Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Blonde Genius ❯ How Troublesome ( Chapter 2 )

[Disclaimer] I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters and this story is solely fan-based.

 

[Author's notes] Thanks for the reviews, by the way! I'd love to receive more, possibly to improve my writing skills or just to see what you think! Yes, I know Shikamaru isn't actually fifteen, but I thought it to be better if he and Temari were of the same age. ^_^ Okay, so I know the first chapter was terribly short, but I wrote it in half an hour or so. I spent longer on this one(duhh), and so I hope it's more enjoyable, too!

 

Chapter II - How Troublesome

 

“Shikamaru-kun is going to get a roommate!” Mused Sakura in a sing-song tone, just to provoke him. The only thing she received, though, was a death glare which made her shut up.

“You're quite insolent, calling people you hardly know by their first name like that,” replied the boy, obviously aggravated.

“Tsk, tsk,” pouted Sakura. “You should be glad to share your room with a girl! The school normally doesn't allow that at all!”

 

“What kind of pervert do you think I am?” Inquired the raven-haired male, frowning.

“Whatever… That Temari-girl will probably be late for the first class because she has to get her stuff to the dorm first..” A teasing tone laced the pink-haired girl's voice now, “you haven't left a mess there, have you, Nara-kun?”

 

Deciding to ignore that last comment, Shikamaru pocketed his hands and slowly walked out of the dorm building. Geez. Who did that Sakura think she was, anyways? If it really came down to intelligence, Haruno-san had to call him Nara-san, instead of Nara-kun. But whenever he would comment on how bored he got with her stories about Uchiha-san, all hell broke loose. So annoying…

 

He was well on his way over the cobblestone path to the school building, about two hundred feet away from the dorm building, when he heard the distinct noise of the school bus arriving at the gates of St. Kitawa's school grounds. If he hurried, he could stay ahead of the endless stream of students who were bound to come out by now, but something made him stop in his tracks- He'd like to see that new dorm mate of his. Then again-- Why am I even bothering?

The dark-eyed one snorted to himself and resumed his stroll towards the enormous entrance doors of St. Kitawa. Great. Maths to start the day off. Maths… And Gai-sensei. Oh, boy…

 

-

 

“Would you just hurry up?!” Hissed the blonde-haired female underneath her breath. She'd wisely taken a seat in the back of the bus, knowing that with the enormous carrier bag, she'd have to get out of the bus last. But why it had to go so agonizingly slowly… She sighed heavily and shot a glare at the backs of the other students. So monotone, everyone wearing the exact same uniform… What I wouldn't do for you, Gaara…Curse you and your `missions'.

 

Thump. With a dry thud, the carrier bag was kicked out of the bus and Temari followed after it. Inquisitively, her eyes moved to the immense school building and then to the almost equally-sized dorm building standing about two hundred feet to it's right. She hauled the bag over her shoulder effortlessly despite it's weight, and slowly headed towards the dorm building.

 

“Kazeo Temari… Kazeo-- Gah, where is my name?” She muttered to herself, a finger tracing past the names list hanging on the bulletin board.

“Room… One-three-nine.” She frowned a bit upon reading the second name. A boy? Probably some dork with enormous glasses who hasn't seen a hairbrush in his entire life…Geez. Well, I can always torture him so that he does my homework.

 

“Nara Shikamaru and Kazeo Temari,” she read out loud, eyes focused on the small name tags under the dorm number. Well, this had to be it… And to think she'd had to drag that carrier bag up three flights of endless staircases to reach this place. How annoying. She slid the silver key she'd picked up at the dorm manager's office into the lock. A short twist, and then a *click*. Angrily, Temari pushed the door open and dragged her luggage inside before allowing her eyes to glide past the room. Strange.. It seemed almost uninhabited, judging by how clean it was. Don't tell me this guy has mysophobia or something…

Carelessly, she tossed her bag onto one of the beds; it was impossible to tell any difference between the one her roommate slept in and hers, after all.

 

A knock at the door, then a muffled, “Kazeo-san?” at the other side.

Great. That must be the nerd who shows me around.

“Yeah, I'm right here, you can come in.”

 

Carefully, the door was opened, and a shy-looking girl with a mellow look in her eyes bowed her head slightly, “S-Sorry for disturbing you… My name is Hyuuga Hinata, and.. Well, the headmaster has asked me to show you around on your first day..”

Temari arched a brow; This girl had the oddest eyes… Her irises were almost completely white, with a strange purple blueish hue to them. Her skin was pale and she had short, navy hair. Her shoulders slumped forward slightly, indicating that she was indeed timid and didn't like to stand out from others, or be noticed at all, for that matter. Her voice was also very soft-spoken and the blonde-haired one had to strain her ears to understand everything this Hinata said.

 

-

“So… I guess you feel a little uncomfortable?” Inquired Hinata silently as she walked alongside of Temari, who seemed not happy at all to be here. She didn't like to admit it, but this green-eyed girl was a bit intimidating. Fiddling with her schoolbag nervously because the other hadn't replied, the blue-haired girl bit down on her lip.

She must not like me…

 

Hinata almost leapt up when the blonde-haired one spoke to her.

“So, why did the Headmaster choose you to accompany me?” Temari arched a brow.

“Oh…” The pale girl nodded curtly and forced a little smile, despite her doubts about whether the other hated her or not, “Well, you're in most of my classes, so the teachers decided that it would be best if I showed you around.”

“Right…” The fifteen year-old folded her hands behind her back casually as they strolled towards the entrance of St. Kitawa's.

 

-

 

Shikamaru was staring absently out of the window as Kakashi-sensei's voice ranted on and on about Shakespeare. The only books that guy reads are `Come come Paradise', `101 Pick-up lines' and `Flirting Secrets'… Geez. His dark eyes travelled around the classroom for a moment; Of course, Sakura was eagerly scribbling notes down, and some kid named TenTen next to her engrossed in stifled conversation with a cocky guy named Kiba, who pretty much only got bad grades, Why is that guy still here, anyways?

 

Then again, he could say the same thing about himself; After all, Shikamaru's grades weren't exactly very good, either. But that was just because he was too lazy to even pick up his pencil. He almost got a heart attack when a mangled piece of paper disturbed his thoughts and hit him straight in the head. And of course, Kakashi-sensei was far too busy supposedly `determining which book had to be read for the next book report'. The raven-haired student of St. Kitawa's, however, knew that his spiky-haired teacher was far too interested. An eye patch covered his right eye, and a strange mask always clothed his nose and mouth, but Shikamaru was positive Kakashi-sensei was grinning like a little boy behind that mask.

 

The fifteen year-old boy was about to toss the troublesome piece of paper away when he noticed something written on it. Arching a slender, dark brow, he unfolded the messy paper, immediately recognising Sakura Haruno's handwriting on it.

`Did you notice that Hyuuga-chan is missing? That's odd, isn't it? She always attends classes, and I just saw her this morning, too.'

 

Was that why Haruno-san had thrown the paper against his head? How troublesome. He shot a glare at Sakura, who had been watching him expectantly, but now got the hint and quickly returned to her work.

It was strange, though. I can't imagine Hyuuga-chan having any reason to skip class- she would be terrified at the very thought.

 

His question was soon answered by a few soft knocks on the classroom door. Kakashi, obviously startled by this sudden interruption, quickly put a small booklet entitled `Come come Paradise' away before clearing his throat and innocently calling: “Come in.”

 

“Kakashi-sensei, I'm sorry for being late…” Shikamaru glanced up from his table when he recognised Hinata's apologetic voice. A quiet conversation between the two before Kakashi nodded, “Thank you for informing me, Hinata-chan. You can go take your seat now.”

Sometimes, Shikamaru would find it bothersome how freely Kakashi-sensei used his students' first names, and this was no exception.

 

“Well, class. Hinata-chan has been so kind as to inform me of the arrival of a new student to our school.” Hinata blushed slightly when her name was mentioned and pretended to be busy taking out her books as Kakashi continued, “So let's all try to be kind and make her feel welcome.” He gestured for someone standing in the doorway to come in.

“Everybody, please meet Kazeo Temari.”

 

Kazeo… Temari? That must be my dorm mate! The ebon-haired boy's head jerked up completely now as he watched a rather tall girl stride into the classroom. Her hair was blonde and oddly tied into four wild buns, two atop her head and two more in the back of her neck. She had a confident aura about herself and seemed rather discontent, though a polite smile had been forced upon her face.

The girl who had to be his roommate bowed her head lightly, “Nice to meet all of you.”

Judging by her tone, however, Shikamaru could conclude that she didn't mean a single word of it. A slight smirk appeared on his face, At least I'll be able to have a good laugh at someone who hates to be here as much as I do…

 

“Well, you can pick a seat, any seat.” Kakashi had by now returned to `Come come Paradise' and was soon lost in the small book again. The blonde-haired girl rolled her eyes, though she made sure the teacher didn't see it, and adjusting her backpack, the fifteen year-old paced to the back of the class, not even paying the one she did not know to be her roommate, any heed. Sitting down in the far back, next to the window, Temari lazily proceeded to unpack her books and got out a pencil. Instead of asking the boy next to her, Aburame Shino, about the schoolwork, though, the blonde girl instantly placed the pencil at her lips, letting it balance there before biting down on it and staring at the chalkboard with a mild interest.

 

Impressive, thought Shikamaru, who had been eyeing her all that time. By first glance, she seemed a lot like him, disinterested and absent-minded.

He turned back to face the window, however, when she glared at him with possibly the darkest green eyes he'd ever witnessed.

Geez… She seems pretty bad-tempered…

 

-

 

“Kazeo-san?” Inquired Hinata carefully. She stood at least a head shorter than Temari, which only made her feel more and more intimidated by the confident blonde-haired girl.

Said new student of St. Kitawa frowned and glanced down upon the blue-haired student, “What is it?”

“Uhhm… Well…” She was wringing her hands in unease, “You're living in the dorm building as well, right? I- I mean… I saw your name on the list and-- But I'm not a meddlesome stalker or something, I just--“ The poor girl had a hard time coming out of her words, which only caused the other to become slightly annoyed.

“Yeah, that's true. Why?” Inquired Temari simply.

 

“You're sharing your dorm with Nara-kun, right?”

 

“Right.”

 

Hinata blushed slightly, “Isn't that awkward, having to share your room with a boy? I mean… The school usually tries to keep boys and girls apart, so I was thinking… I'm being rude, aren't I?”

 

The blonde-haired girl narrowed her eyes at the girl walking alongside of her, “Hyuuga-chan… I don't mean to be offensive… But you really are strange.”

 

“Oh…” The short-haired girl's expression saddened slightly as she stared down at the ground. She was startled half to death when the taller one ruffled through her hair, chuckling quietly.

 

“I meant that in a good way, silly! Besides, I haven't even seen that Nara-dork yet, but I bet I can tame his fiery spirit,” joked Temari.

 

Hinata looked up, seeming a bit confused for a moment, but then held her hand in front of her mouth to muffle a giggle. “You can just call me Hinata like everyone does.”

 

Temari rolled her eyes for a moment, “Only if you call me by my first name, too. And no -san suffixes!”

Who knew? Perhaps she could have a bit of fun with this timid girl; And if not, it'd at least seem like she wasn't completely anti-social and could blend in. This suddenly brought the blonde-haired girl back to the very reason why she'd come here: To keep an eye on Hatake Kakashi, her Literature teacher.

He just looked like some perverted old geezer to me, nothing special…

 

“T-Temari-chan?” A shy voice called her back to her senses.

“Uhhm, yeah… What?”

The pale girl pointed at a door to their right, “We've arrived at Art class… You almost walked past it.”

 

“Alright, kids!” A woman with long, wavy ebon hair and strangely red eyes entered the classroom, clapping in her hands to calm the students down.

 

“That's Kurenai-sensei… She's very talented,” whispered Hinata softly.

Temari scowled at this comment of the blue-haired girl. Hmpf. Just looks like another boring teacher to me.

 

“… And so you all understand that your drawings must be handed in tomorrow. I suggest you get to work right away,” concluded Yuuhi Kurenai light-heartedly, once more clapping her hands to motivate the class to get to work.

 

“What in the name of the Kazekage are you drawing?” Exclaimed Temari quietly as she hovered over Hinata's paper curiously.

“I thought we were supposed to draw humans,” she added as an afterthought, something which only made Hinata's cheeks turn red.

“This is a human, Temari-chan…” She replied cautiously.

 

“Are you serious? Who in the world has their hair like that?” She asked, prodding the paper with a finger. The image of a broadly grinning boy with wild, spiky hair and the oddest choice of clothing she'd ever seen, was staring confidently up at her. Next to the boy, Hinata's curly hand writing stated: `Naruto-kun'.

“I… I know I'm not much of an artist, but--“ started the soft-spoken female. However, she was cut off by Kurenai's voice as the said black-haired woman cast an inquisitive glance at a certain blonde-haired student.

 

“I don't recall having seen you here before… Ah, you must be that new student, right? … Kazeo… Temari, if I remember correctly?”

A brief nod was the reply.

Kurenai arched a brow, “Well, why aren't you working on your drawing? I know you're not supposed to get homework on the first day, but if you don't work in classes, I'll have to-“

The woman immediately stopped talking when this new student shoved a piece of paper into her hands.

 

“You're finished already? … Impressive…” The teacher looked down towards the paper, eyes widening slightly before she showed a satisfied smile, “Excellent work, Kazeo-san!” She chuckled softly, “I don't believe I've ever seen such a detailed drawing of Kakashi-sensei reading `Come come Paradise' before!” Proudly, the scarlet-eyed female handed the drawing back to her new student, nodding approvingly before striding off to check on some of the others.

 

“Temari-chan? I- I don't mean to be rude, but could I perhaps… See your drawing?” Hinata asked hopefully.

The aforementioned green-eyed schoolgirl sounded rather grim like she usually did, a so-called `tough-guy-act'(save for the fact that she was a member of the fairer sex), and handed her drawing to the blue-haired one, “It's not that good, really.”

 

“Wow!!” Exclaimed Hinata, her voice raised. It seemed to be a rare event that she actually spoke loudly, since more than half the students in the classroom looked up from their work surprised and stared at the noisemaker.

Quickly holding a hand in front of her mouth and apologizing underneath her breath, the girl returned to looking at the drawing in her hand, now speaking in a hushed tone.

 

“Temari-chan, this is… This is so lifelike! As if it's a photograph!” The girl's tone was urgent as she spoke to the dark-eyed one.

“You're a great artist,” she continued, handing the drawing back. “I wish I could draw like that…”

 

“Hmpf…” Was Temari's respond.

“I'm going to go and hand it in with the teacher,” she muttered quietly.

Pah… Just great. I go to a school for geniuses, and the only thing I've proven to be good at until now is a subject for which I don't have to study…Well, maybe if I score good on these kinds of things, I won't get kicked out. Damn you, Gaara. `Kankuro can't be accepted into that school, he's too much of a bully'. He's just a bonehead, no good for anything!

 

“Uhhm, Temari-chan… You're spacing off again…” Hinata's voice sounded.

“Huh?” A silence as the green-eyed one stared at the other, “Oh… Yeah. What's our next class?”

 

-

 

Finally! Mused the raven-haired boy. He yawned loudly as the bell rang and lazily got his books together before swinging the bag over his shoulder. Another troublesome school day had come to an end. He'd noticed that his new dorm mate, Kazeo Temari, was in his Literature class, but also in Maths, Economics, and History. Other than that, however, he'd paid little attention to the girl and her behaviour, having been just content acting like his usual lazy self.

 

Actually, even as he made his way back to the dorm building, he'd forgotten all about the fact that he would not have his dorm to himself anymore, and thus, found it quite a surprise when he reached room 139, and the door was unlocked.

What the hell? I never forget to lock the door… Did someone break in-?

 

His bag ready to be thrown at the invader's head, Shikamaru opened the door carefully. He let out somewhat of a relieved sigh when he recognised that blonde head and remembered that she was his roommate.

 

The raven-haired boy was a bit startled when the said female stopped rummaging through her carrier-bag and glared back at him. Shikamaru cleared his throat to regain his stoic image and tilted his head slightly.

 

“Yo.”

 

Temari arched a brow and kept glaring at him for another moment or two. Finally, she shook her head to herself, muttering something incoherent before resuming her search for whatever she might've lost in that gigantic bag.

 

Shikamaru pulled his eyebrows down into a scowl and closed the door behind him, now fully stepping into the dorm.

“I said `yo'.” He repeated.

 

“I'm not deaf, dorkhead.” She sneered.

 

This is going to be very troublesome…He sighed heavily.

“Could you at least get off my bed? Geez…”

 

Another death glare from those dark green eyes.

“There isn't a difference between either of them, bonehead.”

 

“Yes, there is. That bed you're sitting on is mine, and the other is yours to take.”

 

“Whatever.” Temari returned her attention to the bag and began to pull some clothing out, but didn't seem intent on moving to the other bed.

 

Great. Now I'm stuck with a `tough' girl. Shikamaru scowled, and tossed his bag carelessly onto his bed, the thing only barely missing Temari's head. The raven-haired male swallowed as he saw her vicious glare, Oh, boy…

 

Slowly, she slid off the bed and paced towards Shikamaru, never taking her glare off him until they were standing about two feet from each other, “You might not be some four-eyed punk who has to look up the word `hairbrush' in the dictionary, but that doesn't mean you're any different from the other nerds here.” A pause as she poked his forehead with a finger, “And if there's anything in this whole world that I will never be, it's a studious dork. So watch out where you throw those things, little boy… You might be in for a nasty surprise.”

 

Shikamaru was left speechless for a moment at her insolence, but about as soon as this girl(he could now obviously tell he didn't like her) had turned her back to him, he spoke up.

“Little boy? Listen up, you dumb blonde; I'm taller than you, not to mention the fact that that is my bed, and I'm not gonna move my books from there, so get your stuff to your own bed!”

 

An awkward silence followed, which convinced Shikamaru that his little speech had worked… The blonde-haired one muttered something underneath her breath and shoved her carrier-bag to the other bed. He let out another sigh, but was caught mid-breath by a pencil which found it's way into his open mouth with eerie precision. Coughing loudly and making choking noises, he spit the pencil out.

“Wh-What the hell was that?!” he exclaimed loudly.

 

“A pencil. You yell too loud.”

 

“I know it's a pencil. Why did you do that?”

 

“Revenge is sweet,” replied the green-eyed one with a chuckle.

 

This is going to suck…How did she get such an accurate aim, anyways? He frowned slightly, but shrugged it off and dropped onto his bed. Fine. If she wanted war, then war was what she would get.

 

-