Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Blonde Genius ❯ The Bet ( Chapter 3 )

[Disclaimer] I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters and this story is solely fan-based. Naruto, and all it's characters belong to the wonderful Masashi Kishimoto.

 

[Author's Notes] I'm sorry that it's taking me so long to post another chapter; Final exams are coming up, so I've been quite busy with school. Yes, I know that Temari and Hinata being friends would be out of character, and there are probably more things out of character as well… But this is my first attempt at a fanfiction, so… Yeah.

 

Chapter III - The Bet

 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

 

A single deep green eye opened languidly and shot a glare at the alarm clock on the small desk next to her bed.

By the gods, I loathe the person who invented that sound… Especially at 6:30 am… Why does this school have to start at an unreasonable time like 8 am anyways?!

Aggravatedly, a hand smacked down on the clock to silence it.

 

Finally, Temari opened both eyes and frowned slightly at the unfamiliar white-tiled ceiling above her; it was completely spotless.

Then she remembered. Ahh, that would explain why the ceiling was so clean -unlike at home-. This was St. Kitawa's, the school for rich, spoilt kids who were supposedly `geniuses'.

This only reminded her of yet another unpleasant element of the school; her dorm mate, Nara Shikamaru. Who did that guy think he was, anyways?

Automatically, a death glare was sent to the bed next to her- but it was already empty. Sounds were coming from the bathroom, so he had to be doing… Whatever in there. She didn't even want to know.

The fifteen year-old brushed a few cold fingers past her eyes to remove uncooperative strands of blonde away, and made a move to sit up when….

“AAAAAHHRGH!”

 

-

 

Shikamaru couldn't help but snicker as the sound of the alarm clock stopped and a loud “AAAAAHHRGH!” was heard. The war had begun.

You see, Mr. Nara had gotten up even earlier than usual and pulled a little trick on his rather feisty roommate. Alright, so it wasn't very much like the ebon-haired youth to be doing that, but she'd practically been begging for it, right?

So, as silently as possible, he'd snuck out of bed and actually braided her hair stuck to the bars of her bed.

Naturally, judging by that scream just now, Ms. Kazeo had found it out the hard way.

Wonder if she pulled her hair out--?

Another snicker escaped his lips as he pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth and turned the shower on.

 

Naturally, he'd made sure to lock the bathroom door- wouldn't want to be facing a furious female this early in the morning, right?

 

-

 

“Ooooww…” A minor twitch of her left eye as she pulled another strand of blonde out of one of the many tiny braids tied to the bed. And to think she'd nearly pulled her hair out! Her head was still throbbing, and it was all because of that Shikamaru-nerd!

“Bastard…” Hissed Temari underneath her breath as she shot a `Ha! I SMITE you!'-glare at the bathroom door. Oh, he got her. He got her good. That was something she had to give him credit for; he'd managed to do this without waking her up at all.

…My brush. Where's my brush?!
Hastily, she leapt off the bed and zipped her bag open, relieved to find her precious hairbrush still there. So, Shikamaru was occupying the bathroom?

Lazily, she sat down on the edge of the bed and started pulling the brush through her hair- she'd brush it again later after having taken a shower.

Vain?

Certainly.

 

Absent-mindedly, the youthful student of St. Kitawa's let her gaze glide past the dorm, perhaps searching for something which could aid her in getting revenge?

Sadly, nothing came to mind just yet, so her sweet vengeance would have to wait… For now.

 

It wasn't very long until Temari heard the bathroom door opening-- finally! She shoved the last book of today's classes into her bag and sent the most vicious glare up until now to the male who came out. Taking her brush and a few other supplies into her arms, she pretty much stomped past her broadly grinning dorm mate and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

 

The only thing Shikamaru could do is shrug slightly- and of course, inwardly celebrate his little `victory'. He fiddled a bit with his shirt -the boy had made sure to be fully dressed before leaving the bathroom; who knew what that Temari would do to his uniform if he just left it lying around? She could take revenge by hiding it somewhere, no?

As usual, he got into a little fight with his necktie.

That was, until his attention was drawn to the St. Kitawa's girl's uniform lying on Temari's bed, or more, the skirt.

Whereas the plaid skirt should normally be about an inch above knee-length, Temari's was at least two or three inches above.

What? She'd deliberately shortened her skirt last night? Why did she have such a strong desire to stand out?

The only thing it'd bring her was detention for violating the dress code, and long stares from the male population at the school.

Maybe I should hide her uniform? She's just asking for it, isn't she? Thought Shikamaru as he raised a slender brow.

Hmm… Nah, maybe that was a little too cruel right now. He'd have to work gradually, after all.

 

-

 

“Ah, Kazeo-sa-- I mean, Temari-chan! Uhhm… You're going the wrong way again, the locker rooms for P.E. are this way…” Hinata stated hesitantly.

Temari grimaced again, tiredly vaulting her body the other way.

“Pfff…. This place is too big…”

After having struggled through Geography and Latin(why the hell did they teach that here, anyways?), which were both classes she shared with Hinata, but not with Shikamaru -fortunately for him-, Temari had gotten quite annoyed with the way how some of the boys stared at her skirt. Actually, the only class she and the young Ms. Hyuuga didn't share, was History, because the said blue-haired girl had `Advanced Chemistry' during that period.

Blegh… Chemistry.

 

“Temari-chan…”

“Hmmm?”

“You're about to enter the boy's locker room.”

 

Quickly, the blonde one released the doorknob and backed away, scraping her throat loudly to at least save some dignity. Little could she know this was only the silence before the storm.

 

“Don't insult me like that, forehead-girl!” A green-eyed girl with pale blonde hair which was tightly tied into a knot on the back of her head and left only a single playful lock to hang partially over her left eye, prodded the forehead of another green-eyed girl, this one having pink hair.

“YOU should be the one to talk, Ino-pig!” Huffed the pink-haired one, granting the other a bitter glare as she slapped her hand away.

 

Temari couldn't help but frown and gently poke Hinata in the side.

“Who are those dork- I mean, girls?”

Hinata looked up at the taller one and had started wringing her hands like usual again.

“The blonde one is Yamanaka Ino- she's very popular, and the other girl is Haruno Sakura- she gets very good grades in school. They've been rivals ever since both of them started to like a boy named Uchiha Sasuke… But he doesn't go to this school.”

“Whoa. For a timid person, you know quite a lot, Hinata-chan.”

The short-haired girl blushed, “Ah-! N-no, it's not like that… I-I mean, I don't spy on people or anything… Yamanaka-san and Haruno-san just went to the same elementary school as Uchiha-kun and me… And Naruto-kun.” She smiled a little bit at that last name.

“Naruto?” Inquired Temari as she hung her sports bag onto a peg and turned to regard the smaller girl. “Isn't that the odd boy you drew in Art yesterday?” A grin appeared on the green-eyed one's face, “You like him, don't you?”

“Ahh- I-- Uhhm…” Hinata's red face already said enough.

 

“… Can't believe we even have sports uniforms!” Exclaimed Temari loudly as she pulled out the navy shirt bearing St. Kitawa's logo, and pulled the crimson shorts over her legs.

“A miracle that boys and girls don't have P.E. separately,” complained the youth.

These comments didn't escape Ino's attention; not unlike Temari, Ino's skirt was also a bit shorter, but not quite as short as the new student's. What nerve!

Ms. Yamanaka had already noticed this Kazeo Temari before, -they shared Art and Maths- and she didn't like what she saw.

 

“Countryside girl not used to boarding schools? Awww… Your parents must've used all their life savings to send you here!” Ino's comment was laced with a thick, exaggerated accent to make it seem as if Temari was some kind of hillbilly.

Naturally, some girls chuckled, but not too loudly.

“Actually,” started Temari, unbuttoning her shirt and folding it neatly before stuffing it into her bag, “If you can't throw a good insult, you'd better keep that mouth of yours shut… Flat-chest.”

Ouch. Harsh one.

Sakura couldn't help but smirk broadly at this.

A tense silence fell in which a few glances were cast from the calm-looking Temari to the glaring Ino; if there was anything Yamanaka was proud of, it was her `well-shaped' form.

Unfortunately, Temari had been right; she had a bit more `volume' in the chest than Ino.

Not exactly knowing how to react, the latter of the two girls just snorted and returned to changing into her sports outfit, huffing something about Kazeo having to watch her step.

 

“Temari-chan…” Muttered Hinata after about two more minutes, when the taller girl was just in the middle of tying her shoelaces, “was it really smart to get on Yamanaka-san's bad side.. -?”

“I'm not afraid of her. Just another dork, right?” Replied the blonde-haired one.

Hinata turned her eyes down towards the ground and nodded curtly.

“… Right..”

 

“Alright, class! We're going to play softball today! Try your very best! Oh, and please line up next to each other!” The teacher seemed like an odd man to Temari; he had this bandana on and also wore a small pair of round glasses which hid his eyes. Also, he seemed incredibly ambitious and energetic…

“Is he our teacher?” whispered the green-eyed youth quietly.

“Yes, that's Ebisu-sensei… He's very enthusiastic about his job,” giggled Hinata as they lined up at the edge of the field.

“We have P.E. outside until the October break, and every Friday, P.E. is given in the indoor pool… That's all, I guess. Oh- look, Nara-kun is in this class as well,” the pale girl nodded to a certain bored-looking boy with dark eyes who was straightening out his shirt, “isn't that great? You two get along well, right?”

Temari snorted loudly and tilted her head up, clasping her hands behind her back and deliberately not looking at the pesky bastard.

“No, not exactly.”

 

“Hey, Nara-kun…” Akimichi Chouji, a rather chubby boy with spiky red hair and small, dark eyes gently poked an elbow against Shikamaru's arm, “isn't that your dorm mate over there?”

He pointed at a tall girl with wild blonde hair tied into four ponytails and grinned slightly.

“Yeah, that's Kazeo Temari,” muttered Shikamaru with an obvious disgust in his tone. His friend Chouji didn't seem to hear it and chuckled quietly, “Whoa, you're one lucky guy, Nara-kun!”

“… Not really.”

“Whaddaya mean?” Chouji narrowed his eyes to little slits and curiously regarded his friend.

“I mean that she's a total idiot. You know, one of those `tough girls' with an ego problem.” The raven-haired one uttered a deep sigh, “I'm betting her most treasured item is that brush. She's very vain, probably one of those types who are afraid to break a nail when they have to pick up the baseball bat.”

The chubby boy scratched the back of his head, “well, she's good-looking nonetheless.”

“Just another dumb blonde. I'm betting she'll become best mates with Ino-san.”

“I'm not sure, Nara-kun. I heard that Ino hates her guts because she called her flat-chested just now. News travels fast.” By this time, Chouji had somehow managed to pull a bag of potato crisps out of nowhere and was in the middle of opening it.

Sometimes, Akimichi-kun really amazed Shikamaru. He was constantly eating and looking ignorant and all, but he knew a lot more than he betrayed, it seemed.

 

“Akimichi-kun, no eating during class!” Barked Ebisu-sensei loudly as he pulled the bag of crisps out of Chouji's hands, only to receive a disappointed “Awww…” from the red-haired boy.

 

“Alright, let's begin! I'm going to assign a team that's going to work on the field, and a team that's going to be using the bat. You all know the rules, and can divide positions amongst each other. Also, if one team scores seven points, roles are turned and you switch from batting to field and the other way around. Do all you youngsters understand that?”

 

Oh, this'll be fun… Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he was assigned to be on the field team and dragged himself forward to get a glove. Well, at least that horrible Kazeo-san wasn't on his team-- he'd love to see her lose. And that'd probably happen, too; they had Inuzuka Kiba and Rock Lee on their team. Neither of those two had outstanding scores when it came to the theoretical classes, but they were both quite good at sports. Other than that, Yamanaka Ino was also on their team, and if it was true what Chouji(who was unfortunately in Temari's team) had said, Ino would try her best to make Kazeo-san look like a fool, because she was just that kind of person.

“NARA!” Shikamaru almost leapt up at the sudden voice of Yamanaka Ino, who was standing less than two feet behind him.

“Gah… What do you want, Ino-san?” Asked the boy, sounding a bit irritated.

“You're the pitcher.”

“Wha- Why me?! Rock Lee is the best thrower! I don't agre-“

“You don't have a choice, Nara-kun. Lee also runs faster than you do, so we need him in the back of the field to retrieve the far balls and make long throws.” Ino gave him a rough push towards the pitcher's plate before taking in her own position at the second base.

 

“This… Sucks…” Huffed Shikamaru as he took the softball into his right hand and inhaled deeply. First up to bat was Hinata Hyuuga- she wouldn't be too hard to strike out, right? She never really hit it hard, anyways. And for once, he was going to try his best, mainly because he wanted to teach that big-mouth Temari a lesson.

A bit uncertain like usual, Hinata came up to the plate and lifted her bat, biting down on her lower lip.

But Shikamaru… He wanted to beat that team. He wanted to beat them good. Quite unusual for his normally so laid-back, carefree attitude. However, there were at least three more members of his team who would want to win just as badly.

Just a game, right?

No… This was going to be a lesson.

 

“Do your best, Hinata-chan!” Cheered Sakura loudly, if only to give the shy girl some confidence. Who knew? Maybe it'd help her swing the bat better?

The dark-eyed boy tilted his head and narrowed his gaze before vaulting his arm back slightly and sending it forward, releasing a fast ball towards Hinata.

“Ah--“ It's too fast!

The girl bit down on her lip more harshly and closed her eyes tightly before swinging the bat forward in hopes that it'd hit.

“Missed it!”

 

Oh, they were doing good. Quite good! The batting team already had two strikes, and five points. One more strike, and the teams would trade places.

And this was what he had been waiting for. Ebisu-sensei had already berated Shikamaru twice before for throwing the balls too hard, but he wasn't going to withhold now. Not now that it was Kazeo Temari's turn. A smirk appeared on his slightly pale face as he turned the ball around and around in his right hand. Let's see how you like to be humiliated, Kazeo.

He watched the blonde-haired girl stand up from her spot in the grass and calmly pick the bat off the ground.

Hah, I'm surprised she isn't complaining about her breasts getting in the way yet…He thought mockingly.

“Shikamaru, strike her out!!!” Sounded Ino's vicious voice from a distance.

So it was true. Yamanaka-san didn't like the new student at all.

 

Oh well. Only more reason for him to try his best, right? He could feel a grin creeping onto his face as he vaulted his arm back completely now and gripped the softball tighter.

Temari narrowed her eyes a bit and readied the bat, raising it and moving it so it was behind her head to increase the power of the swing.

Not that she'll hit it at all…Dark eyes focused on Hyuuga Neji, who was occupying the position of catcher. If he focused on getting the ball past Temari and into Neji's glove… Yeah, that'd work!

 

Shikamaru took a deep breath and counted down inwardly.

Three… Two… One… Now!

He flung his arm forward and catapulted the ball forward with a great amount of strength behind it-- it went way too fast for her to hit it at all!

Or… So he thought.

Before he'd had the chance to properly realise, a dry thud was heard and the ball soared through the air, all the way to the other side of the field- but Mr. Nara was too preoccupied watching his roommate make a homerun, a baffled expression on his face… And not only his.

 

-

 

About time the day was over, too… Lazily, he stuffed his Chemistry books away and stood up, only to catch sight of Hinata, who was curiously glancing at him. Of course, she quickly looked away after that- why was she studying him, anyways?

Well… Hyuuga-san is the only one who comes close to being a friend of Kazeo-san's. And knowing that wretched Kazeo-san, she must've made it very clear that she doesn't like me. Which reminds me…

He languidly dropped his head and shoulders down, it'll be very pleasant to see her again in the dorm…

 

With little desire to be facing his eccentric dorm mate again, Shikamaru pushed the door of dorm 139 open and dragged himself inside. No doubt she would rub her team's victory in a lot- against all of his expectations, Temari had proven to be an outstanding student when it came to the more practical subjects like P.E. Just wait until she had to do a Maths test or something like that…

Apathetically, he tossed his schoolbag into the dorm, but froze when he himself made a move to pass through the hallway.

 

“Wh-What the?” The boy could feel himself turning slightly red upon seeing his dorm mate wearing only a soft yellow towel around her lithe form.

Temari raised a brow and shot a glare back at him as she pulled a bra out of her bag shamelessly.

“Close the door, idiot!”

Snorting to save his posture, Nara Shikamaru closed the door behind his back and deliberately kept his eyes averted from Kazeo as he made his way over to his desk.

“Why do you shower twice a day?” He huffed quietly as he flopped down into the chair and pulled a thick book out of one of the drawers- damn that assignment which was due on Friday.

 

A second time, Shikamaru froze, but this time because the strong scent of cherry blossom and roses caught in his nostrils and two cold arms closed around his neck. He felt himself going even more red than he already was when a pair of lips brushed past his ear and her wet hair stuck to his throat.

“That's because,” whispered Temari with a devious grin on her face, “… I don't trust the showers in the girl's locker room.”

Why was it that she sounded rather threatening? He had to say he felt quite awkward right now-- especially with Temari's breasts pressing lightly against his back.

 

Of course, that was exactly what Kazeo Temari wanted. Dorks were easy to fool, weren't they? Well, the only thing she wanted was to humiliate Shikamaru, and in the worst way possible.

“What's wrong, Shika-kun?” She mocked, pulling her arms away and stepping back rather abruptly, “you're not so smart after all, are you?”

 

This definitely struck a nerve. Grimacing, Shikamaru turned and stood up from his chair to face his insolent dorm mate.

“You couldn't get a good grade if your life depended on it, blondie!”

At this, Temari arched a brow and folded her hands in front of her chest, “oh, really? And that comes from someone who lost so badly during a softball game? If you lost to a dumb blonde like me, then what would that make you, Shikamaru-kun?” She called mockingly.

“You don't have a right to call me by my first name like that.”

“Alright, then I'll call you dorkface.”

 

The corners of his mouth were now visibly turned downward as he snorted loudly. What was it about this girl which caused such anger within the usually so laid-back and careless boy?

“Aww, dorkface has nothing intelligent to say? Tsk, tsk! Seems like I'm outsmarting you nonetheless, Shikamaru-kun! You might have a high IQ, but you'll never beat me in the practical classes!”

“Nor will you beat me in any theoretical class, Temari-chan.”

 

Both students of St. Kitawa's were now pretty much glaring each other down with a look of rivalry, standing about three feet from each other.

A tense silence fell and lasted for approximately thirty seconds before Temari's chuckle broke the silence.

“Fine, fine. I know something which will certainly prove that I'm better than you in every aspect.”

“And what might that be?” Sneered the boy, who was quite unfamiliar with his newfound competitiveness.

“We trade places, sort of. You will become top student in P.E., Music, and join the Drama class after school, and I'll get the highest grades in Literature, Maths and History. They are all classes we share, so I'm not going to make it easy for you to become top student.”

Oh, she was so going to prove her intelligence to this nerd… And besides, if she scored well in Literature, she could perhaps learn more about Hatake Kakashi, the very reason of her stay at St. Kitawa's.

“And the first one who fails will have to pay whichever price the winner wants them to pay.”

 

Shikamaru allowed a short pause to fall before he inhaled deeply and nodded.

“We've got a deal. I won't make it easy for you, either… Donkey queen.”

So… This was quite unlike Nara Shikamaru! He would have to start doing things for school now, but it was more than worth it if he could humiliate Kazeo Temari.

 

-

 

[Preview for next chapter] Kazeo Temari has to keep an eye on Hatake Kakashi, but it's not as easy as it seems! As if that isn't enough, she also has to get good grades in order to win her bet with Nara Shikamaru, her dorm mate. Meanwhile, Shikamaru is having trouble in Drama class… And, surprise, surprise!

Gaara comes to visit!