go," Hinata and I said in unison, looking at each other and rolling our eyes.

Ino scowled before continuing, "All you have to do is make him jealous!"

"Dare I ask how?" My fingers were massaging the area of my nose between my eyes, an area that had increasingly began to throb as this conversation continued.

"Kiba!" she stared at me like it was obvious.

"Ino- "

"Don't Ino me Raki! I just know he's got a thing for you, and if I'm right Kakashi does too. And this way we'll see which one is willing to fight for you, and if they don't, they don't deserve you. Simple as that," she crossed her arms.

"I love you Ino, twisted logic and all," I sighed and chuckled.

"So you will talk to him?" she bullied.

I held my hands up in surrender, "I'll talk to him tomorrow, I swear! I do need to ask him about a certain party favor. I'll feel out the situation."

"Speaking of the party, everyone's coming right?" Sakura looked from Ino to me.

"I mean of course the four of us, Sasuke will obviously be there-," Sakura shot Ino a dirty look, "- 'cause he's Raki's family-duh, Shikamaru and Raki are joined at the hip and he'll end up dragging Choji along with him, and I know Kiba will want to come," it was my turn to glare at Ino, "that just leaves Shino and Naruto and we can't not invite them, besides, it's not a party unless Naruto's there doing something crazy."

"I do believe that covers everybody," I said slowly while looking over at Hinata suspiciously, noticing that her cheeks turned pink when Ino mentioned inviting Naruto. The gears in my head started turning.

"Do you think your brother and his friends will show up?" Ino asked, hearts practically in her eyes. She was just as boy crazy as I was when it came to older guys.

"Ehhh, probably not. Obito and I usually do something separate on my actual birthday. Plus, I don't see them dancing or singing karaoke," I smiled picturing Asuma trying to sing in between drags of his cigarette.

"We're still planning on Kamata Plaza right? I mean that place has everything! A dance floor, karaoke rooms, a restaurant, a bar, an arcade! I even read that they have a rooftop swimming area!" Ino sounded more excited with each attraction she named off.

"Which will be perfect for when we don't have a group of horny depraved boys with us," Sakura sighed. Hinata and I nodded in agreement.

"We can reserve a table at the restaurant to eat and book a karaoke room to open presents and stuff. That way we can lock our stuff up while we go dance," Ino grinned.

"That sounds great Ino," I smiled. She really was a good friend to have thought all this out, "Now come on! Let's go to that shoe store down the street. I want to see if I can find some heels to go with that dress!"

! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()

"Bye! Love you guys! See you tomorrow," I bent my knees to look through the rolled down window at the girls.

I heard calls of 'love you too' and 'see ya tomorrow' as I waved over my shoulder. I let myself in the building and made my way to the elevator. I scanned my keycard, hit the '3' button, and yawned as I waited for the doors to close. When they opened again, I walked into the entryway and over to the front door to the apartment.

All the lights were off, and I knew Obito had to be up early for work, so I tiptoed to my room. I closed the door of my bedroom behind me and let out the breath I had been holding. 'Safe!' Somehow, I had managed to make it to the sanctity of my room without waking and incurring the wrath of my older brother.

I set the bag with my new shoes in front of my closet and flopped down on my bed. I turned the tv on and began stripping off my clothes. I looked around and grabbed the oversized t-shirt that I had worn the night before. I set the alarm on my phone and plugged it into the charger. I rolled over and fell asleep to the sounds of the game show I had left on the tv.

! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()

'Could this day literally drag out any longer!' Maybe it was because Mitsuri had been giving me hell all day. Maybe it was because I had been putting off talking to Kiba. Hell, maybe it was just because it was Friday and the promises of two days of freedom were so close I could taste it, but the day felt like it was breaking the laws of physics and taking twice as long to pass.

On lunch I sat on a bench close to the street and hit my vape while I listened, unenthusiastically to Naruto and Choji argue about who would win a ramen eating contest. This had to be one of the most boring days I had ever spent in this prison. I decided to give myself some entertainment. 'What the hell, Ino. Let's give your plan a go.' I pulled out my phone and searched through my text conversations and began typing.

Me:

Hey, you crashing over at our house this weekend?

I didn't have to wait long for a reply. Something I tried not to get too excited about. I had meant what I told the girls yesterday. I wasn't going to make a move. I'd play his little flirting game until I figured out what his true intentions were, and then I'd act accordingly.

Kashi-Senpai:

I was planning on it. You need me to

bring something?

:

Me:

Me…I was actually hoping you could

pick me up from school?

:

Kashi-Senpai:

I didn't wear a helmet today.

:

Me:

Then just treat me like the precious cargo I am

and be careful. ;)

:

Kashi-Senpai:

You're going to be the death of me. I'll be

there by 3:20

:

Me:

XOXO *

I smirked as I put my phone back in my bag and took another long drag off the vape. I tilted my head back and blew out the smoke. As it dissipated, I looked up at the clouds drifting by. How hard I had wished as a child, that I could float up amongst the white, pillowy softness. For a few seconds, as I envisioned shapes amid the puffs and swirls, I felt that familiar longing.

"Castle," I nudged Shikamaru on the bench next to me and pointed into the sky.

He nodded and I saw his eyes begin to search the sky. It didn't take him long to answer my challenge, "Dog."

We continued back and forth for a couple of rounds, just like when we were kids. I had just found and claimed the cloud that looked like a car when I heard a voice from the other side of Shikamaru, "That one looks like a guitar."

Shika and I both turned to look at the source of the sound. Kiba was looking at me, half smiling and pointing up to a cloud that, sure enough, did look like a guitar on its side.

"Oh yeah, cool. One point for Kiba," I smiled back. I did not miss the annoyed glance Shika sent him, but I chalked it up as a product of the conversation we had had the other day and didn't draw attention to it.

"Mom's been talking about making soba this weekend. You wanna come over for dinner?" Shika had effectively ended the game with his change of subject, turning his attention back to me.

"I fuckin love your mom's soba noodles! I'm there. Tell her I'll make some kind of dessert," I blew out a cloud of peach flavored smoke.

"That's more than you offer when you come to our house," Sasuke scoffed.

"Uhhhhh, because you and Itachi have never offered me soba noodles so divine Ukemochi herself couldn't make 'em better," I gushed.

He rolled his eyes and picked up his bag. I reached over his legs and turned Shikamaru's wrist over to look at the time on his watch. We were going to have to start making our way back to class. I stood up and stretched while yawning. I threw my vape in the same little side pocket my phone was sitting in. We all made our way across the courtyard, walking back into school together. 'Two classes left and then Kakashi will be here to pick me up. I'm so gonna enjoy rubbing that in Mitsuri's face.'

! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()

The last two classes felt just as insufferably long as the others had. When the final bell rang, I stood up from my desk, bag already slung over my shoulder. I was one of the first to exit the classroom. I briefly stopped at my locker to grab a notebook I was going to need for the weekend homework ol' snakeface Tojiro gave us.

By the time I made it out to the courtyard I could see other students starting to exit behind me. A few were in front of me, one of which was the exact person I had been putting off talking to. I knew Ino knew that I hadn't talked to him yet, so if she came out and saw both him and I in the same vicinity without interacting, she'd make sure a conversation happened either the easy way or the hard way.

In the end I knew what the 'easy way' would be and sighed as I fulfilled my promise to Ino, "Hey Kiba! Wait up!"

His perfect, bright teeth formed a grin on his face when he turned and saw it was me who was trying to catch up to him. 'Damn. This boy is gorgeous.'

He stopped and waited for me to walk up, "What's up Raki?"

"So Shika and I were smoking some good shit the other day. He said he got it from you. I was wondering if you'd bring some to my birthday party," I ran my fingers through my hair. I didn't need Ino with me to act out her plan, I was more than capable of handling some high school boy.

"Hmmm, what's in it for me?" he smirked and crossed his arms.

"How about the undying gratitude of the birthday girl herself?" I laughed and shrugged my shoulders.

"What if I want something else?" he cocked his head to the side, still smirking.

'Was he seriously stepping up and getting bold? Maybe Ino's onto something. That was kinda sexy.' "I guess it depends on what you want," I put my hand on my hip.

He stepped closer to me, close enough to send a clear message. He looked down at me and slightly licked his bottom lip before he spoke, "What if I want a date with the birthday girl instead?"

'Well if that's not big dick energy I don't know what is. I wonder if he could handle me.' I raised my eyebrows and smirked. I took a step forward this time, closing the gap even further. We were so close we could touch each other's faces now if we wanted. He just stared down at me, keeping his cool. I'd have to fix that.

I reached out both of my hands and began to adjust the knot of his tie. I looked up at him, "We'll just have to see how good your stuff is."

Now he looked dazed and flustered. I was going to have to leave him like that. I heard Kakashi pull up on his bike. He revved the motor signaling that he had seen me and it was time to go. I smiled and patted him on the chest.

"That's my ride, I gotta go. See ya Monday!" I stepped around him and sent him a wave over my shoulder. As I made my way over to Kakashi I noticed that most of our friends had made it out into the courtyard and were currently watching this whole exchange. I caught Ino's eye and winked, causing her to let out a laugh.

"Thanks for coming. I owe you one Kashi," I smiled at him and placed my hands on his shoulder to steady myself as I hoisted my leg over the bike. I wrapped my arms around him and nestled my face up against his back.

He patted my thigh twice, "Yeah yeah, you're welcome. You all set?"

"Yep!" and with that we took off down the street.

As I rode down the street smelling the leather of Kakashi's jacket mixed with his aftershave, I grinned and thought how nice and safe this felt. I also wondered what everyone back at school was thinking. I knew that it had caused a stir with at least Mitsuri judging from the look on her face when he touched my leg. Ino was probably texting me right now. I'd have to get info about Kiba's reaction in the next few days. This little potential love triangle was the most interesting thing that had happened to me in this town in forever.

Bonus Scene

Kumaraki walked over to the curb and stood in front of Kakashi. She said a few words before grabbing his shoulder and throwing a leg over the bike. Ino, Sakura, and Hinata shared incredulous grins when Kakashi patted Kumaraki's thigh. Mitsuri scoffed and stormed off with two of her friends in tow, annoyed that not only had Kumaraki upstaged her again, but the guy she had left school was attractive enough to be a celebrity. Ino looked over at Kiba who had been alternating between gritting his teeth and growling in jealousy. His arms were crossed and his glaring eyes were set on Kakashi. Kiba scoffed when Kakashi pulled off the curb and merged into traffic with the current object of his affection clinging to the older man's body.

He looked over to find Shikamaru lighting up a cigarette. Kiba wouldn't have exactly called his expression pleased either. Shikamaru's eyes looked up and met with Kiba's. As he blew out the smoke his face took on an 'I told you so' expression.

"When you asked the other day what her type was…I think it's probably something like that," Shikamaru smirked, looking at Kiba's slightly distraught face.

! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()! #$%^&*()

*-so this story is also posted on wattpad under the same author and story name. the original version has Kumaraki respond to Kakashi with three old school symbols for a heart (i.e. a 'less than' symbol and the number 3) this site won't let me include the 'less than' symbol when I try to edit the document so I had to make some creative changes. Feel free to pop over to wattpad to read the original format (including more accurate looking text convos -_-" )

So what did you guys think it's starting to get pretty good right?! I've already got a good amount of this story planned out so hopefully I keep it interesting. Please let me know what you guys think! I love getting feedback on my stories.