Fandom {1x1 || Our Ninja Way || Modern AU Naruto RP}

[AwkwardSilence]

The land has its large cities, and beautiful lush scenery, but what inhabits it more than the great Shinobi academies? Tested thoroughly, each student who walks through their respective Nation's school must fight in order to serve their country. Their generals are the same as yours or mine--math and sciences and the arts if you choose, but instead of focusing in other things, these students are all training to serve their civilians as ninjas. From regular every-day tasks like babysitting, and weeding gardens and picking up trash, to higher ranked missions like escorts, and assassinations, and even the hired defeat of different dangerous, and powerful Yakuza clans.​

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It seems a lot is in store for our ninjas! But they'll strive through every adversity and succeed in creating peace by becoming the best shinobi they can be! After all, that is their ninja way!​

 

[Iron Mouse]

The clouds were high in the cast infinite blue. Cirrus whisps drifting lazily in the morning sky, framed by the tree tops; green, yellow, white. The Sakura's were in bloom, petals flitting around, blanketing all in a mantle of pink. For a moment, one could almost call it peaceful.

"Get out of the road you damn kids!"
"You're not allowed on this road, jerk!"
Of course, peace was a relative term when you lived in the largest city in the world. "Can you believe that guy?!" Ino huffed dusting the imaginary particles from her skirt as the van sped down the street running the red light. Asuna gave her a dull look, "If you don't like this road we can always go another way," she said sipping from her juice box, not really paying any mind to the girl beside her. Ino raised a brow and gave her an incredulous look, peering from behind her blonde curtain of hair, "Really now, so how's about we take bus tomorrow?"

"I don't like the bus, there's never enough open seats."
Asuna's eyes wandered around, taking in the various 'back to school' advertisements that had long been due for removal, the large fonts and neon colours blended with the bright spring colours. "Fine, but we can catch the train from the North District!"
"I don't like the train, it's too crowded and we'd have to take the bus to the North District," dull eyes followed the road, crowds of people shuffled hastily to their destinations.
"A taxi then or an uber? Oh wait, you probably don't like them either! Too noisy for you Asu?"

"Hmm, figured that out by yourself, Ino?"
Ino huffed and crossed her arms as they crossed the road, "You don't like anything, you're so boring!" her hands motioned her annoyance, "This is why we can't have nice things!" her hands finally rested on her hips as her face twisted into a pout.
"If you don't like walking, then get your dad to take you. Don't make your problem mine," Asuna dismissed her with a wave of the empty juice box. The pout on Ino's face turned into a half heated scowl, "You're luckily I like you, or I'd leave you to walk to school alone like some loser with no friends!" she humphed, but was able to elicit a quiet chuckle from the green eyed girl.

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The school loomed like a colossal entity, reaching to the sky above. The main building compound was large, foreboding, with several smaller buildings surrounding it. The school crest prominently stood out against the plain white wall, easily seen from a distance as the spiral pattern was unmistakable, proudly proclaiming this to be the 'Konoha Academy'. It's meaning was bold and clear, this was the ninja training school. Often time it's teachings were taken out of context, it's entire premise and purpose unsettled those whose understanding of what it embodied was no further than the length of their noses. Phrases like 'Child Soldiers' and 'Dehumanizing the Youth' circled around in whispers, but this was not the case as an overwhelming majority understood just what it all stood for; peace, protection and the prosperity of the nation as a whole.

As he passed through the school gates, Sasuke glanced up noticing Naruto in his bright orange shirt, excitedly talking to someone. 'Great, just what I need,' he thought as the corners of his mouth tilted down ever so slightly. The blond was barely bearable on normal days, but his voice was slicing through the air, shrill and shrieking, it reminded him of the flock of girls that kept appearing wherever he went.

Quickly, he glanced behind him, making sure none of them were tailing him this early in the morning. Luckily, aside from the lofty trees crowding the gates and the usual line up of students pouring in, there was no sign of his so called 'fan club'. The last thing he needed was one of those rabid social zombies stalking him, throwing themselves down on the ground whenever his laces were loose or tackling each other to pick up anything he might have dropped accidentally. For extra measure, he glanced down, slight relief filling him as the laces seemed secure in their double knotted prison.

"Come on! We should totally have a movie night! Just us! I mean our team!" Naruto's voice rang out loud and clear.
"We're not having another movie night at your place!" the voice of course was that of Sakura and Sasuke had to hold back a groan as he approached them. Hopefully she wouldn't notice him.
"Oh! Sasuke! You're here!"
No, of course she'd notice him. He said nothing as the pink haired girl bounded up to him excitedly. "Good morning! How was your walk? You're usually not this late, is everything alright?"

"I'm fine. You don't have to ask me everyday day, it's annoying," he grumbled glancing down at her, "You two should be in class, not goofing off out here." He kept walking as Sakura quickly fell in step, leaving Naruto to catch up. "We were just waiting for you when Naruto started with his terrible idea for another movie night. If we were going to have one, it should at least be over at my house or we could have it at yours!" Despite her beaming smile and the slight red dusting her cheeks at the thought of having him over at her house, the raven haired boy was not swayed uttering a monotonous "Not interested," as they made their way to their assigned lockers.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Shikamaru was decidedly tired, but that was nothing new, considering he and Kiba usually stayed up late to play video games--if Kiba's mom didn't catch him on her way to work, that is, considering she had a nightshift at the vet clinic. Rubbing his eyes with a hand as he worked over a piece of toast he'd barely managed to get this morning, he began his walk to school leisurely. If he was late? He was late, but he managed to keep himself on a schedule that allowed him plenty of time in order to make it to school and do whatever he needed to before hand. There wasn't much to do that he hadn't done, however. He always finished his work in class so that he'd have the rest of forever to do whatever the hell he wanted, so that was nothing new as well.[/PINDENT}
The young Nara thought it was interesting, the fact that his father wanted him to graduate above his peers and apply for the ANBU already. Shikamaru wouldn't have admitted it to any of his classmates, not even his best bro Choji, but he had no desire to leave them behind. In fact, the mere thought caused a rancid sort of bile to rise up in the back of his throat. So what, the old man would yell at him some and then get called away to work until he forgot about it. He'd remember eventually, they'd have the same tiring conversation, and it'd repeat. It wasn't the worst way he could spend his time, but it did make him wonder what would happen if his father actually listened to what he wanted for once.
What did he want?
Shikamaru scoffed--he supposed he couldn't exactly answer that right now, and as his mother (always the contrarian) had always said, he had the rest of his life to figure it out. At least. he was hoping he did. Things had been relatively peaceful during his lifetime, although he had read plenty of historic records and archives of the accounts of the wars of ninja eras past, and more recently the subjugation of the beasts and monsters that appeared in their world. There was living proof in their school that those creatures existed, for certain individuals were carriers of said beasts, or others were simply part monster themselves. Demon? He was never quite certain on the terminology, as the books tended to use both. They weren't exactly supposed to be researching into them too deeply, but Shikamaru couldn't help but be curious when it came to things that were supposed to be forbidden. Call it a knack for trouble, but the Nara just couldn't keep his nose out of things that it wasn't supposed to get stuck in.
The walk to school was particularly boring, as per usual, but he saw a familiar face in his path, and a grin meandered its way onto his features as he raised a hand in greeting. Only getting a stiff nod in return, the noise of crunching potato chips greeted him as he approached, and before long he and Choji were heading toward the school side-by-side. "You should have seen the work Kiba and I were doing last night," Shikamaru grinned, placing his hands behind his head as he walked.
"Oh really? I'm not surprised," Choji mumbled between mouthfuls, swallowing to speak. "I mean with your plans, of course you clean up levels like their nothing." Grateful for the praise, Shikamaru merely shrugged, seeing no need to reply. He knew he was good.
They walked in the silence following--or relative silence, as Choji had a bottomless pit for a stomach and never stopped eating--making their way to school. As they neared the gates for the school grounds, Choji grunted, rolling his eyes prematurely. "Look, here comes trouble." Up ahead, sure enough, Ino and Asuna were heading their way from the opposite direction, until eventually both groups of two stopped in front of the school.
"Yo," Shikamaru greeted, once again raising his hand to halfheartedly wave at the girls before both of his hands were shoved in his pockets. "Morning. You're as loud and obnoxious as usual, Ino." She was so easy to tease, especially if that pretty boy, Sasuke, was around.

--------

Hanaru frowned halfheartedly into her locker, bristling slightly as her ears remained plastered forward, flattened against her head in a sad attempt to drown out most of the sound that was echoing around in the hallway. 'Humans are too damn noisy...' she thought, biting back a growl of annoyance at both the time of morning, and the boisterous noises of students going about their mornings. 'Too chipper... it's obnoxious.' Not that the female was a spiky ball of hate, but she sure could act like it, and actively did on most occassions just so that obnoxious people would leave her alone. She had decided, before she'd even arrived for her first day, that she was going to have a hard time adjusting...

She had been led into the Sandaime's office late in the evening, her hands cuffed with chakra-infused steel behind her as she growled at anyone who came to close. Her eyes narrowed at the surrounding world, eager to intimidate whoever she had to in order to get out of this mess. Greeted with a smiling face, she was rather confused. Unless, of course, he was about to wipe her off the face of the planet, then she supposed the smile made sense. She had been fleeing from ninja from the Land Hidden the Waves when she had crossed territories and borders, and was promptly apprehended by ninja from Land Hidden in the Leaves. Apparently border patrols were a thing they did regularly, though she shouldn't have been surprised. She was merely too exhausted to either fight back or continue running.
"What do you want, old man?' Her snarl had been rude, but she didn't care.
"I am a Kage, my dear demonic friend." he said after a few moments of antagonizing silence. "And the ninja of Konohagakure have been keeping a close eye on you. You're a wanted person, after all. Theft, treason... murder. These are just some of the things written in the ninja bingo book about you." His tone, though weathered with age, had not lost any of its sharp wit.
Turning her gaze to the window with a rather annoyed 'tch', the Third Hokage watched in amusement as her animal-like appendages revealed her emotions. "Half-demon, gramps. There's a big difference..." she muttered, her voice soft and different from how it had been previously. He had noticed early on how she had hid herself behind a seemingly-impenetrable wall of false-confidence and barbed words, and he remained silent as she almost spaced out for a couple moments, before bright golden eyes turned back to him as she growled slightly. "Sides'... anything I've ever done has been an act of self preservation. You know that."
The third hokage chuckled, though it was humorless. "Of course. Hanaru." There was more silence between them, and the half demon flicked her tail in annoyance. If he wasn't going to do or say anything relatively important, then why was she here? The Hokage broke the silence once more with a simple question, but one that caused her to stiffly look up at him in surprise. "You are a lost child, are you not?" he asked, a seriousness to his tone that he had yet to introduce to the conversation. His old and knowledgeable eyes looked over the young girl as she seemed to loose her bravado for a moment.
Her eyebrows rose at the question, a look of confusion flashing across her face, but it was gone just as quickly as it came. "Yeah, you're going to have to be a little more specific than that..." she mumbled, hiding her confusion with her first defense mechanism - annoyance.
"Stay here, in Konoha, Hanaru." he said suddenly, causing the purple-haired teen to practically stumble backwards in shock. "Too much of your life you have been living on the run, forced to grow up too quickly. Go to the school and become a shinobi of great notoriety, rather than infamy. Here, you would have a chance at a fresh start - a home."
Her heart a ached for those words to be true. It echoed with an emptiness that had always filled her until she thought she was drowning in the emotion. Looking down, she hid these conflicted thoughts from his as they reflected in her honey-colored orbs. She couldn't show weakness to anyone! But... was wanting a home so awful? A place where she could maybe try and be a normal teenager for once?
As much as she wished it to be true, her mind was sharp, and she knew she would never be accepted. "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks." she said, penetrating the silence with her resolve.
Third Hokage remained the same - almost as if he had been expecting it, and this continuously ticked her off. What did he know that she didn't? "Well, though I am thankful for you to think of Konoha's safety, this city is not in any danger by accepting another citizen. Besides, you are a wanted criminal. I had you brought as a guest, but if you were to refuse my offer and taken out as an enemy, well..." he trailed off, leaving her to imagine the rest as her eyes widened.
"Am I... am I being blackmailed into going to your dumb school?!" she asked, her voice coming out in a strangled fashion as she tried to comprehend just what was going on.
"More or less."
This... this couldn't be happening! Her brain worked overdrive to try and find a loophole - some way that would have her waltzing back into her life of solitude, but for the life of her, she couldn't do it. His plan was fool proof. Hanging her head in defeat, she growled. "I can't believe I'm doing this..."
"Good! I'm glad we've come to an agreement!" he grinned at her depressed form, the purplette falling to her knees in shock, knuckles pressing into the ground as she regretted every decision that brought her to her current state of being. "Granted, you can't be trusted with 100% freedom yet, and I will have you enrolled in our ninja academy - that way a jonin is looking over you at all times."
Her head snapped up. "What?!" Just what had she gotten herself into?

That had been at the height of summer, and now three months into fall, she was grateful to the old man. She didn't even feel quite the same level of bitterness that she had when she ahd been on her own (a small apartment and a warm bed had certainly sweetened the deal). Brought into the present by the sound of approaching voices, she slammed her locker shut, bookbag lazily slung over her shoulder. Her nose wrinkled in disdain. It was her squad, the group that she had been assigned with for the remainder of forever. Why did they all have to be so annoying? Deciding to voice her thoughts out loud, she looked to the three primary colors that made up her teammates and her amber eyes narrowed. "Could you be any louder, Sakura? I could hear you from down the hall." Her hardened gaze turned to their yellow haired knucklehead as he opened his mouth. "Not interested," she shut him down before he could even ask her anything.
"I was just gonna tell you 'Good Morning',,, meanie..." he mumbled under his breath, but it wasn't long before he was back to his usual self. "We need to have a movie night, c'mon! Kakashi sensei said we needed to work on our team dynamic!"
"Our team is dynamic. Shouldn't that be enough," the purple haired female noted, raising an eyebrow as her black fluffy cat tail flicked from side to side lazily.

 

[Iron Mouse]

"It's not our fault you keep getting in the way when we're on missions," Sasuke said pulling out the books he needed for the day, closing the thin metal door of the locker, "No amount of 'movie nights' is ever going to fix that." Naruto looked dejected as Sasuke and Hanaru both turned his idea down, "Aw, come on you guys! Let's just to something together!" he slumped forward bringing his hands together, his godfather wasn't there that week and he'd gotten somewhat bored being cooped up by himself. "We could always go swimming?" Sakura suggested and a very swift "No," followed before Naruto had a chance to get excited about the new prospect.

"You can do whatever you want, I have training after class anyway," Sasuke stopped beside Hanaru, leaning closer, his onyx eyes ablaze with a competitive fire, "Then I want a rematch." He adjusted his bag and made his way to homeroom. If he could have it his way, he'd have his rematch a lot sooner, but he was a model student so fighting in the middle of the hallway was a no go.
He remembered when Kakashi first brought the strange girl to their team training session. Their sensei seemed on guard and she was cocky and prickly as ever.

--------
"You're late again, sensei!"
"Oh, well, I had some business to tend to," Kakashi said not phased by the pink haired girl's outburst, "I want you all to meet Hanaru, she will be part of team 7 from today on." Curiously their eyes fell on the purple haired girl and introductions were soon underway with Naruto being the first to excitedly welcome her to the rag tag team. Sasuke felt a little annoyed, all the other teams already left for training while they had to wait around for their sensei to eventually show up only to throw yet another wannabe shinobi into their team. She probably didn't even know the basics of Chakra control!

"This is Sasuke, he's the coolest and really strong and-"
Sasuke cringed as Sakura took it upon herself to introduce him as he was lost in thought mulling over the situation and hadn't realized the other two had finished. "It doesn't matter, just stay out of my way. Unlike them, I actually take my training seriously and if you're going to be nothing but a nuisance you should find another team," he looked at her coldly. As it was, they all had their individual strengths and he knew the points he accumulated from class and single assignments were quite impressive, he was at the top of the class. The disappointment came with their report cards, their team points specifically, which affected their mission ranking...it was always in the red. They could be all be monstrous powerhouses or so smart quantum physics seemed like child's play, but if the team as a whole couldn't pull it together out on the field they'd stay stagnant, unable to rank up.

"Sasuke! You can't say that, it's rude!" Naruto chastised and profusely apologized to Hanaru who seemed to resemble a cactus in nature.
"This isn't a daycare, if she's not going to pull her weight then she shouldn't be here," Sasuke scoffed heading towards their designated training area. He wanted to get better, he needed to get better, or he'd never be able to crawl out of Itachi's shadow. He didn't know it at first, but Hanaru wasn't just another annoying fan girl, as he made her out to be. Within an hour after starting training he was gritting his teeth. Halfway through he was cursing under his breath. "Again!" he demanded through pants, sweat streaming rivers down his face. His hands were trembling as the adrenalin still coursed through him. Training had ended quite a while ago and it had been one, if not the most, intense session he'd ever endured, with Hanaru showing him up at every twist and turn. "Sasuke, we have to go," Itachi had come looking for him, but he wasn't ready to quit yet! His brother was watching afterall! But at the end of the day, defeat was hard pill to swallow.
--------


"What's his problem?" Naruto huffed as Sasuke disappeared down the tiled hall, before turning back to Hanaru with a wide smile on his face, "So you sure you don't want to reconsider coming over and watching a movie or two? We can go swimming afterwards," he wasn't going to give up easily. "Pretty please?" he slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer, "It'll be fun, I promise!"

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"Well good morning to you too, up late playing games again? Lack of sleep is terrible for your complexion, you know," Ino glared at Shikamaru before fully turning to Choji as he ate, "And I see your diet is as healthy as ever!" It seemed like no one was going to be safe from her today, maybe they should have just taken the bus. Choji paused as she placed her hands on her hips, a sign of the inevitable Wrath-of-Ino, "Had a bad night?" he offered as they ventured through the gates, "My night was fine, thank you for asking," Ino looked around, visibly deflating when she didn't see what -or who- she was looking for, "Asu-chan has just been a pain in the ass all morning."

Choji looked at the sandy blonde next to Ino, "Oh yeah? What did you do this time?" a bemused smile took over his face, "I don't want to deal with public transport in the mornings just so Ino can see a certain someone before class starts." Asuna watched as Ino huffed and started walking faster and she smiled knowing she was right. "I'd say you look tired, Shikamaru, but then again, you always look like that," as she spoke the first bell chimed. The first and final warning to any stragglers that they had to hurry to class. "Shika just told me how he and Kiba were slaying it last night," Choji rather proudly stated as he kept his pace at a leisurely stroll, "Oh yeah? Sounds like fun," a soft ping caught Asuna's attention, "I hear they put together teams for that these days, games I mean, and play tournaments. Maybe you should try it out sometime," she took her phone from her pocket, her brow furrowing slightly as Ino quickly added "If only you'd put that much effort into your ninja work, you'd be excelling much faster than your lazy ass is right now!"

Asuna had tuned out the conversation as she skimmed over the message again and again, not realizing she'd stopped walking. Her family owned a small shop that had been around for its third generation now. She never wanted to work there as a kid, but with her father taking extended business trips and her grandmother being too old to man the shop on her own, she'd been forced into the position of taking charge of it. Forced, though, was a strong word, Asuna felt like it was her responsibility to step up after her mother became sick, even if the impact it had on her school and personal life wasn't always the best. Seeing the message from her father, she expected it to be something silly, or an update of the next delivery or even just her old man ditching for a few days on some 'emergency' business trip. Her fingers tightened around the device, the words seemed to be jumping around the more she stared at them trying focused on trying to come to terms with the short, hastily written message:

'Mom's not doing so good, going to visit hospital.'

So fixated on the words on the screen, Asuna had a bit of a start as a hand appeared in front of her face, waving slightly, pulling her back to reality and she quickly clasped her phone to her chest. "What? What is it?" her tone was harsher than she had intended it to be. "We've been talking to you and you're just ignoring us. Is there someone you're not telling us about?" Ino gave her a cat like grin and raised her eyebrows suggestively, but her unwitting choice of words at that exact moment had put the sandy blonde off, "Don't be stupid!" she snapped shoving her phone into her pocket, surprising the trio with the sudden mood shift. She'd even managed to surprise herself, not sure where that voice had come from and her expression softened from it's hard scowl as she looked at them, "Let's get to class before Iruka gives us heat for being late again," with that she pushed past Ino and quickly disappeared into the building. Approaching her locker, she took a moment to breathe and collect her thoughts. Her mother had been in the hospital for the past two years now, but she'd seen her just two nights ago and she was actually moving around the room for a change. Deciding she was fine with her father there and that there was nothing she could do about it now, she pulled her books from the locker and stuffed them into her bag.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Hanaru snorted at Sasuke's words, her first inclination being to ignore the Uchiha prodigy, but somehow she couldn't help but let out a snicker. Something about the kicked puppy look on Naruto was cute, and it made her laugh. "No thanks, as much as you suggest it I'm fairly confident my answer won't change," she chided, trying to dissuade him from asking her, after all... it wasn't like she wanted to spend more time with them than she already did. No need to get attached. Not when she didn't know what her future was going to be like, anyway. As her thoughts got ahead of her, she blinked as Sasuke stopped beside her after all of their arguing.
The purple haired half demon couldn't help but grin at Sasuke's challenge, a smile that betrayed her willingness to fight. When they had first been introduced, Sasuke had been cocky. Of course, Hanaru has soon come to learn that there were few within the school of Konoha that could match Sasuke in their age group; he was the best they had. But Hanaru had grown up on the streets, as cliche or lame as that sounded. She grew up fighting, every scrap and incident a conquest to be won, otherwise to lose meant losing your life. Of course, they didn't need to know that, but she was more than willing to show him his place. If there ever was a cockier bastard (and quite literally, in this case) than Sasuke Uchiha, it was Hanaru Ikama. She wore her pride as a defense mechanism to keep others away, and it was a hide that was covered in thorns.
"Sure, all you gotta do is ask, and I'll be more than happy to kick your ass again," she grinned, raising an eyebrow as her challenging smirk refused to leave her face.
"Watch how you talk to Sasuke!" Sakura immediately growled. If she was an animal, Hanaru would have been able to see her fur bristling.
"He's a big boy, he can talk for himself, Sakura," Hanaru shot her a pointed glare and there was a moment of staring, or really... a glaring contest between the two females. From the moment Sasuke was beaten by the purplette, Sakura had decided that she didn't like her--not just because she beat 'her Sasuke,' but also because he actually bothered to converse with her. 'It's not like he's pining after me or anything--he just wants to beat me into the dirt and be back on top again,' Hanaru lamented, having thought (misguidedly so) for once that she had done nothing to incur the pink-haired female's wrath except merely exist.
"He's just annoyed that he's not on my level," Hanaru boasted proudly, sharpened canines peeking out from her slightly curled lip. "Spoiled brat..." she muttered under her breath. He'd lived a comfortable life--it's about time someone showed him that life wasn't fair, and if that person had to be her, well then so be it. Fighting and chakra control was about the only thing Hanaru had on him (along with her demonic strength and speed), but it wasn't like she was going to let him know. So far she'd been busy cramming after school in her apartment, hand signs and chakra studies. Not to mention the other classes that she had to catch up on as well. Oh, and did she mention it took her forever to read? Hanaru had never attended school, so her basic skills (including people skills) were grossly below what they should be. She could fight tooth and nail with some of the worst scum of the underworld, but if you gave her some arithmetic and a passage to memorize, she'd be pulling all nighters until she couldn't stand on her feet anymore. Thank whoever was listening that her mother had taught her reading and writing basics before... Hanaru cut off that unsavory train of thought.
As Naruto's cheeky grin returned, Hanaru found her eyes rolling, an indignant sigh upon her lips. "No, no matter how many times you ask." She shot him a glare as he pulled her closer, a snarl on her lips at the close contact. "Ew, no, swimming is a necessity if you fall in water, NOT something to be done recreationally." As she spoke she began to walk, her strength showing mildly as she walked seemingly unhindered as Naruto clung to her.
"C'mon, please??" he whined, but she merely shook her head, dragging him along with her after Sasuke and Sakura so that they could attend their homeroom class.

------------

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as Ino opened her mouth to speak--how did he ever get stuck on a team with such a troublesome woman? He mocked her mini-speech, mouthing along with her words as Choji couldn't contain his snorts between mouthfuls of chips. The two shared a snicker as it only seemed to further enrage the blonde haired kunoichi.
"Ugh, you two are unbelievable! At least Asuna isn't a slacker, otherwise I'd say I was stuck on a team of morons!" She growled, crossing her arms under her chest as her piercing blue eyes attempted to bore holes into both of the boys' heads. "That stupid billboard brow--I think I could handle Naruto if I was at least with my beloved Sasuke...~!" Somehow she had managed to go this long without speaking about the onyx haired male, and Shikamaru sighed as he rolled his eyes. Thankfully, Asuna was one of the rare few (he was pretty sure that he could count them on one hand) girls who weren't a part of Sasuke's fanclub. He didn't see what they saw in him. Sure he had good looks, but his personality sucked. Shikamaru wasn't one to talk necessarily, but Sasuke gave everyone, even the teachers he didn't respect, the cold shoulder. How was that in any way attractive?
Stuck up, is what it was.
When Choji started hyping up his skills and strategies, the pineapple-haired male rolled his eyes, playing it off despite how much his cheeks seemed to heat up at the praise. "Eh, it's nothing really. Most of those games are just super easy," he shrugged indifferently. "Either that or the people playing it are stupid." He turned to grin at Choji next. "You should join us next time--if we have at least three we can start doing ranked. I have a clear strat to pull us to platinum in no time." Of course Ino was groaning and lamenting about how if only he put this much effort into his training or his schoolwork, but Shikamaru just ignored her (it was becoming a second nature to ignore Ino anyway). His ears perked up at Asuna's observation, and he watched her check her phone curiously. "Tournaments, huh...? That would require pulling together a team, signing up, and playing under pressure in front of a crowd... great idea in theory, but in practice it sounds like such a drag."
"That is your favorite word, isn't it?" Ino sneered, before letting it go with a sigh. "I can't believe I have to deal with you people sometimes. At least Asuna and I are the sane ones--we'll surpass you both by miles at this point, right Asuna?" The blonde turned to look to her friend as she stood looking at her phone. She was clearly getting a little bit annoyed by the lack of backup from the sandy haired female, much less any response at all.
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he looked to their teammate, noting certain things within her body language instantly that set off warnign bells in his head. Firstly, there was the way her shins were tensing up--in fact her whole posture had gone rigid and a little hunched. Secondly, she was clutching onto her phone like it was a lifeline. The Nara was mildly surprised that it's plastic coating and glass screen didn't crack at her death-like grip, and he felt on edge as she snapped. Sure, Ino was good at getting under all of their skins, but Asuna usually let it roll off of her like water off a duck's back. To hear her snap like that was rather strange, and Shikamaru couldn't help but look a bit lost as Asuna stomped towards the school, leaving them all waiting outside.
"Uh..." there was a silence between the group, Choji even pausing his chip eating in order to freeze and try to decipher what just happened. "I suppose she's right, let's just hurry up."
As they walked inside the building and towards their lockers, Shikamaru spotted Asuna getting her stuff out, her movements still stiff and irritated. 'Guess I should probably say something?? I feel like no matter what, I'm going to get yelled at,' he sighed, but didn't see much of a choice. He spent a lot of his time near her home, and he knew that she ran the little Curio shop her family had owned since like... forever. He also knew, via confession when they were younger, that she really didn't want to be stuck manning the shop as it wasn't something she was interested in. Maybe it was something to do with that? He couldn't be too sure. "Hey, Asuna," he called out, getting his own books from his locker, which was adjacent to hers. "You alright?" He didn't know what to say that might not offend her more, especially when she didn't seem to want to share what was going on with the rest of them. "Look, you know Ino didn't mean it. She's too nosy for her own good. She may be troublesome, but you should cut her a break. Clearly something's eating you, and if you don't want to share, we get it. Just, ah... try not to take our heads off, 'kay?" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Man, this sucked. He was really bad at talking to girls--much less ones that were pissed off or upset about something. "Let's just get to class like you said."

 

[Iron Mouse]

The silent stare fixated on Shikamaru slightly softened as Asuna let out a deep sigh, "It's fine," she said avoiding eye contact. Guilt was twisting around her insides, gnawing at her heart, and so, she started biting the inside of her cheek. "Things are just..." she stopped, the words seemed to have disappeared and her tongue felt heavy. 'It use to be easier,' she thought irritatedly, finding it hard to confide in her once childhood friend. In the short transition between preschool and elementary school, their once almost sibling-esque friendship quickly drifted off into the roaring sea of unknowing. Asuna knew it was of her own doing; once 'self image' started playing a part in the way they were seen and her closeness to the pineapple-haired boy opened a new door for playful teasing...well, her younger self quickly put some distance between them. Within months sleepovers became a thing of the past, reaching for his hand when walking together stopped within hours and she started playing more with the girls. Now though, none of that self sought image among peers mattered. She couldn't care less what others thought of her as her hands were full of enough things she deemed more important, things that actually mattered. Asuna hated herself a little for it, making friends became harder the older she got and sometimes, on the rare occasion when she had some free time, she actually missed the close familiarity of someone that wasn't her family.

Eyes meeting, she half heartedly huffed, "I hate it when you look at me like that." The bite in her tone had diminished somewhat, "It's like you're trying to look through my soul and find the answer to life, the universe and everything...you know it's 42," her half assed attempt at a joke didn't make her feel any better though, "Look, I um," she quietly said as the homeroom class grew closer. The thick wooden door frame contrasted against the pristine walls, mirroring the inner struggle Asuna was faced with. She already decided to go home during lunch break; her father either closed up shop or worse, he left gran in charge and not knowing was driving her up the walls. Deciding whether to deflect or come clean to Shikamaru though was a struggle all on it's own. "Ino wasn't wrong," carefully, quietly, she chose her words, "It's just...not in that context." There was no going back now, "My old lady, she relapsed," her eyes wouldn't leave the floor, trying to find patterns in the slight off coloured splotches, "Again." It was hard, Asuna hated talking about problems like this. Other people's problems were their own business and if it didn't affect directly her then she didn't care. It sounded mean, but just as she didn't like taking on other people's problems, she didn't like talking about hers. It wasn't Shikamaru's business to know, it was no one's but her own. It didn't affect him and there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it. "I'm dodging during lunch break."

It was hard. It made the problem seem even more tangible. What she hated most, was the vulnerable feeling that followed, but it was tied with her dislike of way people would often react by wanting to shower her with attention and affection as if she was a fragile piece of porcelain ready to break at the slightest touch. "Don't squeal on me," she put on her best angry face trying to hide the swell of emotion that she's always been able to suppress down into the darkest regions of her being.

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​

'You're such a brat,' Sasuke thought to himself, a quirk on his brow and a deep frown pulling at his mouth. While his irked thoughts projected mostly on Naruto, who he could still hear behind him practically begging Hanaru to hang out after school, they originated with the purplette. 'So damn full of herself, this time, this time I'll show her not to underestimate me,' he looked over his shoulder watching for a moment as Naruto clung to the woman like a koala while she walked behind them. "Tch," his head snapped forward, those two were so infuriating! They were immature, reckless, there was just something about their mere presence that ticked him off. "Don't worry, Sasuke, I know you'll beat her this time!" Sakura beamed up at him. He'd forgotten she was even there, "Whatever," he said rather coldly making the pinkette pout slightly and he walked faster, entering the class and making his way to his seat.

'This time, for sure,' he thought leaning back in his chair. He'd been practicing his firestyle with his brother all week, and he ended up pushing himself each night long after Itachi had turned in. The training ground on the Uchiha compound was left scorched, and yes, his father might have given him a harsh scolding for being so destructive, but the improvement on his fire release was also acknowledged and somewhat praised. It felt good. All he could see was his victory playing over and over again in his head, reclaiming his crown as top of the class, even after the rest of the students filled the classroom, including Naruto who looked like he had suffered a light beating and sparing him a glace there was no question who had done it.

"Good morning, students, let's get to our seats," Iruka called "Let's not crowd the hallway!"
The chair squeaked slightly under Sasuke's weight as he sat forward, the sooner they got the morning announcements the sooner the day would go by. His impatiens showed as he started tapping his foot to an unknown rhythm, his dark eyes scanned the room, there were a few seats open still, but were soon filled by Ino and her team, 'Tch, no surprise.' She was almost as bad as Sakura if not worse and her team in general had this loafing feel about it. Granted, he'd never really fought with them and he didn't really care to socialize with them either. While Shikamaru was smart, and his father well respected, he clearly had no motivation to be here and the other two, Fatso and that girl that came to school in pajamas on several occasion, well, they were below his social standing.

"Alright, that looks like everyone! We don't have much in the way of announcements today, but I do have some assignments to hand out."
A chorus of collective groans filled the room as whatever plans people had made for the weekend would be thrown out the window. It didn't really bother the black haired man, the more assignments the better his application will look when it came to missions.
"Psst! Hey!" Sasuke rolled his eyes as he heard Naruto failing miserably at trying to be discreet. "Hana-chan! Come have lunch with us! You're always hiding and I want to show you this really cool trick!" Naruto whispered loudly as Hanaru was seated quite far from him, which only made the Uchiha facepalm at his complete indiscretion, "Why don't you wait till class is over before getting a lunch date?" he whispered sarcastically, glaring between the two.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Shikamaru waited for her to say something--anything that would tell him exactly was going on. Shikamaru may have been smart, but he wasn't a psychic. He wouldn't know anything unless she bothered to actually speak to him about her problems for once. He wasn't a fool. He knew that they hadn't exactly shared the same closeness that they had as kids. It was only fair, then, in this regard that the he remember such a time where hands were held, secrets were told in strict confidence,, and friends were like family. Even if it was a long time ago. Although he'd never admit it, the Nara teen hated to see her so upset--it certainly was odd. And it made him feel... weird. Gross. Like he should have been able to do something for her, and yet he wasn't.
"Like what," he questioned, raising an eyebrow at Asuna, though she was quick to clarify. He snorted, out of pity of course, for her poorly attempted joke, but he listened intently. After all, he could tell that she was building up to spilling her guts, and he wanted to make sure he prepared himself for either trivial or earth shattering, and he only hoped, for Asuna's sake, that it was the former. He sucked in his breath with distaste at the truth, an uncomfortable lump in his throat. He had liked Asuna's mom. She was nice, from what he remembered, but then again... it had been a long time since they'd actually hung out at Asuna's or his place properly. He grimaced at the news, ducking his head as he thought about his words quite carefully. No need to step all over an already-painful experience.
"I-..." he sighed, rubbing his hand through his tightly pulled ponytail. "I'm sorry, 'Suna." His words were sincere, though he knew that's not what she wanted to hear. They could sound so empty to the person in pain, regardless of the intent behind the speaker's words. "It's been a few times now, huh." He didn't want to give her false hope. He was far too rational a thinker for that, and he bit his lip, unsure of what to say until she mentioned skipping.
"There's no possible way I could snitch on you," he walked behind her, pushing her towards homeroom as he leaned in closer to the sandy blonde's ear. "After all, I can't speak if I'm not here either." He pulled back. "I'll watch the shop with you. It's just review and getting our exams back today--we won't be missed. I bet if you asked nicely, I'd pick up your favorite from Ichiraku's," he dangled the prospect in her face, although they both knew that he would do so whether she actually asked him to or not. He'd long since had her order memorized, alongside some of their friends (specifically hers, but Choji, Kiba, Shino, and everyone knew Naruto's). He perked up at Iruka's call for them all to hurry up and get into the background. "I'll distract anything we need to in order to slip out, so don't bother going to lunch."
"What are you two scheming?" Ino snubbed them as she pressed between them in order to get into the classroom, her gaze immediately settling on a certain onyx haired male as she walked in, sitting in her place directly behind Sasuke, forcing the group to sit around her. As Iruka handed out their tests, Shikamaru looked at his with an internal groan. A red 'see me after class' written at the bottom of the page. He had a perfect 90, in his eyes. He didn't want to be getting the top scores in class, so he carefully calculated the grade average he'd need to coast by in the top 10%. Iruka wasn't an idiot, and he had probably caught onto his plan. Well, no matter--he wasn't going to talk to Iruka today. Not if he was skipping. He'd have to come into school early tomorrow to make up for it. 'What a drag...' he groaned internally.

------

Hanaru's tail swept behind her haphazardly as they walked into the classroom. She barely would have noticed Naruto's weight if she wasn't painfully aware of his nagging voice in her ear as she walked to their seats. Required to sit by the team, Hanaru's seat was sandwiched between Sakura and Naruto, Sasuke himself having stolen the window seat. Usually, if she was earlier than him, she'd take it for herself and stick her tongue out at the onyx haired male. She loved to get under his skin, she found. It was amusing, to see him all riled up in comparison to when he usually liked to act so cool and confident.
It was quite fascinating to watch Sasuke's limited range of emotions--in fact, the purplette was more than positive that she had never seen him smile. Of course, that cocky smirk appeared on his face every now and again, but that wasn't the same as a true smile. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of one from herself either. At this point it was like an unspoken game--one that she was determined to win. Sitting down, Naruto (thankfully) letting go of her before she could wack him off, the female sighed and leaned forward, steeling herself to listen to Iruka's droning for another couple of hours. What between the whole straining to read the board and struggling to focus with how antsy she got, the half demon was not excited for school. In fact, she much preferred their missions with Kakashi--at least he was interesting.
Naruto's whispering had her black ears flicking on top of her head, but she otherwise didn't turn her head or acknowledge his words. Naruto was a jinchuuriki, so she supposed she hadn't been surprised that he had felt some form of kinship with her (at least, that's what she had merely assumed it was?). "Not now," she growled under her breath. She could at least try to pay attention--then maybe her grades wouldn't suck so horribly. She wanted to make sure, if nothing else, that she was showing the Sandaime that she was capable of catching up to the class, and also surpassing them in every aspect. He took a chance on her, and even though she struggled expressing her thankfulness, she wanted to make sure it showed in her actions.
Hanaru's lips pulled back into a canine snarl as she looked at Sasuke, before it melted into a teasing smirk. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you jealous that I respect Naruto more than you?" She turned to the blonde haired knucklehead, forcing a purr through her throat. "Y'know what Naruto? Sure, it's a date."
"Sasuke! Hanaru!" Iruka called from the front of the classroom, and the purplette turned calmly, her amber orbs glinting slightly. "I trust your conversation has its merits, but try to pay attention in class please." At least he didn't make them stay after class or something. That would have been dumb AND cliche.

 

[Iron Mouse]

Outwardly, Sasuke tried to appear calm, but getting outed by Iruka instead of Naruto, who was at least ten times louder than he was, was irksome and glimpses of it showed as as his shoulders tensed and he crossed his arms, snapping his head towards the window. He wasn't the one in the wrong, it was those two! They were the ones causing a racket and he got the heat for it! He glared hard at the poor old tree in the middle of the school yard, as if it was the band of his existence. What tickled his mood even more, was seeing Naruto's pink ears as he excitedly squirmed in his seat, 'She's doing it on purpose,' he thought angrily as he knew Naruto would start boasting about his 'date' the moment Iruka turned to the board. 'Why do I let her get to me like this?!' he scolded himself mentally as their test results circled around. He glanced down and smirked, 'Perfect, as expected,' it lifted his mood ever so slightly knowing he was still, in someway, maintaining his crown as one of the top students.

Glancing sideways he stole a peek at at the putplette's paper and his chest swelled with pride. His marks being higher from the quick glance he stole. His mood got even better. 'What a slacker,' his hubris was starting to show its head, a quick mental note was made to ask her about her grade, just so he could hear her say it. That would just about make his day. "How did you do? I bet you have top scores again!" came the voice of Ino behind him. Right, he'd forgotten that his self proclaimed fanclub boxed him in today, "What do you expect?" he couldn't help it, the small trivial little victory was still a victory nonetheless and he was going to savour it. Having been somewhat soothed, he eased back into a more relaxed position, but never dropping his guard fully. Quiet whispers broke out moving in rippling waves through the class as everyone was either mumbling about their marks or comparing them. Getting into the top three spots was hard work, Sasuke spend long nights studying and even attended cram school in the evenings, and the euphoric prideful feeling in his chest made it all the more worth it as he'd get to take those good marks home to his father.

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Asuna looked down at her paper; red, black, blue and orange scratches made it look like some bloody battle had taken place. 'Damn, just barely scraped by,' she thought staring blankly down at the multi coloured marks. Her pens kept running out of ink that day, and she only showed up long enough to take the test and then rushed through it as fast as she could before heading back home and it showed as the word 'illegible' kept appearing over and over on the paper. She didn't have the best handwriting in class, she couldn't help but agree with Iruka as even she was having a hard time making out what she had written. She was almost convinced that the entire second half looked like one of her dad's dumb stories instead of general history or, that was an attempt at drawing Gai-sensei as an octopus. A solid 42 with remarks like 'What happened?', though she didn't bother to read the rest of them. While much lower than her last results at least she hadn't dipped low enough to warrant another awkward parent-teacher meeting. The last one was a nightmare as her father wasn't there and her grandmother couldn't decide if Iruka was there to rob them or fix the plumbing of the swimming pool...not that they even had one to begin with.

Chewing on the back of her pen, Asuna planned her escape route, avoiding the main lunch spots where most people would be gathering. Dull eyes wandered over to Shikamaru, 'Probably did good,' the thought crept into her mind, followed by a knot of guilt in her stomach. He was going to miss out on classes because she just had to open her mouth. On the other hand, it had been a while since she last had a hot bowl of ramen, but was he just doing this out of pity? Did he want something? Was this just a convenient cover up to go goof off? 'Ugh, no. Stop overthinking. He's a big boy and can do whatever he wants,' she chastised herself, banishing the feeling back with the rest them. She needed to get her act together or she'd end up a drop out. Scanning the room everyone was either pleased with their papers, or looked like they were ready to jump out of the window, but then there was Sasuke, the resident peacock. Asuna didn't like him, but she also didn't hate him, he was just one of those people that were there, somewhere in the crowd that blurred by in her day to day, or he would be if Ino wasn't so hung up on him.

"From your faces I can tell that some of you aren't too pleased with your results," Iruka started as he finished his round, "It's imperative that you take these assessments seriously! Your futures will depend on it eventually!" it was the same speech, everytime. Most of the students could recite off by heart, and soon he started going into each question and answer in depth.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Yeah, as if some dumb score was going to affect her future as much as Iruka said it would. Hanaru was barely literate, and it showed on all the red that had marked up her paper. She sighed, having known the outcome before she even got the paper. Why didn't studying and things like that come as easy as fighting did? She had her natural instincts, and flew by the seat of her pants, following whatever her gut was telling her, but that couldn't possibly be applicable to these tests and assignments. Not in the same way it was for fighting, anyway. She kept a neutral face but inside she was seething. It was just so damn frustrating!
She couldn't help her situation growing up, but she refused to seek help. Imagine if Sasuke had found out about her predicament? 'Oh hey Sasuke, not only can I kick your butt but I have the literary competency of a 5th grader.' That wasn't going to go over well on any regards. Besides, she didn't want these classmates of hers finding out about her past. Some of them she doubted would ever do well in real combat scenarios. She didn't even want to admit to herself that she was concerned about softies like Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata getting ripped to absolute shreds in a tense situation. Some things were better left alone and unsaid, and as long as Kakashi didn't slip up about her secret just to spite her, then she supposed she would be alright. She was most concerned about the bigger jobs they'd be doing eventually... if a criminal were to recognize her from their bingo book, what was she supposed to do...?
Hearing Sasuke gloat over his scores caused a small groan to be muttered under her breath, silently complaining about his stupid duck-butt hair and everything that had to do with him. Iruka sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose--his class was certainly something else. He'd been their homeroom teacher for as long as he could remember--they did this in order to build relationships and trust, as well as so that he could understand each student and help them best in any way that he could. That being said, they had a few troublemakers among their ranks. Not only that, btu he had been rather wary to hear a wanted criminal was joining, but Hanaru, as instructed by the Sandaime, could be trusted, and who was Iruka to deny direct orders? "Some of you will need to bring up your exams scores if you want to go on higher level missions with your senseis. Just note this for the next test. Since a few of you scored highly, it's been curved, but the next one is going to be even harder, and you're stuck with the grade you get, so you'd better be prepared!"
Lame, whatever. It didn't matter. Hanaru considered herself a machine--if you gave her orders, she would carry them out, and that's all she knew she needed to do. "Hana-chan!" Naruto spoke up, his voice nervous and she sighed, looking over to the young shinobi-in-training. "I-I think, if you wanted, we could compare notes or something...?" Why notes? Hanaru had never taken notes in class.
"Not interested, thanks tho." She shook her head, offering him a small smile, but it was gone just as quickly as it appeared--as if it hadn't existed at all. "Let's just try to get through till lunch, then I guess you can show me what you wanted to show me?" He nodded, momentarily upset that she had shot down another one of his attempts at making friends with the prickly young woman, but immediately his spirits were raised at the prospect of their 'date'. Her gaze slid over to Sasuke, and when she saw him giving her a smug side-eye, all she could do was offer him a blank, emotionless face, and offer him her middle finger. Despite her politeness in the rude gesture, Sasuke's fangirls bristled behind him and she couldn't help but snicker. Riling that group up was always too easy.

-------

Shikamaru didn't make a habit of looking at the test scores of those around him--that felt sleazy and he really didn't care what they all got, so long as he was coasting right where he needed to be like he'd planned. That being said, it was very hard to ignore the brilliant and ever shifting explosion of color and... was that Gai sensei? that appeared on Asuna's paper. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he found he had to strain to read certain phrases, and some of it, like Iruka's corrections had pointed out, were simply unintelligible. A wave of sympathy washed over him, and he sighed, turning his gaze forward so as to not having been caught looking at her grade. 42 wasn't great. In fact, it was barely average, and she was capable of so much more. He just knew her strained family situation (what with the shop and her always rushing home at add hours to take over) was the cause of it all.
'If anyone deserves a day off out of any of us here, it's definitely her...' Shikamaru sighed internally, his lazy gaze somehow winding back up onto Asuna's features. It was weird, growing up with this entire class (save for a certain cactus)--he certainly remembered days where it wasn't all training and intense life-or-death questions on their quizzes, but that seemed like a long time ago. Everyone also looked older, more mature regardless of their actual maturity, and even though he knew this, it was hard to see around them. Take the young woman beside him, for example. Asuna's features were reminiscent of the little girl he used to play with but they had a more mature air and quality to them that was hard to describe simply because it was hard to pinpoint a time when the classification of who she was in his mind had switched from 'girl' to 'woman'.
That was true of everyone, not just her! He scowled internally--so why did it only seem to him that he noticed Asuna's transformation? He would ponder this at a later date, as Iruka began talking once again, lecturing about the test questions that were frequently answered incorrectly and he sighed, moving to lean back in his seat, his hands behind his neck as he did his best not to fall asleep in class... again. There wasn't much to concern himself with--the row in front of them was noisy, but that was to be expected considering Sasuke was there, and Naruto and Sakura were both loud no matter what. He didn't know Hanaru too well but he didn't care to get to know her either. They had shared the occasional nod, so at least there was some room for respect, but no matter.
The lecture seemed to go on forever, try-hards and teacher's pets like Sakura and Ino asking too many questions for them to actually learn anything interesting. If they wanted to ask questions out loud just to show how smart they were, let them. Shikamaru was unperturbed and at least it kept Iruka from assigning them anymore homework than he already had. Thankfully, the bell had chimed for lunch period just as the pineapple haired teen was starting to nod off, and so he sat up straight and gathered his backpack, turning towards Asuna. "Alright, if you take the south entrance and I take the east entrance, I'll meet you at your place in 15 minutes with food," he whispered, strategist under his breath as he waited for her nod of confirmation. "Ready... set..." he didn't even bother to say 'go', waving 'bye' to Choji and Ino as he casually walked, and yet at a quicker pace, to the the door of the classroom, backpack shouldered as he ignored going to his locker, breaking off from the herd headed toward the dining hall in favor of slipping down a hallway and making for the east entrance like he promised.

 

[Iron Mouse]

The students were up and on the move the moment the bell chimed regardless of whether Irkua was finished or not, "I'll see you all tomorrow, and don't forget to do your homework!" he tried to call as everyone hurried out. "Shikamaru!" He called out, seeing the boy grab his bag and make for the door in the back of the class, "Shikamaru Nara!" he hurried after him, barely catching the teen before he was able to disappear into the crowd. With a firm hand on his shoulder, and a stern voice he pulled the boy back into class, "Did you forget? I wanted to have a word with you about your test score." Something flashed across the boy's face and he seemed to go rigid. Iruka brushed it off as him probably wanting to get to lunch with his friends, "It won't be too long, you'll have plenty of time for lunch, " he assured waiting for the rest of the class to leave before sliding the door closed. "Have a seat, the dining hall isn't going anywhere and I'm sure Choji will save you a seat," he offered the young man a smile before pulling out some papers, "I've been receiving a lot of complaints about you sleeping through lectures from other teachers," he started, his tone turning serious, "But you still somehow seem to pull through with each exam. I know you can do better, so why don't you? You have so much potential," Iruka was curious and slightly concerned, from what Asuma had told him, the boy had a high IQ, but looking at his average scores one wouldn't think that at all. "Is something bothering you?" it was hard not to notice the glancing look towards the door, his stiff posture, the slight increased grip on the straps of his bag.

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Asuna weaved through the sea of people with ease. She was plain, she didn't really stand out and after doing this for so long it had almost become a second nature as she slipped through the side door and made a beeline to the gate. Her slow leisurely pace turned into a brisk speed walk, her eyes kept glancing around, scanning the every other face in the crowd in case one of the teachers were on to her. Not that they could stop her really.

Her walk went by mostly uninterrupted and she could soon see her home. It was hard to miss as it was one of the oldest buildings on the block. Most stores had renovated over the years to adapt to the 'new age' look, but the Shuffle of Things still had its original faded paint. The sign above the door being it's oldest feature, with each new owner a new name was carved in below the last. Each name was as strange as the next, a small tradition that had started as a way to keep things interesting. If the time ever came and the torch was passed on to her, she already had a name in mind and she knew her great grandfather would rise from his grave and haunt her to the end of her days when she carved 'Get your shit and get out' into the sign. Good thing he was cremated. Wait, no, she didn't want the torch to be passed on to her, why would she worry about a dumb name?

Her brow quirked in irritation as she approached the front door, sitting there was a small gray cat, it was hopping around, chasing some invisible spec of dust. It had come around about a week ago, and despite her warnings and protests, her father fed the thing and it's been showing up every day since then. It's not like she disliked animals, but she didn't have the time to look after it and she knew that the cat would just become another one of her responsibilities. She'd thought about taking it in, it was still just a kitten, but the idea of having a living thing rely on you physically and emotionally for love and attention like that... it was a scary thought. What if she was no good, always too busy with never enough time to give it the attention it needed and it ran away or worse.
"CAT!" she barked out in the hopes of scaring it, but it just tilted its small gray head, "Mew?" Ugh, why was it so cute? The cat didn't seem phased as it went back to playing.

Asuna roller her eyes, stepping up to the door, the 'closed' sign was hanging in the window and from the looks of it, the two advertising boards were just shoved haphazardly into the shop. Trying the door, an exasperated sigh heaved out of her chest, the damn door wasn't locked. "Meow," the cat was all over her feet, waiting to be let in, clearly not understanding the glare it was receiving, "No, you can't come in."
"Mieah."
"Get lost, Cat!"
Jumping up it latched onto her leg, making the blonde hiss as it's tiny claws bit into her skin. "I don't have time for you," she bit down on her lip to keep from cursing as she fully opened the door and carried the boards out to their proper places. With the cat clinging to her, only tilting its head to look around and meow its commentary, she moved around making sure nothing was missing and everything was in its proper place. The store was small, cramped even, with shelves lining every wall each crammed with as much as it could hold. Asuna wouldn't say that she had OCD, but with the size of the shop, even the tiniest thing out of place made it look like a bomb had hit the building and it drove her up the walls.

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With test results quickly forgotten, Naruto was bounding down the hall excited for his lunch date. His boundless energy was quite tiring, "Can you believe it? I've got a date!" Sasuke looked at the blond with indifference, "You make a pretty good wingman, but you know, I still did most of the work!"
"I'm not your wingman and I don't care about your stupid date!" the Uchiha growled, trying to get away from the Uzumaki. "Aw, c'mon, don't be like that!" Naruto whined giving the raven haired man a light shove, "Instead of bothering me, why don't you make sure you and your so called date actually have seats." Naruto mulled his words over, "You're right, thanks Sasuke!"
Finally he was gone, it was such a relief to be rid of him, everything was Hanaru this, Hana-Chan that, she wasn't that great! She was a failure, who clearly never studied, all she did was walk around like she owned the place!

There was a small voice in the back of his head though, one of concern. He and Sakura were holding the team's standard up academically, and with only Naruto holding them back it wasn't so bad, they still pulled through at just above average. Now though, even if he and Sakura managed to get in and stay in the top 3 for the rest of the school year, those two together, with their terrible marks brought them way down. He gritted his teeth, they still looked worse off than even the worst team that pooled together some mediocre points and were cruising at average! Either Naruto or Hanaru would have to raise up their academic skills if they were going to get anywhere. He'd be stuck on playground duty for the rest of his school life while other teams, like that arrogant Inuzuka, were off on real missions! He shook his head, no, he couldn't and wouldn't let them be his downfall. He just had to find a way to raise their average without having to actually get involved. Why was this so hard? He'd have to ask Itachi for advice, he'd understand the predicament he was in. Though he doubted his brother ever had to deal with this kind of thing.

The lunch hall was a large room, if not one of the largest in the school. The seating arrangement was spacious enough for the students to not have to breathe on each other, but compact enough as to fit in as many tables and chairs in to accommodate the large student body. On the East side were two large doors that opened into a well maintained garden area where more seating was available for those who enjoyed a more peaceful lunch. But those seats were limited and many a fight had broken out over 'my spot' arguments, especially in the summer when the trees provided a lovely protective shade from the sun. So unless you were willing to share your lunch spot with another group, you had to stake your claim as soon as possible on any given day.

Once he had his lunch, Sasuke made his way outside, Itachi was usually there and always had an open seat if he wanted to join his brother, but oddly enough the older Uchiha was nowhere to be seen. "C'mon! C'mon! I saved us a seat!" Naruto pushed past him, dragging Hanaru along, 'Huh, maybe he's not so stupid,' Sasuke thought watching as Naruto exchanged a few words with Kiba who seemed to have been saving the 'good spot' for the blond. He was about to walk back inside to find an empty classroom when the voice of Sakura called out to him, "Over here Sasuke! We saved you a seat!"
'Why can't she leave me alone?' the raven haired boy wondered, all he wanted was to have his lunch in peace. The better question was, why was he walking toward her in the first place? He didn't want to have lunch with her or Hanaru and especially not, Naruto who was excitedly holding up a bowl and it really didn't take a genius to guess what was in it.
Cautiously, he walked over, Naruto was holding the bowl for them to see the contents swirling around. "This is what got you so excited?" he snorted. The blond gave him a glare before the noodles stopped swirling and started swirling the other way. "Just wait, I need to get it just right!" Naruto assured, his brow furrowed in concentration. The noodles kept swirling, but then, the broth started swirling in the opposite direction making Naruto beam proudly. Sasuke rolled his eyes, he could do that...if he wanted to.

"Losers beget losers, I suppose," he wasn't sure when he sat down, but his remark made Naruto lose his concentration and the ramen splashed onto the table. "Naruto, look what you did!" Sakura scolded grabbing whatever napkin was available to clean up his mess. "Why do you have to be like that?" an accusing finger was pointed right at Sasuke, who didn't even bother to look up as he started on his lunch. "Ugh, you think you can do it better?!" Naruto quickly turned his attention back to Hanaru, hoping for at least a little back up.

Two blue eyes were trying their best to pierce the back of Sakura's head as Ino rapidly closed in on them, "Oh, hi Sasuke!" she smiled sweetly plopping down next to him, "And billboard brow, I almost missed you, but there's no way anyone could miss a forehead like yours~!"
"Why don't you go hang out with your own friends, Ino-pig?" Sakura shot back. Sasuke, being caught in the middle, was regretting coming out here more and more with every second that ticked by. Naruto sat back down in a huff, turning to Hanaru, "Sorry, this wasn't part of the plan," he rubbed the back of his neck as the two girls flanking Sasuke started bickering. Choji stood off to the side, he didn't want to get involved in any of it and it was clear Shikamaru wasn't here.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Shikamaru was this close to escaping. THIS close. He cringed as he heard his name being called, pretending to ignore the sound of his teacher as he tried to track him down the hall. Dammit! If only Iruka weren't such a good guy, making sure he'd follow up with students and crap, he'd be scott free. He had no intention of staying behind, and yet a rather firm hand had made its way to his shoulder, and looking the older male in the eye, he knew that there was no way he was getting out of this. Sighing in annoyance, he tried to hide his obvious discomfort by shouldering his bag once more and waiting for everyone in the class to leave. His foot tapped impatiently on the floor until the door was shut and it was just him and Iruka. Man, this really was troublesome.
"So...? Your point is...?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow as he frowned at his sensei. Potential this, smart that. Who cared? The Nara had no desire to spill his guts to his homeroom teacher. A part of him felt bad about being so abrasive towards him. Iruka was a good guy, and they'd been his students for a long time, but Shikamaru wasn't particularly close with the chunin. And besides, that's what he was--a chunin. He had no desire to move on to a jonin rank, so Shikamaru couldn't help but find it a little hypocritical to be talking about wasted potential with him, even if such a thought left a bad taste in his mouth. "Look, sensei. I'm passing aren't I? I really don't see what the big deal is." He looked towards the door in his impatience to avoid such an awkward conversation. "I think you should be more concerned about a dunce like Naruto than about me not paying 100% attention in my classes when I'm averaging out just fine." He didn't use it often, but unfortunately for the blonde, Naruto did make the perfect distraction.
"If that's everything, can I go now?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Iruka merely sighed, shaking his head before waving him away as he looked down at his desk. They were at an impass. Iruka couldn't exactly lecture him for being perfectly average, and so Shikamaru was free to leave. Sighing slightly, the Nara turned around, ready to head out, before his name was called by the brunette one last time. He didn't turn around, but he hesitated at the door, his hand on the handle as he waited for Iruka to speak his final peace.
"You're capable of so much more, Shikamaru, I expect more from you from now on, okay?" Shikamaru kissed his clenched teeth, a soft annoyed 'tch' leaving his lips.
"Yeah, whatever. You sound like my old man," he spoke towards the door, opening it and finally slipping out of the classroom. It was about time. Sending a quick text to Choji as an apology, he figured if he didn't make any specifics about a mini emergency (noting how it was nothing serious) his buddy would cover for him, and he would also make sure Ino didn't go poking her nose into all of their business. He also took the time to shoot Asuna a text.
Pineapple King: Hey dummy--I got hung up by Iruka-sensei, but I'm still on my way to get food. Be there in 15.
-*-*-
In the long run, things seemed to turn out in the Nara's favor. Ichiraku's was just slowing down from their lunch rush when he had arrived, so their orders were filled relatively fast. Thankfully the old man who worked there didn't question why Shikamaru wasn't in school, as he was still preoccupied by the last few stragglers who wanted to sit back and shoot the breeze. His feet carried him along a familiar path--most of the people in their weird rag-tag and patchwork friend group knew the cityscape by heart, as it was the world's biggest playground growing up. Besides, he'd long since memorized the way to Asuna's family's little curio shop, especially considering it was pretty much right next to the park that had the best hill for cloud watching, in his opinion. Even after they had drifted apart, his feet still found its way to that park. Curious.
Later than he'd wished, but with warm ramen, Shikamaru approached The Shuffle of Things with his bag on one shoulder and the food in containers residing in the plastic bag in his hands. The shop looked the same as it always did, save for some extra dust. Shikamaru sighed, figuring he'd probably end up cleaning, whether Asuna wanted his help or not. She was very stubborn, that woman. It made him roll his eyes at the hypothetical mini-argument that they might get into if he proposed the idea of helping her out. She tried to take too much on her shoulders at once. According to Iruka sensei Shikamaru didn't have enough--maybe he could at least help lighten her workload.
"Knock knock I'm coming in," he called out as he fussed with the door while the food was still in his hands. "Here we go--one special coming right up," he smirked, placing the steaming to-go container on the counter, taking off the plastic lid for her and handing her a napkin. Considering her family lived here (?? I think??) she probably had her own chopsticks that she'd rather use, but Shikamaru settled for the cheap ones that came packaged up with the togo containers, leaning over the counter as he began to eat. "Well?" He rose a pointed eyebrow. "It ain't gettin' any warmer." He pointed a chopstick at the kitten who's claws had sunken into the soft part of her ankle. "Also, I dunno if you've noticed, but you've managed to catch a hitchhiker."

------------

Hanaru smirked at Naruto's eagerness about their makeshift 'date'. She'd honestly said it just because it seemed to piss Sasuke off, but she'd be a liar if she didn't at least admit to herself that having someone as happy and as carefree around like Naruto wasn't a bad idea. She rose an eyebrow as the onyx haired male was quick to growl at the ball of sunshine, and she could barely contain her cackle. Was it just her, or was he a little more irritable than normal today? She couldn't tell--it wasn't likely she kept tabs on everyone else's moods. Her momentary joy in the prodigy's suffering was cut short as Naruto somehow managed to grab her arm and drag her off towards the lunchroom, her eyes widening ever so slightly as she resisted the urge to his at him in annoyance, her tail bristling at being touched.
Grateful at least to have been dragged outside, the minimal seating and greenery in the courtyard was a good break away from all of the students inside. Hanaru could already feel a headache coming on as her poor ears and nose experienced a bit of sensory overload, her eyes watering slightly as she blinked away the uncomfortable feeling, acting as though everything was fine, as per her usual bit. An apathetic look wiped across her features as they sat down by Kiba, and her eyes narrowed. The Dog. He reeked of puppy and it set her nekomanta youkai instincts off. Kakashi sensei was similar, what with is ninja dogs and Pakkun, but Kiba had little going for him to get him into the purplette's good graces. A flirter, she wasn't interested, and just the fact that he acted like a stupid puppy. Not that puppies were stupid--just Kiba.
Pushing down her unrequited hate, Hanaru refused to lose her air of apathy, blank gaze watching over Naruto as she vaguely heard Sakura call their equally annoying teammate to their spot. "Alright, go for it," she said monotonously, though if anyone was listening for it, one might have been able to hear the slightest touch of amusement in her voice.
She snorted, actually chuckling at the blonde as he got excited over the innate properties of any form of liquids, not caring about the spilled liquid or Sakura's accusatory remarks. Hell, the moment she let Sasuke under his skin better be the moment his family dissected her body for evidence in a murder. Pointing to his clear water bottle, she waved her hand in a motion for him to hand it to her. Naruto looked to her helplessly as she refused to back him up, choosing to ignore the other two entirely. "Let them be annoying," she responded with a shrug, letting her tongue stick out of her mouth in concentration as Naruto curiously handed her his water bottle. Holding it upright, the purple haired half demon swirled the contents in a clockwise motion, before switching it up and going to the opposite way, until a mini-water-tornado appeared in the vortex of liquid. "See? Now you can't possibly tick off Sakura by spilling your broth--I can't help you with ticking her off for other things though."
"Woah... why didn't I think of that?!" The blonde cutely watched in awe as the water tornado slowly disappeared, before taking it back from her and trying to recreate it on his own. At least that would keep him occupied for a while. At this moment, it increasingly became aware that Ino and Sakura weren't going to let up with their arguing over Sasuke (she almost felt bad for him, and then remembered he was a prick). When Naruto sat down and apologized, Hanaru waved him off nonchalantly.
"It's inevitable, Naruto-kun. The moment Sakura and Ino stop bickering over duckbutt mcedgelord is the moment the world ends," she answered honestly, a sigh in her voice. Whether or not the male himself had anything to say about it, Hanaru ignored both him and the respective fans who had shot her a death glare. Let them try to fight her--that'd be hilarious. She noticed, however, Naruto staring, and she tilted her head. "What? Something on my face?" Her ears flicked curiously, although she didn't know how there could possibly be anything there. Hanaru only ate one meal a day--dinner--and therefore didn't even spend lunchtime with everyone else considering how loud it was. On sunny days she could be found on the roof of the building taking a catnap--on cold or rainy days? In a windowsill somewhere up high in the library, avoiding people as much as possible.
"Well..." Naruto shuffled nervously in place. She blanched 'Please don't ask me out on a second date I just called it that cause it was funny!' "I was wondering, you have a scar kinda like Iruka sensei's. I know how he got his, but... what about you?" He assumed it had to have been nasty--it stretched from one cheek all the way to the other and took a bit of her nose with it.
She tensed slightly, looking away from the table for a brief moment. "Well..." the memory itself more painful than the actual injury had been. Plastering on a smirk, her eyes glinted mischievously. "What if I told you I got into some trouble with a warlord and he tried to have me executed?"
"Yeah right, there's no way!" Sakura glared, her arms crossed over her chest. Oh? The purplette didn't know she had a captive audience.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" she teased, shaking her head. "My brother gave it to me. It was... an accident." Though she had given them two truths, she played the previous one off as a lie. There was no reason to scare them, although it was kinda fun to be the center of attention--no wonder Sasuke was so stuck up.

 

[Iron Mouse]

"You have a brother? Why didn't you tell us before?" Naruto's face lit up with interest as he leaned in closer, "Does he live in town? Do we know him? Can we meet him?" his eyes were wide with curiosity as he rocked back and forth in his seat wanting all of the details. Sasuke looked at Hanaru, actually studying her face closely instead of giving her a passing glance. The scar was large, and from what he could tell the wound had to have been deep to leave that much permanent damage. He pondered the thought, what kind of accident could have caused that? Suspicion crept into his eyes as he studied her more, eyes trailing down and resting on the scar on her shoulder. "Was that your brother too?" he looked her dead in the eye waiting for confirmation. Did Hanaru come from an abusive home? Suddenly her terrible grades made sense and why she didn't join their swimming excursions or even their occasional trips to the hot springs! She probably had bruises and didn't want anyone to know. He didn't realize just how intensively he was staring as his mind started to build up on this scenario of what he thought her home life was like. Did the teachers know? It's not really his place to step in, but if he could indirectly suss it out, then there would be hope for the team's future after all!

His unwavering stare did not go unnoticed by the two girls at his sides, and if they weren't bristling from Hanaru's comment then they surely resembled a pair of angry, agitated cats right now. Hanaru didn't show any interest in Sasuke romantically that they could tell, but she was often times the epicenter of his attention. Even if it wasn't always in a positive way, he sometimes sought her out just to throw some snarky comments at each other like a pair of kindergarteners. And here they were, Sakura and Ino, practically clinging to the raven prince, ready to bend over backwards to his every wish and command but went completely ignored!
"Careful, Ino, your green is showing," Choji chuckled from a safe distance as she shot him a glare. Sakura turned to them, "Don't you have someplace to be? Like with the rest of your team?" she was annoyed at the fact that Ino invaded their private lunch, worsened by Hanaru's statement. "Ergh, Asuna's probably pulling a Shino and she's been standing behind us all this time, like a ghost or something," Naruto grumbled looking over his shoulder to make sure. Instead he caught Shino looking at him. He wasn't sure, but Naruto guessed that Shino was glaring daggers at him from behind his glasses and high collar jacket and he quickly broke eye contact.

"Don't make jokes like that," Choji said seriously, "You don't want to evoke the wrath of Sayu-Sayu." Ino rolled her eyes and groaned, "Not this again, Choji."
"What's Sayu-Sayu?" Naruto asked ignoring the pleading look he received to stop. "She's not a 'what', more of a 'who'," Choji said vaguely trying to sound mysterious. "She's an urban legend," Sasuke said dryly. Itachi use to tell him the story to scare him when he was little; "They say she was an average kunoichi who took the Chunin exams, back before all the rules and regulations, but she held the team back and they were disqualified after months of grueling training. Her teammates were so angry they drowned her in the swimming pool," he spoke quietly, trying to remember the full story, but could only recall the bits and pieces from his childhood. "What, really? I've never read of an incident like that before," Sakura piped up, "That's because they never found her!" Choji had gradually moved closer, "They say she haunts the school grounds and if you call her three times in the gym changing rooms, she'll drown you too!"
"W-what? No way! That's just a dumb story!" Naruto crossed his arms in a huff, but Sasuke noticed the slight bounce in his leg, "Hn, you know why no one likes clean up duty early in the mornings right? It's because all the faucets open by themselves when she's around," he added. "You don't really believe that, right Sasuke?" Sakura had linked her arm around his, hanging off of every word he said. He shrugged, sure it was a scary story when he was six, but it wasn't logical to believe in ghost stories.

"I don't know, I'd have to see it to believe it, I guess," he shrugged. "Oh you better believe it! My sister saw her back when she was still here," Kiba added as he, Hinata and Shino passed by with empty food trays, "But whatever, don't believe it. It's not like any of you have the balls to prove it isn't real!" Sasuke watched as Naruto jumped up, fists clenched, "Oh yeah! We'll show you!" he yelled as the trio disappeared back through the doors. The Uchiha shook his head at how easily riled up and competitive Naruto got, and by the look on his face... "We should totally break in tonight and prove there's no real ghost! Or better yet, if she is real, we should get a photo and sell it!" There it was. "Naruto, that's a terrible idea! Do you know how much trouble we'll be in if we got caught on school grounds after dark?" Sakura scolded, but he was not deterred, in fact he looked even more set on the idea.

═══════ ≪ °❈° ≫ ═══════ ≪ °❈° ≫ ═══════​

By the time Shikamaru had arrived, Asuna had already pulled several cleaning supplies from the storage room, "Look who decided to show up." Leaving through the employee's only door she turned into the small office, grabbing a stool for the new arrival. Not that she expected him to hang around all afternoon, but she didn't want to throw him out since he brought lunch with him. "You noticed? If you want it you can have it," she lifted her leg up, looking at the dangling cat on her foot. It blinked up at her and with a mighty "Mew!" it hopped off, pouncing around on the floor before pouncing Shikamaru's feet and promptly used his leg as a climbing post. "It showed up here last week," she stared as she peeled the lid off of the container, "I told him, I told the old man not to feed the damn thing! But I'll let you guess what he did," she crossed her arms as the kitten hopped onto the counter with another mighty "Wrrrao!" and it curiously circled the ramen container. "CAT!" Asuna barked again, slamming her hand on the counter, this time it jumped a little, "Mrrow" the cat tilted it's head and quickly turned back to the ramen. "'But sweetheart, animals are such good company! And you could use more friends!'" she put on her best mocking voice shaking her head, "Now it won't leave."

After circling Shikamaru's ramen a few times, the kitten decided the nori looked like a suitable plaything as it started batting at the dried seaweed. After watching it for another minute, Asuna picked it up and placed it on the floor. "Thanks for- just...thanks," she choked a little on her words, it had been a long time since they did something like this. Ino cam by every now and again and she tried to pop into the Yamanaka's every other night before she went to the hospital. For so long, it had just been some or other combination of their strange little group, she vaguely remembered the last time they were together like this. They were hiding from his mother, for good reason as they had cut holes into a bedsheet for the game they had made up. She watched him flinch a little as the kitten latched onto his leg again. On one hand the young man looked exactly like the young boy she played with, but, people were like the shop. Even after all these years they looked the same, but somewhere something was different. A rare genuine smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, "Remember when...we threw out that jar of gem shards and tried to map out the stars?" she didn't know why she said that, they were both punished severely for it if memory serves right, maybe it was just an odd longing for simpler times when this didn't feel so awkward and weird.

The slurping of noodles caught the cat's attention as it bounded over and sat looking expectantly up at the kunoichi. "No. Go away," she said keeping steady eye contact with the ball of fur.
"Mrow."
"No."
"Frrow."
"Go ask your dad," she glowered remembering how her mother use to say those words. It weighed heavy on her heart, just two nights ago she and her mother were having a semi normal conversation. Everytime, everytime she got better she relapsed. Her health was up and down for the past couple of years now, and it shouldn't have been a surprise by now. What frustrated her the most was that no one could tell them what was wrong with her mother. She was just...sick. Asuna had gone off on one of the doctors one day and she was sure if it wasn't for the good will her father had generated over the years and his gilded tongue she'd probably have been banned from visiting. She shook her head lightly. There was nothing she could do about it. It would be best to focus on what was in front of her it's the only way she could cope.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Hanaru's face became a little more annoyed with each question Naruto let fall from his mouth, her eyebrow twitching as she did her best to curb her anger. He didn't know, none of them knew, and that was a good thing. That being said... she wanted to wring his neck for his persistence. Sasuke's intense gaze and direct question wasn't exactly helping either, and the female glared at him, his serious expression hard to read, and it made her bristle. What the hell was he getting at? "No, I'm a clumsy bastard, that's all!" It was far too deep a wound for it to have been an accident, not unlike the scar across her nose, but she hoped the snarl in her throat was enough to deter the rest of them from asking any more stupid questions. Thankfully, they were rather quick to change the subject, at least everyone but Sasuke, who's stare made her squirm in her seat slightly. Just what on earth was he thinking about...? Whatever! It's not like she cared.
Hanaru tuned them out as she looked away. She didn't care what they thought about her any way--what mattered was her debt was paid to the Sandaime. That was it. She refused to go swimming in any capacity--of course she showered and took baths, as well as drank water, but she hated getting wet for the sake of 'recreation'. It was stupid. Not only that, but there was barely a collective foot's worth of skin on her back that wasn't marred with scars, thin or otherwise. No need to freak them out already more than she already was. Clearly they would eventually wonder what was up, but she refused to worry about that now--she'd cross that bridge once she got there.
Thankfully the conversation had moved on without the two of the more brooding characters in the group, and had shifted to something that she found to be almost equally as annoying. Some old wives' tale of a student who failed her team, and her spiteful teammates supposedly drowned her in the pool. "What a load of garbage," Hanaru scowled, her eyebrows furrowed. "If anything I'd show up just to prove to you that ghost stories are called 'stories' for a reason. It's definitely not true."
Sakura looked at her for a moment, before piping up. "I'm not going because anyone who does is going to get in trouble, but that doesn't mean I'm scared of it or anything! There's a logical explanation for why the sinks turn on--people are so quick to look for the supernatural." And yet as she spoke, she was still clinging to Sasuke, Ino doing similarly on the other side.
"Sounds to me like you're a chicken, Sakura," Hanaru teased, smirking cruelly. "You could have used this opportunity to show your 'precious Sasuke' how brave and strong you are...!" She sent the onyx haired male a smirk as she teased the pinkette, only knowing that this was more torture for him.
The pinkette gasped, her eyes wideneing slightly before she looked to Sasuke and tugged on his arm again. "Sasuke, I can show you! I'll prove to you I'm capable by showing everyone that it's nothing but a superstitious legend!"
"Yeah right, billboard brow! You're too much of a goodie-two-shoes to break a few rules. Not only that, but if you think that your parents will let you sneak out past curfew, you're horribly msitaken!" Ino grinned, and Sakura detached herself to push Ino off of Sasuke.
"Ino-pig! You're in the same boat, you can't lecture me about curfews and sucking up!" she growled, her eyes narrowed as she glared. Their squabble escalated, but only vocally, and Choji sighed into his bag of chips. This was getting nowhere fast.
Hanaru sighed, before standing up and stretching, "if that's all, I've still got 15 minutes to take a nap on the room, I'll see you losers around," she was a little sleepy, but that was mostly because she'd spent so long late into the night cramming for their tests and trying to teach herself how to read and write better etc.

----------

It was rather amusing, to watch Asuna react rather adversely to this cat that had unceremoniously wandered into her life. He shrugged, "Your old man's not wrong, maybe a cat might get you to be a little more gentle." Then she began to manhandle said cat and he chuckled, wincing as it moved then to climb up his leg like a tree. "O-or not." He chuckled, looked at the cat straight in the face. "It looks... kinda dumb. In a cute way." He picked it up by the scruff in order to once more move it away from their food. After having a silent staring contest with the kitten--did it even blink? the Nara sighed, shaking his head at the cat's blank expression. Regardless, he felt compelled to give it one of his shrimp, setting it on the floor so it could eat off of the table. "It's too young to not have a home--if you need help taking care of him... I guess I could offer my assistance. I don't know too much about cats, but I recently saw a short vid that said if you want to keep cat's off of your counter tops, all you need to do is line them with tinfoil," he spoke casually as they ate, watching the kitten eat the shrimp he had given it.
Other than a few comments regarding the cat, Shikamaru wasn't about to speak up as they ate, comfortable in the silence that they shared. It really had been a long time since just the two of them had hung out. Shikamaru wasn't exactly a loner, but he definitely had his moments where everyone around him was just too troublesome to deal with. Then there was Asuna. He wondered about the time that they drifted apart--he supposed it must have been about the same time that all the kids were beginning to really understand the differences in genders. Although, Asuna never got on his nerves like Ino or like Sakura did. Hinata spoke too quietly to be much of a bother, but Asuna always seemed to just... fit in with all of their shenanigans. So why didn't they hang out more?
A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he paused in his eating, his chopsticks stopping at his lips as he caught himself staring silently at the sandy-haired blonde. He blinked a few times, before practically shaking his head (doing it mentally instead) as he continued eating. There was no possible way he had ever caught feelings for her. Shikamaru wasn't particularly interested in anyone--although he had once seen a cute girl from the Suna school, but it couldn't have been distancing via embarrassment because he somehow liked her. The male frowned into his ramen broth, thinking back. How many times had he let go of her hands because a pink heat had risen to his cheeks, or thaet he had stopped going to sleepovers, because he tried to make himself think that it was dumb to hang out with a girl, when really he was embarrassed to sleep in her room, or have her in his? It was too complex a thought process as a kid, but looking back on it now, he wondered... if he wasn't crushing on the female. He looked back up to Asuna one more time, and actually felt his cheeks heat up. What the hell? Where did that come from? Before she could see his face, the black haired male rose the container in front of him to his face, drinking the broth of his ramen in order to finish and regain control of the surprise blush. This train of thought was getting him nowhere, and so he shoved it far back to the side of his mind, filing it away where he'd hopefully never have to think of it again.
Shika sighed softly, standing and taking his empty container to the sink he knew was in the backroom, rinsing it out before placing it in the recycling. "So, I suppose we should get to it, huh?" He asked, looking to her briefly before he moved to get a broom and a pair of disposable gloves from the cleaning supplies that Asuna had been bringing out when he first arrived, silently moving to the back corner of the showroom before he began to sweep.
He could feel her eyes on him and he looked up with a blank expression. He must have looked rather domestic, what with the gloves and the broom. "You need something else from me?"

 

[Iron Mouse]

"Hey, Asuna. Where's your boyfriend?"
"Why are you picking on me? Just leave me alone!" the little girl wasn't sure when or who had first started it, but there had been an increased amount of teasing at her expense. Today, Kiba was the one to corner her first, "Aw, are you going to run to your boyfriend? Is he going to hold you hand?" he snickered, to him it was all good fun and watching her cheeks puff up and her face turn red made it even funnier."Stop it, we're friends ok!" she retaliated, balling up her fists. "Don't get mad, Asu, because then it means it's true!" the young Yamanaka chirped. If Asuna didn't say anything, she was guilty if she did then she was also guilty. Ah the reasoning of young children. "I'm not! You're just being mean! I can hold hands with anybody!"
"Haha, look how mad you're getting! You must really be in looove!" there was a round of sniggering before they broke out into song; "Shika and 'Suna are sitting in a tree!"
Asuna couldn't take having the kids circle her like this, singing and pointing. She ended up crying for most of the day and even asked her dad to start taking her to school instead of carpooling with the Nara family.

----------

Looking back, she couldn't believe that there was a time where others thoughts and opinions about her mattered so much that she'd do something so stupid. Hindsight was 20/20. She wasn't even sure if his likes and dislikes were even the same anymore. Ino was right, if the flaxen haired social butterfly hadn't been so stubborn and persistent in the upkeep of her own social life, Asuna would probably have become completely anti-social.

Watching him leave through the back door, she couldn't help but wonder; did she hate the teasing so much because she was embarrassed or did she maybe like him back and having it pointed out was what got her? She had some silent crushes growing up, well at least what she thought were crushes at the time, but it wasn't ever really something she thought of. Much less so as the years ticked by. Frankly, she couldn't see herself clinging to someone like Ino clung to Sas- no, that was a bad example. She couldn't see herself caring for someone as deeply as she'd seen her parents care for each other. The more she thought about it, the deeper the rabbit hole went and if she was honest, it scared her. Coming to the same conclusion as with the kitten; it wasn't like running the shop, it was a living thing that needed love and attention and time. Relationships died just as fast especially if she got too wrapped up with her own things. Her life was already a whirlwind, and thinking of being with someone romantically and looking at it as if it was just another responsibility that she just had to take care of...that wouldn't end well. What if he got bored and found someone else? Or his laziness got to her and she smothered him with a pillow as he slept? Or they just ended up fighting a lot? Or worse, all of the above but with a kid running around! Wait why is there a kid? When did the train of thought get derailed into a hypothetical relationship??

Movement on the other side of the room broke her foggy trance. Was Shikamaru...sweeping? "What do you think you're doing?" she pointed her chopsticks at him, "I did not say you could do that!" Her focus returned to the present fully, feeling irritated that she let herself drift off into her own head like that. Asuna was not above putting people to work if they were idling too long, but she always ended up chasing them away as they didn't do it her way or they didn't meet her standards. "No offense, Shika, but if I wanted a half-assed job I'd wait for my old man to come back, give him the broom,an ear full and set him to work," she crossed her arms under her chest, making herself look as authoritative as possible from behind the counter. She'd obviously taken up the matriarch role in her mother had left, "I take this place seriously. Very seriously," too seriously she thought, staring down at him down for several seconds before she scooped up the to-go container before the cat tried to jump in, knocking back remaining Shoyu broth. With a 'I'm watching you' motion, she slipped to the back, giving the empty container its proper treatment, but instead of recycling she stored in the cubby under the sink. It could be useful. She didn't say anything when she entered the room, spotting him sweeping again, she quietly grabbed the cloth she had left in the counter corner with the spray bottle and vigorously started scrubbing the window sills and once they were clean enough to eat off of she moved to the display shelves, glancing at Shikamaru's progress.

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Sasuke was fuming, glaring daggers at Hanaru as Ino and Sakura clung to him, arguing back and forth. All he wanted was to eat lunch, but now he had half a mind to drown all three women in the pool! "Yes!" Naruto jumped up, fist in the air, a wide smile splitting across his face. "Hanaru's going to come break the rules with us!"
"Naruto! Shut up! You don't want the teachers to hear you!" Sakura hissed, letting go of Sasuke's arm to reach over and smack the energetic blond over the head. They hadn't even planned anything yet and she was already on edge about the whole ordeal. 'This is my chance,' Sasuke thought as he stood up, grabbing the leftover scraps of his lunch and headed inside. "Sasuke, wait, where are you going?" Ino called out alerting Sakura to his departure. "Away from you idiots! You're annoying!" he called back and almost instantly another round of bickering broke out, thankfully the further away he got the easier it became to block out their squawking.

The plan was stupid, there was no ghost. It was all just a fabricated story that only really ever gained popularity around exam times. It gave the students that extra edge so they didn't end up like 'Sayu-Sayu'. He almost laughed thinking about it. Sure, he really had people talk about it, but there were so many versions of the story it couldn't be real. In one version he overheard, her teammates pushed her off of the school roof, a far cry from drowning her in the school pool. 'What a waste of time,' he scoffed and the idea of not even showing up occurred several times as made away with his empty food tray. 'Ugh, but she's going to be there,' the voice in his head reasoned, it would look like he chickened out and she'd get one over him. Decisions, decisions, at least he had the rest of the day to decide whether he'd let her have her fun or-
A mischievous grin took over his features, he could have some fun and try to scare her. Oh that would be interesting, maybe Hanaru wasn't as brave as she seemed to be? Naruto would fall for just about anything, there was no challenge in that, but if he could get as much of a peep out of her...that would make showing up worth while.

"And what are you smiling about?"
Looking up, Sasuke nodded at Itachi, "Nothing, just thinking, about some stuff," he said unable to control the stupid grin on his face. Itachi studied him, he hadn't seen his little brother look so happy, "Hm, could it be because of a girl?" Sasuke shook his head, no of course not! He wasn't smiling because of a girl. Well, sort of...technically Hanaru's a girl and he was technically thinking of her...No! It wasn't that! He wasn't thinking of her specifically, he was thinking of scaring her! it wasn't the same! His grin was successfully wiped off of his face as it now contorted into a somewhat angry and confused look as he tried to reason with himself. "You weren't at lunch," the younger Uchiha quickly changed the subject, pushing down his entire inner argument with himself. "There was something I had to tend to." Sasuke frowned, "So you're leaving again?" Itachi was a senior, honor student. He was part of the elite, the Crème de la Crème, someone the younger students looked up to and strived to be like. He was excellent in all fields, so it wasn't a surprise that he had missions lined right up the wazoo and not the kiddy stuff that Sasuke and his classmates had to deal with, no, they were legit real shinobi business. Some would say that Sasuke idolized his brother. "Yes, I'm sorry," Itachi said after a moment of silence, "No, don't be," the young man said, though if he were honest, he wished Itachi wasn't away from home so much, "Are you going to be gone for long? Does father know yet?" the long haired male just nodded as they took to walking down the hallway. They were mostly silent, Sasuke enjoying the calm presence of his sibling as opposed to this loud team. It was soothing, to say the least. Itachi was studying him quietly, ever since his team grew with one extra member, his little brother had been more driven and determined than ever, practically dragging him to train almost every night. Whether this new team member was having a good impact on him was still to be determined, but with that goofy smile he had plastered all over his face and the mixed emotions after he ever so lightly probed him, the older Uchiha was almost sure that his brother had become infatuated without even realizing it. Maybe he'd probe him some more after he returned from his mission.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

He growled at her words, rolling his eyes as she berated him for doing work FOR her. "At least be grateful I'm helping you out," he mumbled under his breath, too fearful of the sandy-blonde's wrath to speak out fully against her. Besides, he kinda understood--this was her family store after all, and she'd been running it practically by herself since they were even younger, so he supposed she couldn't help it. "It'll be fine, I'm not gonna do a half assed job--that's more trouble than it's worth already." Shikamaru sighed, his eyes narrowed slightly as he focused on making sure the floor was as spotless as he could possibly get it.
Having half a mind to use some sort of ninjutsu to clean, he decided against it. A curio shop meant that there were lots of things that were breakable, and he didn't want to run the risk of either over or under-using chakra just in case things were to get out of hand and hurt Asuna's progress more than help her. Thankfully, though, she seemed to ignore him in favor of going to clean the windows, so at least he could avoid her piercing stare. She had complained previously, when he had asked her how she was doing, that he could 'see right through' her or something stupid like that, but the Nara had always felt like it was really the other way around. Even as children, Asuna was always able to somehow get the read on him. He supposed it could have comfe from how often they were together/around each other's parents as kids. Whenever she would come over, his parents would just treat her like their own daughter, though he'd always seen her as a friend more than a sister. She was used to him and his mannerisms from such a young age, sometimes her pointed glares just when straight through him. He shivered lightly--thinking of said glare was enough to put him on edge--it made him feel as though he needed to improve himself. Do better, something...!
Brought out of his silent musings by a tug on his broom, Shikamaru looked down, only to see that cat, batting his paws at the broom each time he brought it out to sweep. "What are you doing, crazy thing?" Shikamaru couldn't fight the grin off of his lips, and though his words were harsh, it was quite clear he was only teasing--the cat could tell, clearly, because he was ignoring him. "I throw you in a bathtub full of acid if you keep swiping at my broom." As he reached down to try and push the kitten (gently) away, only for it to come bounding back like it was some sort of new game that he was highly invested in. Sighing, he turned to look at Asuna's progress, only to see the blonde staring at him from out of the corner of her eye. "Shh, don't look now," he urged the cat, speaking to it as if it could understand, and being loud enough so that his friend could hear his teasing. "But I think the boss-lady is monitoring us. She doesn't think we can do our jobs competently enough. What a drag!' He couldn't help but chuckle as the cat made a 'Mroaw' of what appeared to be confusion, before it wandered over to Asuna, dragging along something it had found--it looked like a bunch of string, but Shikamaru wasn't positive.
"Hey Asuna, I think your little worker has found a present for you," Shikamaru teased, pointing to the kitten with a grin as he couldn't help but pause in his work in order to see how this interraction played out. The kitten was adorable, clearly Asuna saw this, she just didn't want another thing to have to deal with. The cat looked up at her expectantly, as if to say 'look mom! look what I found for you, you have to like it!'. He was quite the personality. Shikamaru, by this point, was being rather thorough. If this were his own home he'd maybe do about half as good of a job as he was currently, so maybe Asuna was right to scold him prematurely--at least in this way it scared him into doing a good job. The cat, for whatever reason, had chosen about this time to jump up onto one of the counters, and Shikamaru winced, darting forward and catching something--a cup, it looked like--before it could hit the floor. "Okay, maybe you should definitely invest in tinfoil..." he groaned, carefully extracting the cat from the table before it could do any damage. It wiggled in his hands, running up his arm and jumping on his head like a springboard before tumbling back to the ground, but not before his claws must have caught on the binder keeping his hair togeher, as he felt it become loose, before coming undone altogether. He blinked at Asuna in mild surprise before another groan left his lips. "Geez, what a drag..." was all he could think of to say, running a hand through his freed hair. It wasn't like he had another hair binder on him.

-----------

Hanaru was very glad to put the squabbling and excited mess that their table was behind her, considering how sensitive her hearing was. She could already feel a headache coming on as she walked away, her pace picking up as she did so. Even though she was eager to get away, and had promised herself a little catnap on the roof in reward for being so social, she found she didn't really want to treck all the way up onto the roof just to catch about 8 minutes of sleep before she'd inevitably be hunted down by whoever was in charge of making sure students weren't skipping classes and such (she, Kotetsu, and Izumo had an ongoing bet that they would feed her for a week if she stayed in her classes for their full duration, and they were SO going to lose). Sighing in annoyance, she decided that it would probably be better just to keep going to their next classroom. This was held in the Gym--the one with all of the matts on the floor, because taijutsu was a physical part of their curriculum, and it was lead by one of the most eccentric ninjas she had ever seen. In fact, she would have thought him a joke, if she weren't acutely aware of how strong Gai sensei was, and how many enemy nin had perished for poorly underestimating him due to his... weird wardrobe choices.
She paused outside of the gym, seeing some jonin that she didn't exactly recognize whisper from across the hallway. She glared at them--did they not understand how to hide? Her ears perked up and she caught their conversation as she approached. "I can't believe the Sandaime puts so much faith in that murderer. He's just letting her walk for her crimes!"
"Right?" The other one was quick to whisper back as her expression only soured. "Criminals like that should either be locked away out of sight, or killed on the spot." They both nodded in agreement. "The Sandaime is weak for not taking care of her when he had the chance--or that nine-tailed fox brat either!" She knew of some of the older nin's hatred for Naruto, however ridiculous it was. She didn't care if they called her what they did--they were right after all, but when they attacked Naruto--even when he wasn't there, it just made her sick to think about how many individuals held similar reserves for the innocent blonde. They continued to gossip, as she approached, talking about her criminal record and other such nonsense. A growl on her lips, she crossed her arms under her chest.
"And what the hell do you two ladies think you're gossiping about?" Hanaru snarled, her elongated canines revealed as her lip peeled back in annoyance. They both went rigid, on guard now that they knew she had heard them. "I would have thought shinobi of the Leaf would know how to be inconscpicuous. I guess there are exceptions for the stupid in all walks of life..." she mused, her tone teasing though her face was clearly unimpressed.
That seemed to rile them up, as the one she had first heard speak clearly bristled with anger, standing over her as he attempted to use his height to intimidate her. "I'm waiting. Waiting for the moment you slip up, None. The minute that happens, that snarky head of yours is coming clean off." She growled, baring her fangs at them, before they both walked off, the mood of the day completely ruined. She hated that nickname--it was given to her by a rather nasty individual that she had done a job for at one point--the business mogul, Gato. He'd used it fondly, because he had wanted no one left alive, and just like he had asked, she'd presented him with 'None' and the name had stuck, much to her dismay, ever since. Growling loudly in annoyance, she punched the wall, not particularly noting or even caring that she had left an indent in it, before she turned and moved to storm into the gym, now eager for taijutsu class so that she could blow off some of her anger.

 

[Iron Mouse]

"You should and try to stay out of trouble," Itachi said as the brothers reached the main entrance, turning to flick the younger against the forehead with a fond smile. "Agh, don't do that!" Sasuke complained rubbing the now sensitive spot on his head making Itachi lightly chuckle before the older Uchiha left to rendezvous with his team. Sasuke didn't wish him luck or tell him to be safe, he just had that much confidence in his brother to succeed that well wishing seemed trivial. As he watched Itachi disappear, he couldn't help but feel proud to have a brother like him, but he also felt a twinge of resentment. It wasn't exactly aimed at his sibling, more at his rapid excelling career. He was just a few months away from graduating formally but people fought over hiring him and had been for as long as Sasuke could remember. The true face of the friction he felt was caused by his father's inability to see just how hard he was trying. He always praised Itachi for being a prodigy and how well he was doing as a shinobi, it felt like nothing Sasuke did could make his father look at him with the same pride in his eyes. He was called a prodigy by many too, but everything he did seemed light years behind what his sibling did in the eyes of their father. It wasn't a secret either. Itachi tried his best to talk up everything his younger brother did to their father, and praised him whenever he improved on anything, always noticing the hard work and effort the young man put into everything he did.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there, but the chime of the bell signaling lunch was over rang loud and clear above his head. Turning he made his way to the gym, walking slightly faster than usual, barely missing the bombardment of students flooding from the lunchroom. There were several teachers Sasuke couldn't care less about, and the gym teacher definitely ranked pretty high on his list of 'unnecessary' faculty members. Sure, Gai-sensei was good at taijutsu, but aside from that he was a complete joke! Filing in with the rest of the class, he noticed Hanaru practically bristling in the corner and just for a split second he considered asking her what was wrong, she looked like she was about to rip the throat out of a training dummy, not that it would stand much of a chance against her anyway. "GOOD AFTERNOON MY YOUNG STUDENTS!" Guy came bursting through the door, yelling at the top of his lungs as he addressed the class in his overzealous fashion. Sasuke could feel the cringe as this so called 'teacher' started giving them a pep talk about how if they didn't believe in themselves then no amount of hard work will do them any good, making the Uchiha roll his eyes so hard he gave himself a headache. He had a better future as a fortune cookie writer.

Silently stepping around that shy quiet girl, what was her name again? Hana? Hamtaro? Hinato? ugh whatever it was close enough, he shifted closer to Hanaru. The closer he got the more he noticed just how tense she was, "Fight me," he said quietly as Guy rambled on with what he expected them to do as a 'warm up' before they actually started the hand to hand fighting. "You look like you could use an outlet and you know I can take everything you got," he wasn't being sincere. Nope. He just knew she was a good challenge, that's all. A good challenge for him to better his fighting ability. He absolutely, positively, was not concerned about her, not one bit! At least that's what he kept telling himself, but something in him seemed to want to at least try to do something, anything to at least have her not looking like she was about to kill everyone in the room. What did he even want to accomplish?! He recognised that frustrated look in her eyes, it was a look he himself often had as he took out his anger in his family's private training grounds. Maybe that's why? One thing was for sure though, he didn't like that his body just acted on it's own and the words just falling out of his mouth without him even realizing it. Damn it, why did Itachi have to leave today? There was so much he wanted to talk about and try to understand, guess he'd just have to figure it out on his own for now.

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Asuna tried her best to keep from smiling as Shikamaru lamented to the cat about 'the boss-lady'. She wouldn't deny being a hardass, but from the looks of it he was doing a much better job than some of the employees her father had hired in the past. All of them were fired by her before they'd even stayed their welcome. The kitten was growing on her though, she still had her reservations about it, but as it looked up expectantly at her with it's big dumb eyes she couldn't keep the smile from creeping on her face. "Well, guess the two of you are doing an acceptable job," she tried to sound unimpressed but couldn't keep a straight face as she knelt down to take the string, muttering a quite "Good job," while running her other hand from the kitten's head to tail and giving it a scratch behind the ears. It was the first time she'd actually pet it. Looking the string over, she determined it to have been a snippet from the string roll kept behind the counter for packaging. 'Hm, it's too short to use anymore,' she thought stepping around the corner and depositing it in the office. She could always use it for something else. The sandy haired teen made it back in time to watch in horror, and amusement, as the cat quickly turned the shop into its playground, giving Shikamaru the old one two and managing to free his bushy ponytail.

They blinked at each other for a moment, he looked so...different. "Well, that was..." she couldn't really think of anything to say really. True to all cats, the kitten landed on his feet, almost instantly starting to play with the new 'toy' it had acquired. Asuna crossed her arms to say 'I told you so' but couldn't bring herself to be mad, "I'd say you should wear it like that more often but, that would be unfair to the other guys." Realizing how her words could be interpreted, a slight red tinted her face. 'Friends can compliment friends,' Asuna decided as she walked over to him, cautiously tugging at a strand of hair. Taking a hold of his arm gently and tugging him to follow her, "C'mon, I'll see what I can do about it," she offered bringing him behind the counter and sitting him down in the chair. "Watch the doors for a sec," she said walking through the back door and down the short hall, ducking through a door that was usually kept locked...her old man was going to get an earful later. It was just a small plain room with a staircase, the room being used as somewhat of a utility space, though not for the shop as the staircase lead up to the house section of the building. It was the newest edition to the building, but it was still older than Asuna, having been built as a convenient shortcut by her grandfather who didn't like it when her grandmother 'brought work home' with her during winter. Having made the trip through the spacious living area and retrieving what she was looking for, Asuna made use to lock all the doors on the way back, finding the Nara where she had left him.

"You've got three options," she said making her way over to him. "You can borrow a hair tie," she placed a plain black hair tie on the counter. "I have some spare ribbons," she placed a red hair ribbon down, she didn't wear it much, favouring more muted colours, "Or you can just walk around like this." Moving behind him, she ran her fingers through the black locks. It was longer than she had expected it to be. She remembered how much he hated wearing it down when they were little, so she started preparing to tie it up; running her fingers from the roots to the tips to loosening up any tangles, lightly scratching his scalp every now and again. Ino had taught her a lot by rambling on and on about hair and beauty care even if Asuna pretended not to listen. She'd been cornered by the kunoichi many times, having to endure being Ino's guinea pig, tying her hair up this way and that. She didn't ask Ino to do it, but she didn't complain when the fair haired girl was in one of her moods. Asuna tried to remember the things she liked from those session and tried to incorporate what she could as she gently brought Shikamaru's hair into it's normal style. The kitten made its way back onto the counter, Shikamaru's binder still in it's maw, "You're a little shit aren't you? Keep it up and that'll be your name." Asuna's warning was met with an indignant 'Meeewr!' as she smoothed out the male's hair.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Hanaru sat in the back of the class, a glare permanently etched into her features as she ignored Gai sensei's peppy personality. This was about the best and the worst class that she could be in at the moment, considering her anger that was bubbling not-so-inconspicuously underneath the surface. Gai danced in and she barely acknowledged him, too busy staring at one of the dummies and wishing that it's head could explode just by her glaring alone. She missed most, if not all of Gai's motivational speaking, and thankfully if he had noticed her sour expression, he wasn't poking the metaphorical bear (or at least, half demon) today by calling her out (she could hear it even now, something along the lines of "show me a smile! The power of youth needs positivity!"). If anyone else caught her gaze, her glare was unbridled, and her rage seemingly rolled off of her in waves.
To put things mildly, Hanaru was currently not having a good time.
Had she ever been happy? The thought was a depressing one to say the least, and she shoved it away. She was too pissed off to pity herself. She was mad at those dumb shinobi for speaking poorly about Naruto, of whom they should be grateful, and they spoke of things they did not understand. They called Hirozen weak! What a couple of assholes. She refused to acknowledge, however, the part of her that was angry at herself for letting their words and comments get under her skin. When she was a con and an assassin, words and jabs like that never bothered her. In another life where she was still doing dirty work on the street, such small minded phrases and childish threats would have probably made her laugh. So why...? Why did it get to her so much now? And why now, of all times, when she was slowly starting to settle into her new life?
Sasuke didn't exactly sneak up on her, but when he spoke her golden gaze snapped to his figure, pupils dilated in anger as she silently seethed. She opened her mouth to retort, her instinctual response being somewhat along the lines of 'trust me, you don't want any of this right now,' but she hesitated. He was right, after all. If she had learned one thing from their little rivalry, it was that Sasuke was no push over. When he fought, he did so all out. She knew he had a rather accomplished older brother--of course their family, being the famous (or infamous) Uchiha clan had a reputation that proceeded them--especially on the streets, considering their members usually were parts of the special police, etc. "You're going to regret asking me," she warned, but her initial murderous rage subsided from her face, replaced by a troubled scowl.
Thankfully it wasn't long before Gai had them partnering off to spar against each other. Though many girls immediately looked for Sasuke, Hanaru found the attention of many angry fangirls was heating her back as she lead them over to the far corner of the gym. It was a large space, and it needed to be, what with so many ninja trainees that passed through there on a daily basis. Getting into a fighting stance, Hanaru barely waited for him to prepare himself before she silently darted forward. She sent him a feint jab to his right before putting her full force towards his left side, a grunt leaving her lips. From their previous fights, Sasuke would have been able to feel how much her emotions amplified her strength. Being a half demon, after all, had a few perks. Namely inherent chakra control, chakra reserves, incredible strength and speed. "Think you can keep up, Sasuke?" she growled, her eyesbrows narrowing as into each punch and kick, she threw in her feelings of anger, resentment, annoyance. Hanaru was nothing if not volatile. She didn't even realize that she had actually referred to him as his name rather than some cheap insult.

---------------

"Fricken little devil," Shikamaru swore under his breath, watching the cat dash and skirt under their feet as though it wasn't affected by the damage it had done. He glared in its direction, although it failed to notice this, weaving its way between his legs while purring, and Shikamaru groaned as he could almost literally feel his heart melting. Why did it have to be so damn adorable?!
His hair was a mess, not unlike his life, and he groaned, blowing a stray strand out of his eyes, before looking to Asuna with a sigh. When she suddenly gave him a compliment, he couldn't help the confident smirk that appeared on his face. "Oh, you really think so? Maybe I will, in that case," before leaning against the counter as he studied the way she turned to the side and nervously tugged on a strand of sandy blonde hair. Nervous? About what? Could she have been... blushing? He dismissed the idea, because thinking of Asuna with a blush was defintiely going to make himself blush, and any situation like that was definitely NOT ideal for the Nara. He narrowed his gaze to fight it off, nodding as she moved to disappear. "I ain't goin' anywhere," he said incredulously, but in a nearly teasing way. As if she shouldn't be surprised at all that he was planning on sticking around.
He'd never leave a teammate hanging like that--of course that's why, he reasoned with himself. If Ino REALLY needd him there, and there was literally no one else who could help, Shikamaru would be there for her. Maybe. It would take a lot of begging. He shook his head, these thoughts were seriously starting to make him admit dumb things to himself. Something about being around Asuna and in her aura made him a lot more relaxed and loose-tongued. He merely equated it to having grown up together, as after all, they knew all of each other's everything when they were little. That kind of energy between two people was surely enough to explain the tension he felt. Yeah, that was it.
When Asuna returned, he pushed off from the counter, casually moving to stand next to her as she provided him with different hair tying options. He cringed lightly at the sight of the red ribbon--get laughed off the streets? No thank you. No self-respecting shinobi wore ribbons in his hair. At least... not that Shikamaru had seen. He considered for a moment just leaving his hair as it was, down, but he remembered the exact reason why he liked to pull it up in the first place. Hair was annoying but he liked the look of it (he wouldn't pull of bald very well)--when it was down it gets in your mouth and the wind ruins it easily. There was no doubt in his mind that he needed to put his hair back up. And not with the ribbon.
Shikamaru couldn't help but close his eyes as Asuna ran her fingers through his hair, moving behind him to do so. There it was again! That feeling of calmness that he didn't want to lose, though he was unsure of its origins, he knew enough that he rather liked the feeling, and so he didn't say anything to jeopardize the soft moment. He chuckled at Asuna's clear, if not a little annoyed, like for the kitten. "Great, I know he already acts like he owns the place, but I think a kitten will do you some good," he nodded, before smirking and looking back at her over his shoulder. "Who knows--maybe he'll even force you to mellow out?" Of course he was expecting any sort of hit, playful or otherwise, but either way he raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm kidding, I promse...! Now, could you please help fix my hair." He picked up the plain ponytail from the counter, offering it back to her. "Your hands are already up there, anyway."

 

[Iron Mouse]

"I am mellow," Asuna said in mock offense, hitting Shikamaru's arm before bringing his hair together and trapping it in the confines of the hair tie. Resting her hands on his shoulders, she leaned closer, "Maybe if you show up early enough one morning, I can sort you out so you can wear it down without having it in your face," she paused for a moment, "It really doesn't look half bad." Freeing him from her grasp she scooped up the red ribbon, tying it around her wrist so she wouldn't forget it later. The soft ring of the bell above the door triggered a "Welcome to the Shuffle of Things," from the blonde instinctively, her face defaulting into a somewhat bored expression, thinking it was that old lady that came to browse every other day. She hated people who browsed. In the door stood a relatively tall man with sandy blond hair. Asuna looked up, her expression not changing as her old man stood there looking confused and surprised.
She was about to throw a sarcastic comment at him, a 'Look what the cat dragged in' or a 'Welcome back Mr. Takanashi' but the look on his face quickly changed to an ear splitting grin, "Shikamaru Nara! Is that you? In my shop!" he excitedly made his way to the young man, dropping a casual "Hi pumpkin," as he passed the annoyed girl ignoring the angry look she was giving him. "I haven't seen you since you were just an itty bitty little thing! Just look how much you've grown!" he was much too happy for his daughter's liking as she grabbed the broom and swept out the invisible dust he trekked into the shop. The man was practically gushing, talking non stop and asking every question from 'How's the family?' to 'Do you have a girlfriend yet?'. "Dad, stop it, you're embarrassing everyone in the room right now," Asuna decided to save Shikamaru after her father's line of questioning turned invasive. "Right, right! It's just so good to see you again!" Eiji just unapologetically laughed it all off, "Well, you know where everything is! Help yourself, our home is yours! And don't let little Asu bully you into doing her chores!"

Asuna roller her eyes, her father always had to be a little extra around people, "If you'll excuse us for just a hot minute," she looked over to her old man who had opened the back door nodding for her to follow. Silently she made her way to the office, leaning against the desk while he closed the doors and joined her, his goofy smile faltering. They were quiet for what felt like forever before he pulled out a packet of cigarettes, slipping one between his lips. The tension was thick enough to choke on. "Tch, that's not good for you," Asuna couldn't stand the silence, it was putting her on edge. "Funny, found these in your room," her father just gave her a side glance. They already had this fight. He didn't want to open up that can of worms again, at least not with her little friend in the other room. The walls were deceptively thin.
"Why are you snooping in my room?"
"I was hoping to stumble on a diary, but I was just looking for my hat." A loaded silence engulfed them again. "Don't wait up for me tonight," he finally said, "I know you want to go see her, but give it a couple of days." Green eyes hadn't left her form, studying her reaction carefully. "Is it that bad?" Asuna tried to sound calm, but her hands were white knuckled, gripping the edge of the desk with all of her strength in an attempt to keep herself steady. "There's some complications, but she's showing new symptoms," he knew it wasn't pleasant to hear, but the doctors couldn't tell what was wrong with his wife and as they had explained to him her symptoms were very few and very vague, so it was hard to pinpoint what was causing her illness. The more symptoms that popped up the more they could narrow it down. It was a long and tedious process and left the rest of the family with a lot of stress and uncertainty.

"It wouldn't be the end of the world if you closed up for the afternoon. It's nice to see you happy with your friends," he spoke softly and he knew from the glare he was receiving that his daughter completely disagreed with him. No matter how much she complained about working there, she'd never close up shop early unless it was a matter of life and death. Reaching over, his hand found its way onto her head only for it to be batted off. "It's not good for you, y'know," Asuna scoffed as her father echoed her words back at her, his hand reaching for her again, grabbing hold of her shoulder. He always got like this when something happened to her mother. For some stupid reason he thought she needed comforting and always tried to coax her into a hug. She didn't want that, she wanted to go outside and finish scrubbing the shelves, maybe throw out the storage room and clean that too! "Dad, stop it," she pulled away from him, but he had a firm grip on her arm, "Let go!" she started struggling, but he was stronger than he looked as he pulled her to him, locking his arms around her. "Dad! Stop, let me go!" she wasn't sure what she'd knocked off the table but she could hear it thud against the floor as she struggled to get out of her father's embrace. "You can fight me all you want, but I'm not letting you go until you let it out," Eiji said calmly as her struggling became weaker, he didn't look at her knowing she already felt vulnerable enough like this, "Don't keep these things bottled up." Asuna couldn't begin to describe how much she hated this as her body started to shake and tears spilled from her eyes. She felt so weak as she grabbed fists ful of her old man's shirt; biting down on her lip to keep her sobs to herself, her eyes already having betrayed her as she cried into the man's chest.

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​

Sasuke was thrown on the defense surprisingly early. Each kick and punch had an extra weight to them, she wasn't just fighting as she normally did. No, there was something more to it. He could almost feel the anger in her attacks bleeding into his own skin. He waited for an opening, but her barrage was relentless. "You can't hit Sasuke like that!" a girl shouted angrily, he didn't bother to see who, it didn't matter. There was the smallest sliver of a gap and he took it, launching himself up and throwing a kick at her, "Hey! Eyes on me! Don't you dare get distracted!" he yelled. Their fight was already moving away from where they had originally started as it got more and more fierce. Blow for blow, each time one of them made contact it seemed to echo and bounce off of the walls. Some students had stopped their own sparring to watch, not sure if the fight was allowed as it looked a lot more aggressive than regular sparring. Sasuke kept his eyes on the purplette, he was being forced to defend again. Her golden eyes held so much emotion, and it made him wonder just where all of it was coming from. That was a mistake though, as he was pondering this he missed the fist coming right at his face. The impact sent him back a little, and his hand instinctively came up, feeling there was a small scratch on his face. "Psh, is that all you've got? I thought this was a fight!" he smirked. He activated his Sharingan, it wasn't technically a ninjutsu so Gai couldn't scold him for using it, but from the look of it, Hanaru still had a lot to dish out.

"Sasuke! You can do it!"
"Yeah, Sasuke! Don't let her beat you! You're better than her!"
Sasuke didn't really hear the girls cheering, it was all just white noise to him as he stared at Hanaru with his red eyes, "Just ignore them, I'm right here!" It came out a lot less cocky than he intended, it sounded almost earnest. His eyes had more clarity now, he could see her chakra, it was insane, almost like Naruto's when the blond was really giving it his all.
Gai watched his students, but he paid extra close attention to the duo in the back, tearing up the floor. He usually had an eye on Hanaru as requested by lord Sarutobi, to make sure she progressed and kept out of trouble. He knew about her, most teachers were informed of her past, and it made sense to him. Where would be a safer place to put such a troubled child than under the constant watch of highly trained shinobi? Today though, there was something different about her, her whole aura screamed murder and he wasn't sure what to make of the Uchiha boy approaching her in the first place, she wasn't hiding her mood in the slightest. He'd heard from Kakashi that they had a hot blooded rivalry, so he left them to their own devices, but things were escalating and while he wasn't opposed to such youth and such vigor, they were starting to disrupt his class.

With the extra added edge of his eyes, Sasuke could see her moves better and he could see the openings each hit left and he'd gotten a few good jabs in. He was still taking a lot of hits, but he was oddly fine with it. Quickly he ducked down, grabbing the matt beneath her and he pulled it up. As expected, she was quick on her feet, he'd have to fix that, so he proceeded to throw the matt at her. Ducking and dodging, he pulled the matts out from under her, it at least kept her away from him long enough to regain his own footing. He was about to tackle her down to the ground when a large hand grabbed him by the collar, "Now that is the hot blooded passion I love to see!" Gai had stepped in, keeping them at arms length from each other. Sasuke was panting, the sweat was dripping down his face, he'd taken a lot of hits in their fight but the adrenalin was still pumping strongly in his veins so he couldn't feel any of the bruises that were forming. "Ha! You remind me so much of myself! There is no time like the springtime of youth, but the two of you are tearing down my gym!" Sasuke glanced around, in his personal opinion the damage they did was tame in comparison to the length he was willing to go for Hanaru. He could feel the heat blooming on his face, but brushed it off as being a side effect of their tussle.
Gai didn't really want to reprimand them, it didn't look like they were about to seriously hurt each other, but he also didn't want it getting completely out of hand, "On the bench! Take five and let the others get a chance to try out their own thing!" he commanded them.
"Tch, the others should learn to fight in any circumstance. If this was war, you can't just ask everyone to stop and take turns!" Sasuke spat, pulling away from the much older man. He pulled at the hem of his shirt, bringing it up wipe the sweat from his brow. Ugh, he needed a shower and a new shirt as this one was drenched and slightly torn at the bottom. "That may be so, young Sasuke, but this is my classroom! That means you have to conform to my rules!" Sasuke just muttered a 'whatever' as he stalked away to 'take five'. That logic was as bad as the teacher's fashion sense.

Sasuke was a little annoyed that their fight had been cut short, "Sorry for the interruption," he said pulling his shirt up again to wipe at the wetness he felt on his cheek. From the sting he could tell it was the cut, but from the discoloration on his shirt he deemed it not worthy of a trip to the infirmary. He was quiet for a while, shooting a glance at the purplette, he could still feel the burn in his arms from her blows. The adrenaline was slowly leaving his system. "Do you feel better?" he asked slowly, looking her over, the formation of a bruise on her arm catching his eye. They really weren't holding back. "Hn, just what had you so worked up? You don't let things usually get to you like that," he kept his voice low, his eyes weren't as fierce as they usually were. For once he wasn't looking to nitpick, he genuinely was curious. He'd seen her annoyed, he'd seen her angry, but her eyes held a kind of hatred that he hadn't seen before, it made him feel...angry. He didn't know why, but he wanted to find whatever it was and make sure it didn't ever do whatever it did to offend her again. There was just something about the look, that made him want to do something, anything to just...he wasn't sure what he wanted to do, or why he wanted to do anything about it in the first place...but he felt something bubbling up in his abdomen. "You know," he started, "if you ever need to let off some steam..." where was he going with this? Stop! "...you know where to find me."

 

[AwkwardSilence]

It had been a long time since Shikamaru had talked with Eiji Takanashi, but that didn't mean he hadn't seen him just around. This was especially true considering how much time Shikamaru spent at the part that was rather close to the Shuffle of Things cloud watching. It was really hard not to hear him, regardless, considering he could be really loud etc. when he wanted to be. "Ah, hey, Mr. Takanashi," he rose a hand in greeting, before using it to rub the back of his neck awkwardly. He couldn't say that it was the worst experience he'd ever had with an adult, but he did seem to be doing a good job at embarrassing Asuna, which in return made him snicker. At all of the questions, the Nara simply stared at him blankly, the only sign of his discomfort being a small bead of sweat falling from his brow at Eiji's persistence.
When he was little, he used to think Mr. Takanashi was rather cool. Now? He didn't know what to think. He was alright, he supposed. It was so funny how little kids used to idolize the adults in their lives, and then they grew out of such admiration. Shikamaru supposed he liked Eiji's commitment to not only the store, but his family. Asuna could be a bit of a hardass, and he supposed she had gotten that from the countless amount of times that she had to learn to do things on her own--he felt bad for her, honestly. Growing older was already a pain enough at a normal pace, but from what Shikamaru could see, she was really doing her best to be the most mature one in her family, trying to keep them stuck together despite their circumstances. He sighed inwordly--she was so troublesome. Was today the first day in a really long time that she had actually told him her concerns? It sure seemed like it. In fact, so much so that he couldn't even remember the last time it happened.
"It's good to see you too, Sir," Shikamaru nodded blankly, just deciding rolling with the situation would make things a lot less awkward. In fact, was it possible to go further than where they were--you know what, maybe he shouldn't ask that. When he commented about not letting Asuna bully him into doing her chores, he shook the words off, waving a hand slightly as he shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing. Didn't need her to order me around I just wanted to be useful." Which was true. Shikamaru offered them a wave as they moved towards the room in the back that connected them to the house. "No worries--I'll watch the counter." He knew how much Asuna hated to close the shop for no reason. Once he'd even caught her running the counter while she was supposed to be home and in bed due to the fever she was running--it was just a headcold, but still. If he thought she was annoying to argue with regularly, a sick/determined Asuna was intense.
It was private matters and it wasn't any of his business to snoop, so Shikamaru made it a point to stay away from any area where he may or may not overhear their conversation. It was none of his business, like he had said, and if Asuna really thought it was relevant to know, she would tell him. Either that or he'd wait for the issue to boil a little before he poked it with a 10 foot pole. Putting the dust from the dustpan in the garbage, Shikamaru stood behind the till, head in his hand as he stared blankly off into space. Honestly, anything was better than Gai sensei's taijutsu class. Hearing some scuffling down in front of the counter, he looked down to see that dumb cat staring up at him with the blank expression. Almost as if he could tell what the cat was thinking as it tilted its head comically, he pointed to the door. "She's in there bud, and you can't interrupt." Cats can't talk to humans, but he could try with his chakra, but that was some advanced stuff he'd only read about and he wasn't so sure he had an affinity with cats. "I know, it sucks, but things are hard. They've gotta be there for each other." The cat 'mraowed' at him before jogging around the counter, only to crawl up his leg and torso, Shikamaru grunted whenever tiny kitten claws pressed a little too deeply into his clothing, but he endured it until the cat/parrot was perched on his shoulder, taking in the new height with his big wide bug-eyes. Shikamaru rolled his own deep brown orbs, looking out towards the street through the windows once more.

-----------

Hanaru grunted with each strike and hit, a nasty snarl in the back of her throat as she bared the onyx haired male her fangs in full force. Each time a new person cheered for the prodigy, her hits would hit harder and her ears would flick in their direction, but his call to keep focused on him held her gaze. She blinked, since when was Sasuke this chatty? Such a question was unnecessary considering their situation, and how she couldn't afford to be distracted. One thing she did notice, however, was that with each display of strength, her anger only lulled to a dull throbbing. Like an ache that she couldn't quite get of. It was annoying, and frustrating, and when she thought about the fact that Sasuke was at least helping her, she only became angrier.
His eyes suddenly went red and had swirling tomoe, and she felt her own gaze narrow. She wasn't completely in the dark, though she didn't know everything about the infamous Sharingan. She couldn't keep a small little smirk off of lips, though her murderous intent still seemingly rolled off of her in waves. Her heart was pounding with a feeling she couldn't quite identify or place. The hits, though she would never actually voice this out loud to him, actually hurt. He wasn't a pushover, like some of the weaklings she had spared against. Hanaru wasn't the best, she knew this. She was a loose cannon, uncontrolled and completely volatile, like a cornered beast, she thrashed and growled, baring her fangs for anyone who got too close.
Actually getting less of Sasuke on the defensive side, Hanaru's heart pounded even faster, the thrill of adrenaline rushing through her veins. Sasuke, like usual, made for a good sparing partner, but now that she had seen the sharingan in action, she was curious to see how that would affect their spars after school. However, before they could do any real damage to themselves, each other, or the space/students around them, Gai sense stepped in, firmly gripping her shoulder as he spoke more flowery bs that Hanaru wanted to do nothing more than ignore for the rest of eternity. Rolling her eyes, she roughly pulled herself from his grip, her eyes narrowed slightly. The fight was a good outlet, as she thought it was, but she was still frustrated, and she stalked off to go try and cool off.
Hanaru couldn't help but agree with Sasuke on his parting wisdom--if anyone even fought as half as good as that last match, she'd be a little more interested in her peers. But no. they'd set the bar high and now everyone else was going to fall flat (like normal). When she had sat down, the purple haired half demon stretched lightly, just to make sure she hadn't extensively hurt anything. Aside from some dark bruising, she was otherwise alright, and she turned as she heard Sasuke's voice, a forced chuckle flowing through her lips. "Yeah, I think I'm fine. It's nothing for you to be too worried about." She glared at the ground for a moment as she listened to him speak, unsure of how to respond as she did her best to turn her troubled expression away from him. She hated being so openly transparent, but she couldn't help it. That's just how she was and acted. "... thank you..." she mumbled finally, after there was a decent pause. Her words were surprisingly soft. Hanaru was even surprised mildly at the tone that came out of her mouth.
His movement caught her eye as he used his shirt to wipe his face. Turning and seeing a thin slice on his cheek, currently bleeding, caused her to freeze in place. For a moment, a look of guilt flashed through her eyes at the sight of his blood, but she swallowed it quickly, sighing. "Shit, sorry," she mumbled under her breath. Her sleeves weren't a part of her top, and they were replaceable. She could get new sleeves. Taking one off as a sort of makeshift handkerchief or something, she moved to him, her gaze relatively calm and focused as she leaned in to dab at the bleeding cut. Her arm, which was usually always covered, was thin and lean, strong muscle hinted at underneath. Over it stretched many scars, showing him that her face and her shoulder weren't the only places that she housed such relics of her past.

 

[Iron Mouse]

Argh! Why did he say that? It sounded so stupid, 'you always know where to find me'? That was probably the lamest thing that's ever come out of his mouth. He wasn't here to get all buddy-buddy with people, so why was he literally going against his own nature? Sasuke's mind felt like it was racing at a hundred miles a minute, he almost didn't register the girl talking to him. "Hn? Oh, it's nothing. Naruto and I have beaten each other into the infirmary before." he let out a surprised little grunt feeling something press against his face. Turning his gaze sideways to confirm what this was, he found that Hanaru was holding her sleeve against his face, dabbing at the small cut. His eyes were drawn to her exposed arm, his brows furrowed slightly taking the sight of her arm in. Scars, some big, some small, they were definitely not self inflicted. His eyes drifted slowly up, following her marred skin until their eyes met. He had so many questions, his theory was gaining more realism in his mind, but this wasn't the place to ask any of them. "This...is why you don't come swimming with us..." it was his silent revelation, if this was just one of her arms- no, he wasn't going to get into it. He shouldn't pry, but some part of him wanted to, there was a strange sinking feeling in his chest and stomach. It was like thick coagulated oil suddenly forced itself into his lungs and was seeping down his insides. He also felt...angry? Like before, when they were fighting, he wanted to somehow take it all away and put a stop to whoever had done this. There was an odd prickling sensation scraping it's way over his head and he could feel his hair stand on end. It was the oddest sensation and he wasn't sure why it was overcoming him or where it was even coming from.

He wasn't sure when his fists started clenching or when he started seething through his teeth, he could feel the inky black anger bubbling up to the surface, permeating through his skin. Taking a deep breath through his nose, Sasuke tried to centre himself, "It's fine, stop fussing," he tried to bite back the unwarranted feelings, as he pulled away slightly in favour of leaning back, stretching himself out as the class continued on. He was quiet, but he found his gaze drifting over to the purple haired girl. "Your brother?" he didn't want to pry, but he wanted to somewhat confirm his theory, maybe he should see one of the teachers with an anonymous tip off, or he should just go home and tell his father? His father was the chief of the Konoha police, he'd know what to do, but on the other hand, he didn't want it to be obvious that it was him, again he didn't want to get involved, he wasn't there to make friends. He looked over to her again, this time her eyes were boring into his like liquid gold and he held it a little too long before turning away, "I don't want to pry, I don't expect you to just tell me either. So I'll let you do you," he said but quickly bit his tongue, what was he saying, he wanted to know! No, he didn't! His internal turmoil was starting to show, he didn't know what he wanted anymore. Why did the purplette have to make things so complicated?

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​

Asuna hugged her dad, even after the uncontrollable shaking had stopped. She pulled away, wiping at her face, "I'll be ok, we're always ok," her chest felt somewhat lighter even though her head was pounding. "I hope so, I don't think my shirt would have survived any longer!" the man held out his arms emphasising the wetness on his shirt, in a dramatic display, teasing her again. "You're terrible," she couldn't help the small laugh that escaped, her old man was such a dweeb sometimes. "I'm going to wash my face, ugh, I feel gross," she complained as she opened the office door, heading to the sink. Eiji stayed leaning against the desk for another moment or two, finishing off his cigarette before grabbing a large binder that was practically bursting at the seams with paperwork as he stepped out. He wasn't in line for any 'father of the year' awards, but sometimes he listened to the things his daughter wasn't saying. "Don't forget to live your own life, Asuna. You're still just a kid," he said as his free hand rested on the door to the display room, "You can be old and gray, but you'll always be my little girl," he countered before she could open her mouth to shoot him a sarcastic comment about not being a kid anymore. He knew it, he saw it everyday, and it was a little frightening knowing she was almost an adult.

Opening the door he stepped out, a smile plastered on his face, "So sorry! I didn't mean to rope you into counter duty, I guess little Asu's rubbing off on me!" he chirped, his eye catching the kitten hanging off of Shikamaru's shoulder. He was in front of the boy in record time, scratching and petting the purring ball of fluff that just soaked up the attention, scooping him up; "Aren't you a good kitty? You keeping these kids out of trouble? Aw yes, you're my new favourite son, aren't you?" he cooed before putting the cat down again. It jumped around before scurrying off, Asuna jumping slightly as she almost stepped on the poor thing as it scuttled under her feet to explore the back room. "Ugh, I told you not to feed it, now that little monster won't leave!" she left the door open enough for the cat to squeeze through, "At least now I have two little monsters running around!" Eiji was quick to retort, smiling like he'd just won some raffle, "Would you care to join us for dinner sometime, Shikamaru?" he was full on teasing her now, Serious Dad was back to using her logic against her. Asuna just shook her head taking up her rightful spot behind the counter. She eyed the file tucked under her old man's arm, averting her gaze from the large wet spot in the middle of his shirt, "Don't forget to bring it back. I need it for budgeting." She hadn't finished talking before a large hand tousled her hair, "I'll take care of the reports, don't break your head over it." His large hand then moved over grasp Shikamaru's shoulder, "Now, I should be telling you not to skip school, but as long as you two stay out of trouble, we can pretend I don't know anything."

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Hanaru dabbed at his face lightly, trying not to hurt him (unlike barely five minutes earlier), though she didn't always know or comprehend her own strength, and humans could be so fragile sometimes. She didn't even notice his gaze on her arm until he had spoken, and though their eyes had met briefly before, she was quite preoccupied working on stopping the blood flow on his cheek. Though it was small, there was still guilt within her being. Like a deadly bile that had risen up within her throat. You'd think that an excon wouldn't have feelings of guilt or regret, but when Hanaru was an assassin for hire, there were no saints among the sinners. All the hits she had taken and completed were rivals, yakuza members, cheating spouses, etc. Not the innocent. Yes, Sasuke was a twat and sometimes... okay, most of the time, acted stuck up and entitled to the point where she wanted to knock him on his back. But he was still innocent--it hadn't been Sasuke that Hanaru's murderous intent was aimed at. 'And yet I let you take the backlash anyway...' she thought, an internal, regretful sigh echoing in her person, as she fought to maintain a passive exterior.
She looked from his deep onyx orbs down to her arm and back. Oh. Right. Her scars. The purple haired half demon shook her head, her eyes narrowing in a glare. "Not really." Yes, really. "Who swims for fun? Psychopaths, that's who." That wasn't a lie, Hanaru hated water, and she hated when people called her out on it just because she was half nekomanta. That had nothing to do with it! You drank, you bathed, you cleaned with water. You didn't just go jump in it for the hell of it. That was stupid. Normally he might not have picked up on such a nuance, but considering their faces were quite close, he most definitely heard it. Speaking of close faces, Hanaru realized slowly how far she had leaned in, and she found a steady heat--of embarrassment!!--building upon her cheeks. His words had her backing up like he had burned her, quickly turning away. Geez, she was lucky Gai sensei was keeping everyone busy sparring otherwise she probably would have been hounded by Sasuke stans trying to pick a fight, and she wasn't sure that in her current emotional state if she could hold back enough. "I wasn't fussing!"
Gritting her teeth, she looked to her bloodied sleeve and sighed, taking the other off--it was in similar shape. At the mention of her brother, she froze before shaking her head. A hand unconsciously made its way up to her face, tracing the edges of her scar over her nose and back again. "No... just the one. I haven't seen my brother since I was 10," she paused there for a moment before shrugging. "There's a lot you don't know about me, and it's best to be kept that way." Her tone wasn't harsh, but it wasn't exactly sweet either. Amber orbs turned to him as she sighed. "I'm gonna go to the infirmary to get some ice--do you need anything..." realizing that she was being amiable, the half demon bristled, her ears flattening on her head as her cheeks lit aflame again. "N-not that I'd help you, y-you try hard!" She cut herself off before she said something else--something stupider than the nonsense that had already come out of her mouth. It was better this way, too. Hopefully he would leave the conversation well enough alone. The less the others knew about her past as an ex-con, the safer they were. So far, Hanaru hadn't been contacted by any of her former clients, but it had only been a couple of months. The shinobi of Konoha were doing a great job of keeping things under wraps, but it was only a matter of time before the abyss came knocking, and she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Of course, she liked her new life. She'd never admit that to anyone but herself, but despite school and classes being difficult, and she'd never studied before and yet she was putting so much work and training in... Well. She felt it was a glimpse into the life that her mother had wanted for her. Her soul was forever tainted black, but if she could take one step closer to amending her past mistakes, and somehow let her mother's soul find rest in heaven, even if she burned in hell she was willing to do it. The others were annoying, but considering she had never (and would never) forgive herself for the death of Izayoi, she wouldn't know what to do with herself if one of her classmates died and it was all her fault.

-----------

When Eiji came back, Shikamaru waved a hand lazily, telling the man non-verbally that very little mattered to the boy with the spiky ponytail. He pondered for a moment, wondering about the outcome that might have followed if Mr. Takanashi had walked in on Asuna doing his hair for him. He had to fight back a blush at the thought, and that annoyed him. Would she have flushed a shade of pink as well? Not like he cared all that much, but he had wondered that for awhile now. "Ah, sir, I believe the cat is your only son--" Shikamaru started to say, meaning, by proxy, of course the cat was his favorite. However, he chose not to speak about it any more considering Asuna walked in just as it scurried off into the back of the store upon her return. "Yeah, don't be so harsh on the cat, Asu-chan," Shikamaru teased, jumping on the band wagon. Shikamaru wasn't blind--the wet spot on Mr Takanashi's shirt was painfully obvious. On one hand he wanted to ask Asuna about it when they were alone, but on the other he didn't want to pry his nose into where it didn't belong. And again, that being said, he knew that Asuna was totally the type to bottle everything up inside and not 'bother' other people with what she was struggling with which wasn't healthy, and it put him in a bit of a tough spot.
"Ah, thanks, I'll have to take you up on that sometime," Shikamaru spoke, knowing the game that her father was playing. Shika wasn't exactly playing along--dinner away from his parents sounded nice. At least here he'd be asked different questions other than the judgmental ones at home that made him want to go punch holes into the drywall in his bedroom. He smelled cigarette smoke as Eiji walked past him, having become used to the scent, even when faint, thanks to how much time he spent with Asuma sensei. Speaking of places to escape from his house--Shikamaru had often wandered the city streets, bored out of his mind when his parents were mental enough to hound him with enough questions and lectures in order for him to escape to his room, and then down the drainage pipe and out onto the streets. This had been happening even more frequently when they had first been named Squad 10, and it was there that Asuma sensei had found him wandering. Inviting him into his apartment, he and Shikamaru played Shogi until the sun fell. Ever since then, he spent more evenings with their Sensei than he did at home, though none of their teammates knew about it. He looked to Asuna as her dad ruffled her hair, and he snickered lightly, only to freeze as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Oops, almost busted. Shikamaru nodded with a smirk. "Call it an internship," he suggested, shrugging with a small smirk.
"Next time maybe we can collectively convince my dad to get off of my back," he joked, but it wasn't a joke but it was. "What he doesn't know won't kill him." Still leaning against the counter, he pushed off, going back towards the cleaning supplies. "Trust me, this is way more interesting than anything we should be doing at school right now. I swear if I hear one more "Youthful speech" from Gai sensei I might use my shadow to make him fly out the door." The threat wasn't immanent, though the Nara had seriously considered such an act before. The backlash from doing so definitely made him question whether or not it was worth the detention and the gym-floor scrubbing, but he would decide each incident on a case-by-case basis. Looking to Asuna for guidance, he glided his hand over the different cleaning supplies before settling on a rag that was used for dusting. Picking up an item nearby that had maybe sat on the shelf since time immemorial, he began dusting, keeping his hands busy as Mr. Takanashi disappeared to go take care of those reports. Once they were along again, Shikamaru sighed. Did he bring up the fact that Asuna, despite probably having rubbed her eyes dry, still had a fair bit of water in her tear ducts? Or that both her shirt and Eiji's were wet right at the height it would be if she had hugged him while they were both sitting down?
"Is... everything okay?" He cursed his mouth internally as he broke the silence. He didn't show it outwardly as he braced for impact. Surely if her mother was significantly worse/no longer with them, neither would be able to still joke like they were. "With your mom?" He bit his lip, hoping he wasn't being insensitive. Remembering a little bit of tact, he made sure not to ask about the tear stains, though he certainly noted each one. Why did seeing her so upset feel so... weird? Sure girls cried. Guys did to--even himself. He'd cried out of frustration many a times--granted, not when anyone was around, but still. It was a natural thing that people did. And yet some part of him absolutely despised seeing Asuna said. Trying to figure out why this may be led him down many different pathways, most of them absolutely not possible. So the placeholder until he found out more info about this anger in himself for her feelings, he was going to choose "the team suffers if she suffers."

 

[Iron Mouse]

Asuna couldn't help the chuckle as she could see Gai-sensei flying out of the gym. If he was lucky, Shikamaru could get off easy for having the guts to do it. On the other hand, Gai-sensei might decide to have him run one of his 'advanced' courses of which only one student was brave enough to even consider doing. She watched Shikamaru looking at the cleaning products, and she gave a nod of approval once his hands hovered over the folded cloth. With a "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" her father had left. Shikamaru wasn't dumb, and her father wasn't exactly hiding the evidence of her moment of weakness, but she still hoped he wouldn't ask about it. He did and she had to swallow the lump that was still stuck in her throat, regretting having reached out to him that morning as now he was making her business his own.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed herself away from the counter, going back to the shelf she had been cleaning before. "I know it's obvious, but I was hoping you wouldn't ask," she said quietly, biting her lip as she wondered whether to just leave it all or open up about it. Well, he was already here because she couldn't keep her big mouth shut, "It's hard to say, really. They don't really know what's wrong with her, they've already exhausted the list of possibilities, so now they just wait...and hope new symptoms pop up," her eyes stayed focused on the surface as she spoke. "The old man's not telling me much, but I can't see her for a few days. Which means it's up there with the bad ones," another deep breath to push down the lump in her throat. No. No more crying, it wasn't going to help her or anyone else to cry over something she couldn't fix.

"It sucks but life goes on and we keep on living," if only it was that easy to just shake it all off, well, she tried at least. Falling into the meticulous rhythm that had long since became a second nature, Asuna moved from shelf to shelf, not leaving a single trinket, jar, statuette or assorted box upturned until she ran out of shelves at which point the heavy silence caught up to her. Looking over her shoulder, she watched Shikamaru quietly minding his own business, a sliver of guilt was rising up to the surface again, he was just being nice and she was being...well, not the best. They were actually having a good time, bonding like they hadn't done in so so long, and she was happy even to know he trusted her enough to play with his hair like that. Asuna looked away, feeling the heat on her cheeks, why was she blushing, it wasn't like they were doing anything intimate! They were just hanging out. "Hey, if you're going to browse, you better be buying," she walked over pulling his attention away from the lucky cat statuette. 'Sorry' wasn't a word she liked to say. "It's not for sale you know," she gave a small smile even if her eyes still felt puffy. Bumping his shoulder lightly with hers, "Gran thinks it's lucky," she whispered like it was a well kept secret. "I think dad was happy to see you again, he doesn't invite just anyone to dinner these days," it was true, but she also didn't have friends over that often for him to try and tie them down so they wouldn't ever leave.

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Sasuke listened intently, he was a little surprised that the walking pincushion that had been his main rival since her arrival, was peeling back just enough to feed his curiosity without alluding to too much. Like having just a small square of chocolate and wanting to devour the rest of it all at once, not that he really cared for sweet things. She always had this air of mystery and intrigue, no one actually knew anything about her and she was quick to shut down just about anyone who so much as tried to get close...except for Naruto, but granted, the blond was very persistent. His theory had gone up in smoke, and he was actually somewhat happy about it, but that just left even more questions. At the same time, her tone, the way she averted her gaze, it all confirmed that despite denying it, the scars were the reason she didn't want to go swimming. He was so absorbed with these tiny little tidbits he didn't realize just how close they were until she pulled away and he could feel the tips of his ears burn.

He turned away, coughing slightly to cover up his embarrassment, just how far would they have ended up leaning if he hadn't told her to stop fussing over the tiny cut? The thought just caused a fresh wave of red to blossom down his neck. No, stop it! He'd never ever, in a million years let that happen! The girls in this school were too weird, and he was better off alone without any emotional ties. It would clash with his plans anyway; he was going to graduate and get into the special force training program. Why was he even thinking like this, they weren't that close to each other, there was no way they'd- Maybe he'd better go see a nurse, he was clearly not sound of mind. "No thanks. I don't need anything from you," he said trying to sound like his usual self, but he didn't make eye contact with the girl as he shoved his hands in his pockets. Right, she was going to the infirmary too to get ice, maybe she was just sick, her face was looking a little more red than normal. Ugh, what if she was catching a fever and ended up passing out in the hallway? He wouldn't get that rematch!

"I guess I'll go too," he shrugged, trying to play it off as coolly as he could. He wasn't escorting her, he just wanted to make sure he was in tip top shape. If Gai hadn't stopped their fight, he was sure they'd take it to a whole new level, one that was worthy of his new jutsu he'd been practicing. He'd have gotten the upper hand and beat her and reaffirmed his rightful place on top! "Don't think I was being nice back there, I just want you to bring your A-game later," Sasuke said as he kept a good distance away from the golden eyed female, "It wouldn't be any fun if you were as distracted as you were back there," his reasoning sounded sane and logical and he was going to stick with it. As they walked his mind wandered again, despite his best efforts, as he thought back to what she had said. She hadn't seen her brother since she was ten, so her brother must have been older, and she'd had that scar on her face for what seven? eight years? Just what was she hiding? 'Ugh, I sound like Naruto,' he scoffed at himself. Since when did he give two flying figs? On the other hand, he couldn't imagine not seeing his own brother for such a long period of time. They had a very close bond, he'd go to the ends of the earth for him if he had to. Hm, that could be why he was so curious, his brother was the world to him, what if she had the same bond with her brother? Did their parents separate them? No, the look on her face didn't exactly scream 'Oh brother where art thou', there was something else there...sadness? A bad memory? His eyes drifted down, taking in the sight of both her arms, now unsheathed and bare to the world. Hn, they were from fights. 'Just who were you fighting?' he wondered.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Shikamaru had been expecting her annoyance--if someone was getting into his personal business without inviting them to become involved explicitly, he would have been pissed too. That being said, he took her not objecting to him coming over and skipping as his invitation. He was going to get her to talk, even if he had to shove himself into the store one piece at a time. He'd already had his foot in, after all~. For as long as he could convince himself, he was going to label his reasoning for being so concerned about Asuna as leftover sentiment from them growing up together, but then also because if she suffered, their entire team dynamic suffered. Yeah. That reason. And no other.
Shikamaru couldn't help but chuckle as she bumped shoulders with him, "this dusty old thing? It'll bring you luck, and allergies. How lucky!" He teased her by poking her nose, a calm smirk on his features. He almost had to stop himself as his train of thought broke--even with her puffy, slightly red eyes... man, when did Asuna get so... beautiful? Was that the right word? No, nope, absolutely not. He killed the blush even before it had a chance. Talk about messing with the team dynamic--he absolutely could not let anything like that fester, or it'd be unfair to all of them. "We do keep living," he said softly, looking away from her as he continued to clean, wiping down the counter tops and the items themselves, a sigh on his lips. He was content to be where he was, and that was the bottom line of it. This bonding with her was reminiscent of when they were kids, and the thought of them running around in the dirt and getting yelled at by their parents for scuffling in the backyard... it was enough to bring a grin to his face, and out of really old habit/muscle memory, her through an arm over her shoulders and around her neck, pulling her into a hug-like headlock. "You remember these right? I use to mess your hair up until you cried for mercy!" He threatened with a grin. "I've only gotten stronger, Asuna, don't underestimate my power!"
If there was something that Shikamaru would do for her, not as a teammate, but as an old friend, it was bring a little bit of normalcy, and laughter, to her when she was in a tough situation. He remembered she used to do the same for him when they were really little, so he merely considered this as returning the favor. Anything more and he might get confused again--he'd wait until he was on his own, or maybe even with Asuma sensei in order to figure out all the other stray and betraying thoughts that were running around in his head. "Come on, if we work hard enough you won't have to clean the shop for a week." He let go of her in favor of setting the cat statuette down, moving over to a different portion, but not before throwing another rag at her face. "Bet you I can clean not only faster, but better than you can," the Nara challenged, looking back at her as he began working diligently, surprising even himself at his ability to clean. His room was messy, but not unorganized--he just had to do laundry and the occasional chore to help around the house, but Shikamaru's primary way he helped out his family, was he cooked. it sounded really amusing, which was why he didn't exactly tell anyone else about it, but Shikamaru was a surprisingly good chef. "You win... I'll cook you lunch next week. Come on, place your bet."

-----------

'The world.' The unspoken answer to his unspoken question. Hanaru was facing off against the world from the moment she was born, considering the whole world was rather against her existence. Yes, she had worked for individuals in the past who hadn't treated her any different from any of the other assassins that they had met and done business with, but there was always, without fail, that underlying air of prejudice that had her skin crawling with murderous intent. She couldn't even begin to describe how many smug or disgusted faces she had wanted to wipe off the faces of stupid individuals, who judged her for her heritage. She growled as the onyx haired male blew her off initially, pointing her nose in the air and rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Fine, be that way, ungrateful brat," she sneered, a little bit of that prickly pear cactus attitude of hers coming back. But he was quick to sing a different tune as she was sputtering for words, a low growl under her breath at his words. "Geez, make up your mind, won't you?"
As they began walking down the hallway together, she glared dead ahead, though it slowly lost its weight as they walked together in silence, her hands with her sleeves shoved deep into her pockets. Her hand felt a buzz within her pocket, and she pulled out an old crappy phone that she ended up tossing all over the place (hence why it was old--she broke more phones on accident than she could count, so it didn't make any sense to buy a fancy expensive one) and she glowered at the individual texting her.
Annoying yellow one: Hey, Hanaru-chan!! We're meeting up at the back entrance of the school tonight at midnight! Don't be late! Now I gotta go, I think Gai sensei can see me on my phone ewe
"I guess that's fine," she mumbled under her breath before relaying the information to her onyx-haired companion. "So, are you gonna go, or are you scared of the legend?" She teased, eager to fall back into their normal rivalry. Being amiable without each other, on both ends, was... really weird. It made her stomach tie itself in knots, and her breath caught in her throat, and she couldn't explain the almost sea-sickness-like feeling that it was giving her. Unable to identify the feeling, and not caring enough to try and delve into the emotions (when was she ever willing to do that, honestly?), Hanaru pushed it aside and as far back into her brain, doing her best to ignore it. Like all of her problems! They bottled and bottled themselves, and she was fairly certain that her mind-space was a ticking time bomb waiting to implode--just earlier, with the jonins insulting her, she had seen a small cart of bottled issues explode mentally, it was only a matter of time until the whole place imploded and then where would she be? But that, again, was another worry she shoved deeper under the surface. She'd been so used to protecting herself, even from herself, that it was why the only emotions she usually registered were anger, annoyance, and apathy, which really was the lack thereof.
At his insistence, she snorted, shaking her head. "Or are you just a big softy on the inside? The world may never now~!" She snorted, holding a clawed hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh. "If you wanted to go all out before, you should have whipped out that Sharingan sooner, I was actually starting to get excited for once!" She shot him a cocky smirk. "Maybe you'll stand more of a chance against me? Then again..." she trailed off, still smug, as they made their way to the nurse's office. Knocking on the door they were greeted by Shizune, the attendant, and her pig. Hanaru failed to see how a 'support pig' worked, but she wasn't going to question it. "Hey, can I just get a pack of ice?" she asked blankly, her smirk disappearing, and her eyes narrowed as Shizune jumped lightly at the sight of her. Really? Did her presence scare people that much?
"Oi, were you two fighting again? Cut it out." Tsunade, the head nurse, called from the back of the room where the door to her office was.

 

[Iron Mouse]

"Of course I'll be there," Sasuke said, "Like I'd let you show me up!" he didn't believe the legend was real, most ghost stories were just people's imagination running wild, over exaggerated claims of wind moving curtains and misplaced objects. He wouldn't even have bothered showing up if it wasn't for the sake of his pride. "There's no real ghost, I've heard so many different versions of the story I don't even believe there ever was a student called Sayu," he gave her a sideways glance, "I bet Naruto will start freaking out before we even get to the pool." He was already getting a headache from hearing the blond's hypothetical screams. From the way Hanaru was holding herself and from what she'd said at lunch, it was safe to say she too held a skeptical opinion, but he was sure a well timed jump scare would have her singing a different tune. He would have to prepare a little before they met up, staying up that late was normally not that big of an issue, but he'd have to sneak out of the house and his father was a very light sleeper. The man had startled him before when he'd gotten up for a glass of water, now he makes sure to get a full glass before lights out.

"Shut up, don't be a dunce!" he insisted, him soft? Well, sometimes, but never around his peers, he had a reputation to uphold afterall. In private though, sure, he could stop to appreciate the small things, cats were pretty cool, his mother's flower garden was beautiful and it was one of his favourite places to be when he was trying to relax, but his 'friends' didn't need to know any of that. Sasuke turned his head away with a defiant frown, she was making him think again, why hadn't he activated his sharingan at the start of the fight? Hm, well he wasn't expecting her to start kicking his butt so quickly. Ugh, that sounded so shameful. His hand reached up and rested on her shoulder briefly before he lightly shoved her, "Tch, you're the one who's head was swimming. I didn't want to risk putting you in the infirmary too early." His hand found it's way back into his pocket as the infirmary drew closer, Shizune answering the door as usual and Tsunade yelling at them before they even stepped foot into the office.

"Oh! Ice, yes right away!" Shizune said she hurried to the icebox, she looked a little startled. "Keep it up and I'll ban both of you from the infirmary!" Tsunade yelled, her head peeking out around the office door. Her face clearly said she was getting fed up with them, "Of all the irresponsible knuckleheads in this school you two combined are almost as bad as the Uzumaki boy!" Sasuke rolled his eyes, he wasn't there to be lectured. Shizune came back in no time with an ice pack and handed it to Hanaru, "Who started it this time?" she asked pulling out some antiseptic, dabbing at the Uchiha's face. "No one started anything. It was just training," it wasn't completely untrue, he had literally asked the purplette to fight him, but it was all within the rules of Gai-sensei's class. "Is this it? It's barely a scratch," Shizune raised her eyebrow, the raven haired boy never came to the infirmary unless he was dragged there. Sasuke shifted a little uncomfortably, he didn't want to say that he only came to make sure that Hanaru wouldn't pass out in the hallway, "I just need to lay down for a moment," he blurted out quickly, his ears burning again as he made himself comfortable on the nearest bed. "Alright, I guess," the young woman looked a little confused, then turned to the purplette, "Is there anything else you need?" she tried to treat her like any other student, but she'd heard about what the girl had done in her past and her slight hesitation unfortunately showed. Tontoon on the other hand didn't seem to care much as she oinked up the the purplette.

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A squeak left her as Shikamaru pulled her into a headlock. She didn't deny it, he was stronger than when they were younger, he was also a lot taller. Asuna couldn't help the straggled giggle that escaped as she struggled against his side. It was on instinct, something in her sprang to life expecting him to start messing up her hair. If this was anyone else they'd have gotten an elbow in the gut, but Shikamaru was spared, "Not around the breakables! Take it outside!" Her face was red by the time he let her go, partially because of the struggle and partially because she realized just how much they had changed, physically and mentally, since their last real rough house as two potato babies. If they threw down and started rough housing like they did a good ten years ago- hastily she derailed that train of thought, they weren't kids anymore, her father would skin them alive in a heartbeat.

Catching the rag that was unceremoniously thrown at her, she arched a brow, his challenge was interesting. He really thought he could beat her? This was her life, she had been doing this for so long it seemed like he was setting himself up for failure. "Oh really now? You must have quite the pair on you," a smirk crept over her face as she adopted an air of confidence, "Alright then, I'll see your wager and raise you," just how high was she willing to put the stakes? She was biting at her lip in thought, "If you win," hm, just what could she offer that would make it worthwhile. Stepping up to him, she held up a finger with the most confident look she'd could muster, "For one whole day I will close up shop... And," she jabbed her finger lightly into his chest, "I'll do anything and everything you say." There was no way she could lose, so there was nothing to be worried about.

Maybe she was taking the challenge too seriously, but the wagers were out there and there were no take backs. She let him have a little head start, the master had knowledge of things the novice lacked. Kneeling before the display in the middle of the room, she opened the sliding cupboard and as she expected, her old man had skipped over cleaning the insides for how many weeks now. Piece of cake, really. There was more to the tiny store than what was on display. Quickly she set to unpacking, polishing, and repacking everything as neatly and as orderly as she could. In a life dictated by chaos she at least tried to keep the things around her in order. He'd run out of things to clean on the surface while she had her hands full with the things down under. They'd bumped into each other a couple of times in passing, and as she thought he was running out of counter space. "Hm, 'A' for effort," Her dull green eyes had a small spark of amusement until there was a crash in the backroom and she remembered the cat was unsupervised, "Cat!" she called getting up to go see what the little furry monster was breaking, her dusting cloth lay forgotten on the floor. "Cat, what are you doing?" she demanded glaring down at the unblinking bug eyed fluff ball. It was clinging to the desk in the office, a box of printing paper having been toppled over and Asuna couldn't help but wonder how it even managed that. "Alright, play time's over, get out of there," as she moved to pick it up, the kitten scurried away, having no intention of leaving and turning it into its own little game of 'keep away' as it darted and stayed just out of reach.

 

[AwkwardSilence]

Hanaru snorted at Shizune's scatterbrained energy. No wonder Tsunade didn't get much done, considering her assistant was as flighty as she was. The only one who seemed to be good at doing their job here was TonTon, and TonTon was the support pig! She sighed internally, knowing the fault in her thoughts. When Tsunade needed to, she was an excellent medical nin. She lead all of the medical ninjutsu classes at the academy anyway, and she could cure just about anything. The female sighed, wondering if she'd do a better job if that boyfriend of hers would finally propose or not. He was related to a former Hokage...? Or was that Tsunade herself? It's not like she cared, she had just managed to overhear Sakura one time speaking to Ino about how Tsunade had complained constantly about not being engaged yet. What useless information to have received. Now if she wanted to be on the other side of Tsunade's wrath, she had ammunition! Though there was, hopefully, none of that in Hanaru's foreseeable future. Hanaru was strong thanks to her half demonic heritage, but Tsunade's strength was unrivaled. And, well... scary.
"Gai sensei let us get carried away, be angry at him!" she called out, an impassive expression on her face as she looked down at TonTon blankly as the pig sought her attention. Why couldn't more humans be as cute and trusting as animals? Instincts were better guides and judges of character than prejudice anyway. If TonTon thought that Hanaru was going to harm her, she'd run and hide, simple as that. Shizune looked like a leaf in the wind, handing the purplette her ice pack. Well, not literally, but everything about her body language screamed "alert." Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she pressed the package to her arm that was already bruising, and she watched Sasuke curiously as he moved to the section of closed off beds in the other room that was attached to the infirmary. She had gone after him pretty hard--sometimes when she fought at a particular level, her demon blood found that "exciting" and liked to go a little further than even Hanaru herself was willing, Did she hurt him worse than she though she did? Her ears drooped as she felt guilt prickling in her stomach once more. Grr... she hated these dumb feelings, considering they were absolutely worthless!
At Shizune's question, the female blinked slowly, almost as if she didn't hear her, due to her train of thought, but she shrugged. "Do you mind if I sit here with TonTon for a little bit?" She asked, blankly staring at her and Tsunade. "I need to cool off a bit." Seeing as neither had a problem with it, Hanaru took a seat on the floor, playing with the pig. She sighed, looking at the animal's innocent face as her nose shuffled along the floor of the nurse's office. After a couple of minutes had passed, she called out to Tsunade, her voice soft. "Hey, old lady,"
"I swear if I wasn't on duty I'd kick your ass, brat."
"Get a word out to the jonins to keep their mouths shut about their opinions. They're not exactly subtle." At this, Tsunade's anger miraculously ceased, and she looked to Hanaru curiously. So an incident happened where a couple of idiots weren't speaking very nice things? She could only imagine what was said to make her angry enough to require TonTon's company.
"... I'll mention it to Sarutobi-san," she finished, and Hanaru nodded, the nonverbal thanks hanging in the air.

---------

"That's a wager that's too good to lose," the Nara boy grinned widely, likeing her stakes. Shikamaru wasn't exactly a gambler, but his intuition, when he actually put his mind to something, was unparalleled by his peers. If he wanted something, he was going to make sure that he got it. And he didn't particularly care about the fact that this was Asuna's store, and that she had spent her entire life taking care of the Shuffle of Things. This was one bet he didn't plan on losing any time soon, and he was pretty sure he had a secret weapon--one that the sandy-haired blonde definitely wasn't planning on being an issue. He made sure to do a good job as he cleaned, being meticulous about everything he did. Not only that, but he kept one eye on Asuna at all times, picking up on how she did her chores and how she liked things to look in order to formulate the plan to her success. Each time they'd bumped into each other, it was due to Shikamaru seeking to distract her. He silently and discreetly, used his shadow jutsu to move the cat from one place to the next, before urging it through the open backroom where it could distract Asuna long enough for him to seal his victory.
Why was he working so hard? Well for one, he hadn't had this much fun in a long time--even if they were doing a chore like cleaning up Asuna's family shop. That didn't matter to him. Even Choji had been too busy to hang out, and with his parents nagging at him, no place in his own home was sacred enough to let him exist quietly and think for a moment. This had been refreshing and relaxing to him. The other reason he was so eager to win this bet was for Asuna. She worked so hard, and she acted like a day off was a punishment to her (which, in reality, it probably was since that sadistic side of her loved to overwork her self). But she needed a day off where she didn't have to worry about the store because it would just be closed for the day, and maybe she'd unwind a little more. That and with all the crap happening with her mom that Shikamaru was sure that a little bit of an innocent distraction would probably do her some good.
Smirking as Asuna cried out for the cat, his plan moved into action. Creating a clone, Shikamaru did the rest of his assignments within the store while Asuna struggled to keep the stray from doing any more damage in the backroom. When she returned he had since dispelled the clone, standing in front of the counter, a smug look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. "Well, would you look at that. How impressive... but I believe I win this round?" Mirth shown in his deep brown orbs, watching as she looked over his work carefully. "It's hard not to do it right when you can observe the master in her natural element." His shadow waved at her from it's position on the floor, indicative that some mischief had been afoot, but she hadn't specified if there was ninjutsu techniques allowed or not. "I believe you owe me a day. I'm going to claim your Saturday, and you are going to meet me at the park," he jabbed his thumb in it's general direction across the street. "I plan on using every second, Asuna, you'd better prepare yourself." Now. One could take this as him gloating and celebrating his win with a smug arrogance, but Shikamaru's eyes shone with cool calculation. Sure, he could be lazy and vague, but when he got serious, his intellect was his greatest weapon, and he was sure that Asuna might agree with that statement. "I can't wait~."