Chapter 1

SHIKAMARU

Shikamaru pushed past the doors and sauntered into the room.

"Well isn't it Mr VP himself," Ino announced sarcastically. "Nice for you to finally join us."

He stood against the wall and gestured with his hand for the briefing to continue.

"…So as I was saying, the transfers are coming today and we need to be on our best behaviour - for the sake of our school…"

Shikamaru was usually barely focused on meetings, but today especially he couldn't find it in himself to focus. The room dissolved into chatter and noise as his eyes moved to watch the clouds through the window.

He skimmed the brief on his way here. There were 3 kids coming over from some preppy boarding school from a far away place. A jock, an artist and a musician - who were all academic superstars. They'd stay here for the semester in the dorms. And it was up to the student council to show them a good time because this was one of many future transfer programmes set up. More transfer opportunities meant higher school fees and better reputation for the school. All in all - it was more work on the students.

"You could even say we need to impress our Suna-stars…" Ino said raising her brows.

The room met her bad pun with a groan. Shikamaru smiled - he could rely on his council to do what needed to be done, even if they weren't the most motivated. He glanced at Naruto, the student council President with his eyes shut. He was a college athlete who could train all day, but put him in a classroom for 5 minutes and he'd doze off. Then behind him were Kiba and Shino, the Outreach Officers were laughing over one dirty picture on Kiba's phone. Next to them was Sakura, the Treasurer, drawing hearts over Sasuke's name in her journal. Sasuke as the Discipline Officer sat in front of her next to Naruto, listening intently. And their secretary Hinata, the diligent but painfully shy Secretary.

It was his last semester as a senior in college. He might not ever see these people again. Where would they all end up, he wondered. Where would he be? All interesting questions which the answers to required a lot of hard work. And right now, college was easy. He picked the easy modules and a relaxed schedule. He scored a spot in the council with all his friends… why couldn't things stay the way they were? At least before he'd be stuck at some desk job until the day he died - like his dad…

"Alright and that concludes today's briefing. Thanks so much Shikamaru for volunteering !"

Shikamaru was pulled back to the room at the mention of his name.

"Ino, you've gotta be joking. I'm not-"

"Nun- uh! Too late, Hinata's already compiled today's minutes. See it says right there, 'Student Welfare Officer Ino has appropriately delegated duties to VP Shikamaru Nara.' And there's no changing that, is there, sweetie?" She asked Hinata.

Hinata looked from Ino's forceful smile to Shikamaru's gruntled expression and back to Ino's powerful glare,"Urm…No…"

"Hinata!" Shikamaru called out. But she shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

Hinata was shy but she was no doormat. Whatever Ino had on Hinata must be good, Shikamaru thought.

"I know you only have one class later so you can use your free morning to escort them around campus. Just a simple tour of the facilities and don't forget to put on a smile!" Ino poked his cheeks before pushing a file into his chest. "They should be at the gate soon!"

The other council members had taken the opportunity to leave. They knew better than to get in Ino's way. And before Shikamaru could protest, she turned around and shouted, "Naruto!"

The tanned blonde popped his head back into the room, "Yeah Ino? I wasn't asleep… my eyes were just tired from training…"

"We need your help with something…"

"You and Shikamaru?"

"No, no… Hinata and I seemed to have misplaced a few meeting minutes. If you could stay and help us remember what was discussed…"

Everyone knew Naruto wasn't the most attentive bulb in the room but he was the greatest help to everyone. That's what made him popular enough to be the President of the Student Council. The guy would never say no. He walked right in and leaned over Hinata's shoulder. "I'll see what I can remember…"

"Wonderful! In the meantime, I gotta catch up with Sakura. Toodles!" Ino said quickly, rushing out of the room.

Shikamaru could only look dumbly at the file Ino had jammed into his hand to focused Naruto and blushing Hinata trying to remember their last meeting. His moment had passed and he needed to go. Troublesome…