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

Hanaru was silently grateful when Sasuke pulled the rambunctious blonde ninja off of her, and she merely shook her head in annoyance to hide her silent relief. Geez, Naruto could be so clingy, it was ridiculous. Hanaru looked down at her arm as the onyx haired brooding king grabbed her and pulled her along--clearly not as hard as Naruto considering how much the teen was complaining (then again, she knew Naruto often made a big deal out of absolutely nothing, so maybe there was no difference in his grip...?). She growled internally at the thought that someone had been messing with them this entire time. It was an unsavory idea, considering that meant that she wanted nothing more than to rip them apart with her sword, but that would probably not end favorably for her in any instance. Her eyes narrowed as Sasuke lead them back towards the bathroom that Naruto had come from. She rose an eyebrow at the blonde's whining--really? He was still scared?
"You said it yourself," she glared at the blonde from across Sasuke. "You pushed the ghost. Ghosts can't be touched, so clearly it can be fought in some form or capacity." She let out a careful breath as she tried to curb her anger, though it would definitely be hard. Once they had made it to the bathroom, Hanaru was unimpressed with who they found waiting there. She was mildly sympathetic with Hinata--the poor girl was probably dragged into this thanks to Kiba, and yet she was the one who ended up injured. "You can hardly blame Naruto, you damn mutt," Hanaru growled, crossing her arms under her chest as her eyes narrowed into dangerous hazel slits. "If it wasn't for you, HInata would be at home minding her own business and not being injured--instead you dragged the poor girl out here at night and got her injured by trying to play out this dumb prank of yours!" Hinata didn't really do much to piss of Hanaru--she was quiet, and from what the half demon could tell, she was a kind individual. So the fact that the dog was behind all of this really pissed her off.
"Hey, Naruto's the one who shoved her!" Kiba argued, and Hanaru raised an eyebrow.
"But none of this wouldn't have happened if you weren't so set on some dumb prank!" That seemed to quiet the brunette until he offered to help his teammate out and brought her past them. Hanaru watched them go with narrowed eyes, Naruto trailing behind them. She kissed her teeth, the "tch" that left sounding thunderously loud in the now-quiet hallways. "Yeah, let's go..." she trailed off, thinking about it all. The different instances, knowing team eight's skillset... well, it was all explained away as genjutsu and minor illusion tricks. Maybe some clever chakra string work with the mannequins, but she couldn't be too sure. She sighed, a frustrated noise that left her throat in an angry huff. "I should have known it was the dog... if only it wasn't this night then I wouldn't have been so useless..." she found herself muttering under her breath, her eyes trying to focus on the dark hallway where team eight plus Naruto walked off to.

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Shikamaru listened to the sounds of them both drying off, his brain full of thoughts that he didn't feel comfortable voicing. What the heck was Kiba even thinking, giving them crap for just hanging out?! He supposed it probably looked a little... suspicious... at least what he had walked in on, considering Shikamaru had his arms protectively around the ash blonde female. Still--it was no different than Kiba wanting to protect Hinata for being his teammate, right? 'But Kiba hasn't known Hinata as well as you've known Asuna... and you were pushed up against her... and you were both-' the black haired nin furiously worked the towel through his loose, wet walks, trying to clear wherever that thought was going to out of existence. No way, absolutely no way. He wasn't going to permit that kind of thinking about Asuna. It wasn't right... 'But you want it to be....' the voice in the back of his head urged on once again. Like a siren it gave his mind images of things that could be, but he was in no mood to start entertaining such thoughts.
Hearing Asuna's soft voice as she stood, he hadn't even realized that her gaze had been upon him, but he wasn't about to comment on it as he waited silently for her to get back. Her comment about team eight had him raising an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything, respectfully waiting for her to finish before nodding along. "You're right. Not only are they closer to where those jonin patrol, they also aren't anywhere near the location of the original legend." He had no time to spare for idiots--Kiba, Naruto... all of them were idiots, and they had more or less ruined their night starting with Kiba's intrusion. "The last thing I want to do is get caught because of those idiots. So, instead, hopefully we can use them like bait and get the hell out of here without getting spotted..." he mumbled, letting Asuna sit him down with her as they sat close together. His brain seemed to malfunction, however, as he felt her lithe fingers working through his still-damp hair. He paused, anything rational escape his mind. His heart beat faster, his cheeks burned as she pulled part of his hair up before tying it.
Oh no. Shikamaru totally liked her, Kiba was right.
What a drag.
He didn't know/remember when or where it happened, but he was determined to keep it to himself. They just today confirmed their status with each other as being good for the first time in years of relative silence. They had gotten closer again slowly through being on the same squad, and that was going to have to be good enough for him. No way in hell was he about to ruin that by saying something absolutely stupid. Finding his voice, he nodded, swallowing to avoid an awkward voice crack. "Yeah, there's nothing to be worried about. Ghosts don't exist, and that legend is probably spread by the teachers to try and keep dumb idiots from sneaking around the school grounds after hours." He nodded as she pushed his shoulders, and though the red was fading, a slight dusting of pink remained. When she thanked him, he thought for sure his face was on fire, and he quickly looked away, refusing to meet her gaze. "Y-yeah, sure. Anytime..." he said softly, standing up and following after her.
Once the door proceeded to be locked, he led them out the window and onto the lawn. "I'm good for something, after all," he grinned as she nudged him. "Now c'mon, let's get out of here." And yet, for some reason, as they walked through the underbrush and trees in the yard, though this route should have led them to the fence (Shikamaru was good with layouts and directions), they found themselves staring down the main doors of the school building. "There's no way we went south..." Shikamaru stated softly, his eyes furrowing. "This has to be a part of their dumb prank--Hinata's genjutsu skills must be getting better. C'mon, let's go..." Shikamaru grabbed Asuna's hand and turned around to go out the main entrance, but when he turned around.... there was the front doors again. His eyes narrowed into suspicious slants. He turned to look behind them, and there the gates were, leading out of the yard and into the city. "What... the heck?"
 
Asuna was happy to follow after Shikamaru as they made their escape. The night air was more nippy than before. The dark wrapped itself around them effortlessly, it's cold embrace sending a chill down the blonde's spine. The single layer between the cool air and her warm body didn't stand much of a chance as it the fabric had absorbed some of the dripping moisture from her hair. Not much longer though, she thought, with the boy leading them to freedom she'd be home and in a hot bath in no time. The thrill of getting away with breaking into the school quickly disappeared and was replaced with confusion as they stared at the front of the school building. He was right, they hadn't turned South and they would have had run into a fence or a wall in order to get here. "Yeah, she must have been practicing," Asuna agreed, this was probably all part of the prank. When they turned to leave though...her heart sank into the pit of her stomach. Her hold on his hand tightened ever so slightly on instinct as they faced the building once more. With another tug, they turned facing the gate and walked straight, the darkness seemed to grow more dense with each step and by the time they reached the gate, Asuna had to really squint to make out her feet as the night progressively swallowed them bit by bit. "It's not a good idea, but I'm starting to feel a little disoriented. I'm just going to grab my-" as she spoke her hand was fidgeting in her pockets. Her very empty pockets, "-Damn! I think I dropped my phone!" There was a slight tightness in her voice, normally, people didn't worry too much about dropping their phones. In the age of technology all sorts of password encryption was available...but Asuna...well, she never did get around to setting up passwords. She had put it off for 'later' for the past two and a half years. "It must be around here somewhere," turning to look back towards the school, she almost choked on the thick air around them. "Hey Shika...we walked to the gate right?" she asked softly staring at the front gate in the distance, illuminated but the streetlamps. Their soft yellow glow now pale and sickly, flickering and threatening to give into the darkness.

Before them was the school, as if they hadn't moved from their original spots, with the doors flung open widely. 'It's not real. It's not real' became a mantra as she repeated it over and over in her mind. This was a genjutsu. This wasn't real. From the darkness came a rustle and a distant animal growl. Quickly though, the rustle turned into the loud creaking and snapping of branches, the sound echoing from all around them and then...the scream. It wasn't a human scream, no, it was an animal wailing loudly in the dark. Her free hand shot up to cover one ear as she leaned into Shikamaru's side, "I hate that so much," she whined softly as the screams and cries of an animal in pain grew louder and louder. It was a deer. There was no specific place it's anguished cries were coming from; behind them, beside them, before them. All around them it screeched and screamed, but the darkness was all they could see. Asuna gripped his hand tighter, too afraid to let go. That warmth was real, Shikamaru was real and whatever was out there wasn't.
All at once the noises stopped and the night air was cast into a deafening silence.
Taking in a deep breath, Asuna tried to compose herself, but she couldn't meet Shikamaru's gaze. Again she had shown fear, weakness, something a true shinobi shouldn't feel. "If uh...we should find Hinata," she said clearing her throat but her chest hurt from the heavy hammering of her heart. "Find the source and stop it there, right?" it was mostly a guess as she'd skipped quite a few classes covering the subject.

Going through the front door of the building seemed like suicide, it was too convenient, too open, but after trying to circle around the building only to keep finding themselves being stared down by the front entrance, they didn't seem to have much of a choice. The hallways seemed normal as they made their way through the ground floor, but it didn't take them long to round a corner only to stare down a first floor corridor, "How did we end up here?! We were nowhere near the stairs!"

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Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, trying to rationalize the night's occurrences, but he subconsciously trailed behind the group, staying relatively close to Hanaru. He had had enough of disappearing teammates and never ending hallways. That thought though had him narrowing his eyes at the group...where was Sakura and Ino? Were they wherever dog breath was leading them? "What's so special about tonight?" he asked having caught the tail end of Hanaru's musing. He thought about it for a moment, "Is it your half ass disguise?" that was the first thing he thought of. She had taken on quite the appearance, it was too much for just a stealth mission, but at the same time it wasn't enough to truly hide who she was. She still looked like Hanaru, so why the disguise in the first place? Unless... "Is that really a disguise?" he eyed her as they walked, following after the loud voices of Naruto and Kiba.

So far team eight seemed to be the culprits, they had been walking along the halls without incident, but as they approached the end of the main building, Sasuke couldn't help but feel suspicious. They were being lead to the swimming pool. Oh no, he was not falling for this. Reaching back, he took a hold of Hanaru's wrist, slowing down to an almost complete stand still as he watched Kiba knock on the heavy doors. Very suspicious. "I don't trust them," he spoke lowly as Kiba pushed open the door, there were still no sign of Ino or Sakura, "I don't think they're done with their little prank," he warned. She never went swimming with them, he had thought it was because of the scars, but no, she was aquaphobic. It was one thing to prank and play around, but Sasuke wasn't going to just idly stand by as they exploited the fears of his...teammate. Sasuke paused for a second, his face felt hot, did he honestly, even for a split second think of Hanaru as something else besides a teammate?! He quickly let go of her wrist, walking towards the group quietly as his mind was screaming at him and his blush trailed down his neck. As they entered the the building, two onyx eyes started scanning around for anything that looked like a trap. The pool's water was calm, but there was water everywhere, someone had clearly been here, was that why Kiba knocked? Was he signalling to whoever was here? He could feel his shoulders tense as he looked around, "If one of your little buddies decides to jumpscare us," he started to threaten, but Kiba quickly brushed him off, "Come off it man, the jokes over!"
"Sure. If it's over then tell whoever you were signalling to come out. I'm not playing around anymore."
Kiba looked confused for a moment before he grinned, looking more like a Cheshire Cat, "Oh, nah man. Caught Shikamaru and Asuna in here earlier getting really friendly. Didn't want to walk into something I didn't need to see, y'know what I mean?" While Naruto seemed interested by the implication of the brunette's tone, it still didn't sit right with Sasuke. It wasn't a secret that dog breath was friends with half of the slacker duo and according to Ino, neither were at school due to 'family emergencies'. "Whatever," Sasuke might have been born at night, but is sure as hell wasn't last night!

Sasuke stalked off to the side, his eyes never leaving team eight, "They're all in on it," he muttered quietly to Hanaru. It was odd, but he found some solace in her company at the moment. They had been pulled along all night like two ponies in a circus for the amusement of those immature idiots and now it looked like they were swaying Naruto over to their side too as the two loudmouths giggled and made inappropriate hand gestures. So childish. His arch rival turned into the only person he could trust at that moment, even if she looked like she was ready to climb up the walls.
The cool blue water bathed the room in an equally cool colour. The water's reflections danced and swayed all around them. The refracted light was calming, so much so that combined with the gentle movements of the water turned into sweet, soothing caresses, urging them to lower their guard. "Where's Ino and Sakura?" he asked, there was a bite in his voice. He had half a mind to just leave them behind, but he wasn't a complete scumbag. "They were with you the last we saw them," the one with the glasses said, he was completely indifferent to the raven haired male, "It's likely they met up with the other two." There was a silent pause, "I heard those two scream from clear across the building. I was here with Shikamaru," the dog nin said seriously, "I thought you guys got them?" Shino's silence was unsettling and Hinata's brows knitted together in worry. "Ah, no. W-we saw them with the group last. I-I thought they ran into you?" she spoke barely above a whisper. The calming waters seemed so eerie now; from soothing to sinister as the realization dawned on them...no one knew where the girls were.
 
”At a time like this?” Shikamaru questioned Asuna, an exasperated expression on his features as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. The lack of the moon caused her face to be outlined in shadow, but he could see the worry written all over her features as clearly as if it were day. He sighed, though he knew he couldn’t exactly be mad at her. Phones were small an inconsequential to him usually, though he kept track of his things rather well, so much so that he couldn’t remember the last time he had forgotten something, unless it was on purpose. “Should we go back for it?” Though posed as a question, that really meant that the onyx-haired boy was offering to go look. “Maybe it slipped out of your pocket? I know how much girl’s pockets suck thanks to how much Ino complains about their depth.” He didn’t understand the difference completely, but he did understand her frustration. Besides, the look on her face, again, told him everything he needed to know—she didn’t have a password lock on it, and didn’t want anyone to try and pocket it.

Though, if he remembered correctly, it wasn’t exactly that hard to break a passcode on a smartphone. Not that he’d know that from personal experience or anything.

”We did…” the black haired boy nodded in confirmation, his eyes narrowing. Hinata was of the Hyuga main clan branch, so he wouldn’t be surprised if she was really good at Genjutsu with her eye technique aided by the Byukugan. That being said… he wasn’t exactly positive that she was capable of this level of mastery yet. After all, they were all still Genin. There was no way that Hinata could create such a… a sinister-feeling Genjutsu—and one that extended this far out over the school and the grounds! Especially if those screams from earlier had been a part of the ploy as well. He narrowed his eyes and let out a faint huff of annoyance. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.” The deer screeching was obnoxious—and unsettling. Even if Shikamaru knew, and actively told himself, that this was all from someone’s Genjutsu, that didn’t mean that it still wasn’t slightly freaking him out. Especially considering the fact that if Hinata wasn’t doing this, then they had no idea who was.

As they walked through the school, the Nara remained silent, so as to not disturb the quiet tranquility of the school. He was on edge, though, his eyes following the shadows, but also sending out his own to see if anything was waiting for them around the corners, to the best of his abilities. “Who knows, maybe you really did unless Sayu-Sayu when we were back in the pool?” Shikamaru teased, raising an eyebrow at Asuna with a small smirk. Though there really wasn’t anything to joke about considering how much time they spent walking, and getting to where they shouldn’t have been able to. “This jutsu… it’s too strong to be Hinata’s,” Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head as he finally spoke his concerns out loud. “Either this is the work of the curse, which I don’t believe in, or the Jonin knows we’re here and is messing with us.” Shikamaru was on guard, and he wasn’t about to let anyone, ghost, jonin, or otherwise, get the drop on him.




Though she would sooner die before admitting it, Hanaru was grateful for the company, considering all of the freaky stuff that had been happening since they entered the school. Of course, she was angry due to the fact that it was team eight trying to get the best of them, and she wanted to pound that damn dog’s head in… but well… she wasn’t about to get into a scuff when she wasn’t at her best. She’d never live it down if she lost to the mutt. She and Sasuke followed after the others as she spoke—of course, she cursed herself considering the onyx haired boy picked up on it. “It’s not…” she growled through gritted teeth. Her human self definitely didn’t feel like… well, “her.” But it was still her! She was a little bit offended. Her eyes narrowed at him as she felt his gaze on her person. “I don’t have to explain anything.” To see her as a human and understand what that meant was to know her weakness—there was absolutely no way that she would be able to show her vulnerability openly. She couldn’t trust Sasuke… the words echoed in her mind. She couldn’t trust anyone. Not with her secrets, not with her life…

But that tiny voice inside her head told her the real reason why. The reason being that she knew the more she pushed them away, the less damage she could do. ‘I’ll only hurt you if you let me…’ the words taunted her mind.

”Of course you don’t trust them—any sane person would obviously see all of this as a joke,” Hanaru mumbled. She had been content to just follow along with the group, although her instincts were telling her that something was very wrong and she should have just left them behind and looked out for herself, like she’d been doing her whole life. But something was sticking her to them like glue. Or maybe that was Sasuke’s hand, firmly yet not too tightly wound around her wrist as they reached the door to the pool. She watched Kiba knock on the door and she almost didn’t follow in after them, if not for Sasuke bringing her inside with him. Just staring at the pool was making her nauseous. “Let’s just go… who cares about the other losers?” Her voice shook ever so slightly, and she cursed herself silently, her eyes narrowing in distaste at the water. Turning her hand, she gripped Sasuke’s hand in a death grip, as if he was the only thing anchoring her and keeping her from the blue “depths”. It’s not just that she didn’t like water. She also didn’t know how to swim.

”Tch. Just great, we should leave them. They’re both capable kunoichi.” She didn’t truly believe that, but the point still stood. In the dim light of the pool, Kiba turned to her, raising an eyebrow at her appearance. His nose twitched, his heightened sense of smell, even above the chlorine and the pool, bringing him closer to Hanaru.

He got even closer to her and sniffed again and Hanaru shrunk back (as much as she could, already rather close to the wall). “You… don’t smell right. Too human,” Kiba mumbled in confusion, and Hanaru opened her mouth to argue, a shocked/almost insulted look upon her features before the water in the pool began to tremble.

”W-What the hell is that?!” Hanaru yelped, pointing as a heavy fog began to pool up from the epicenter of the water’s shaking.
 
Sasuke.exe has stopped working.

The raven haired prince was no stranger to girls trying to grab at his hands. Heck, he'd even had some guys try to grab him. Hanaru's hand grasping at his and holding him in a vice like grip? He did not expect it. Not in a million years did he think she'd grab his hand. Frankly the boy didn't know what to make of it, but he tried to keep his cool demeanor and not have his utter distress show outwardly. Just because girls grabbed his hands a lot didn't mean he knew what to do when they actually had their fingers intertwined with his! Shaking them off or shoving his hands in his pockets was what he normally did but...she was holding his hand! Every thought prior had just vanished in a puff of smoke, like a dispelled clone. It was like a wall had shot up, cutting off any rational thoughts. No matter how hard his mind tried to process it, it was stuck on that one simple fact, 'She's...holding my hand'.
The once mild flutter in his stomach burst and grew so immense, spreading from his head to his toes in a tingling sensation. It was like he'd just eaten a bouquet of dandelions. It wasn't a bad feeling, but it was intense and he couldn't bring himself to look at her. He was uncertain to say the least, but his hand clasped around hers almost on instinct.

With his mind buzzed, caught drifting on some ethereal plane that seemed to separate rationality with the rest of his being, Sasuke didn't even take not of Kiba approaching them or the way the boy started sniffing around in the most literal sense. Was...was Shizune on to something? Did he catch feelings for the enigmatic cactus? There's no way! Right? But even just the thought of it had his heart hammering in his chest, threatening to break through his ribcage.
"I mean, it's not bad. It's just really weird," Kiba said as he leaned closer, taking in deep whiffs through his nose, "Hn, I kinda like it though~" He didn't exactly dislike her normal scent, but there was such a massive shift it was like smelling a whole new person with a hint of the old Hanaru mixed in there. Strange was not even close to how he'd describe it. Everyone had their superficial smells; the perfume they wore, the shampoo they used, and then there was the person's true smell, their own unique fingerprint that distinguished them from each other. Finally was the raw base, the smell that distinguished people and animal species from one another. "I like the new look too," he smirked playfully at the outrageous faces she was making. If he had run into her in a dark alley alone, he would have almost not been able to recognise her based on her smell alone as the overpowering inhuman stench was almost completely non existent. Almost.

Sasuke's brow furrowed as he noticed the Inuzuka in his presence. He could see the boy's lips move and hear his voice, but he couldn't quite make out what he was saying as his mind slowly started catching up to him. Everything seemed to move so slowly as he turned his head and dared to glance at Hanaru, whatever Kiba was saying must have been somewhat offensive given that she looked like she was about to stick the pointy bit of her sword through him. His body moved faster than his mind as before he knew it, he had fisted the dog ninja's shirt, a fierce and threatening snarl on his lips as his world seemed to catch up to him. Before he could consciously threaten the mutt to keep his nose to himself, Hanaru's yelp had their attention fixated on the pool.

A heavy fog permeated through the water's surface, spreading out slowly like a viscous liquid. Every now and again the fog would sputter up, like hands desperately grasping into the air. "D-dude no way!" Naruto, much like everyone else was staring wide eyed at the water, but he quickly pulled his phone out, "I-it's Sayu-Sayu!"
"I highly doubt that. As per the legends, one can only summon the spirit by calling to it three times," Shino stated matter of factly, adjusting his glasses ever so slightly. Due to his bugs, he was almost completely immune to Genjutsus as they lacked the part of the brain that allowed for such trickery. While he was trained to withstand and dispel such illusions, the quiet buzzing from the corner of the room had his attention and he quietly walked over, staring down at a forgotten phone silently vibrating on the ground.
"I'm gonna do it!" Naruto proclaimed taking a deep breath, "Sayu-Sayu!"
"Naruto, are you that blind? It's these clowns! They're the ones doing this!" Sasuke snapped as he yanked at Kiba's shirt.
"Sayu-Sayu!" Naruto couldn't stop his hands from shaking as he gulped. What if there really was a ghost?!
"Hey! It's not us! Maybe Shikamaru is just pissed off and this is his little revenge scheme!" Kiba growled slapping Sasuke's hand away.
"S-Sayu-Sayu..." Naruto said closing his eyes tightly, his finger pressing down the record button on his phone as he waited.

Silence enveloped the room, all eyes were on the water. The fog had stopped sprouting from the water, at least that's what it looked like as the water was not visible at all. The gentle lapping sounds of the water against the wall had ceased. The cool blue of the room was now almost a pale cold grey as the heavy fog obscured the refracting light.
A minute passed and nothing happened. Everything had come to a complete standstill. Naruto opened his eyes slowly, then let out a sigh of relief and disappointment, "Aw man, what a let down," but a part of him was also cheering in gratitude. "Psh, tell me about it," Kiba joined in, but he was still on guard. It was quiet. Too quiet. "Hey, Shino, is this all still-" the Inuzuka paused looking around the room but there was no trace of the resident bug boy, "Shino? Not cool man!"
Hinata was up from her seat in a heartbeat, calling out as loud as her quiet nature would allow her, but the boy seemed to have vanished into thin air. Sasuke rolled his eyes at their 'concern', it was obviously a trap and they were just playing it up! With his focus on the suspicious team eight, it seemed like Hanaru was the only one to notice the face of a black eyed girl pushing through the fog.

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Asuna felt somewhat guilty for having dropped her phone, it could literally have been anywhere and the best part was, it was on silent, so she couldn't even ask the boy to give her call. It wasn't the end of the world, but it would end up being annoying, especially if she had to explain it to her old man. She'd just have to find a way around it. "I don't know what scarier, the possibility of there being a real fake ghost, a sadistic jonin toying with us, or telling my old man I went swimming with a guy alone in the middle of the night," a dry chuckle escaped her lips, leave it to Shikamaru to make her laugh at a time like this, "Honestly, I'd rather debate the non existence of ghosts with a ghost with a line up like that." For a moment she let go of the boy's hand, "Just, let me get a light. I can't see anything," she grumbled as she dug through her bag. It had suddenly become darker again, just like outside. The dark was oppressive and heavy, and it was getting harder to breathe. "Just a quick peek and I'll turn it off," she knew it was a bad idea, the light would give away their positions, but the sudden darkness was not normal, even their voices fell flat and was smothered by it. Pulling a lighter from her bag and a few flicks later a tiny flame sprung to life, barely making any difference at all in the black gloom. Even if she couldn't see anything, the little flame helped her feel more calm, it was better than nothing at all.

She blinked down at the little light, it was oddly hypnotic, but what had her scrunching up her face in confusion was just how dim it was. The flame wasn't dying out, but the amount of light it radiated, the poor little flame could have just as well been sputtering the final embers of it's little life. "Definity not in Hinata's range," the blonde mumbled to herself, agreeing with Shikamaru's observation. It was a big school though and it had an even bigger yard, finding whoever was doing this wasn't going to be easy. At the thought she reached out towards the outline of her companion, "In the very famous words of this guy I know, this is going to be such a drag." Carefully they made their way down the hall, keeping tabs of where they were and where they were supposed to be, but that all meant naught once they found the stairs and descended down to the ground floor, only to find themselves stepping out on the first floor landing. They had repeated going up and down the stairs and while they ended up on the exact same place most of the time, their final descent had them emerging on the third floor. Asuna sat down on the floor, her back to the wall in silent despair. This was really messing with her mind, but what made it worse was the glimpses she caught of someone watching them from around the corner, but when she had pointed it out to Shikamaru, he didn't seem to see what she saw.

"Whoever this is, def will never be on my favourite teachers list," she said pawing through her bag again. The last thing she wanted to resort to was this, but, the dark was whispering, lightly caressing her arms and even if she knew it wasn't real, her mind was still sent reeling, "I'll move my butt, just give me a second." Asuna tried, she really did, but she was cracking little by little. Finding what she was looking for, she hoped it would still light as it had been under the wet towels and her swimsuit the whole time. With another flick of the lighter, the smell of smoke permeated the dark as she took a deep long drag of the cigarette between her lips. "We can't keep walking in circles like this, we're supposed to be on what...the second floor north? But we're on third floor east," she tried to think it though, they can't be somewhere they didn't go! It was frustrating, and the whispering in her ear wasn't making it easier, "There's a bunch of stuff I can think of that this jonin could do in their time other than harass students," she was up and looking up and down the hall, not that she could see anything, "Like go down to the 7/11 and get a nice little bottle of blue pills."
 
Either she was too preoccupied with Kiba, her surroundings, or she didn't care in the slightest, Hanaru had failed to notice the effect her gripping Sasuke's hand had on the onyx-eyed male. It was hardly her fault, anyway. She was scared stiff, not just of the water, but of Kiba figuring out her weakness--and the three culprits in charge of scaring them were all together in one place, and spooky shit was still going down. Either or. She blinked at Kiba briefly, before red crept up on her cheeks as her brown gaze narrowed, her grip tightening, though it was nothing akin to the strength she held while at full power (which, in this case, was probably a good thing for Sasuke's hand's sake). "Y-You... you mangy mutt!" she growled, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "Get your nose out of my face, before I bite it off!" He looked liked he was going to continue speaking, and she was about to wipe the damn smug look off of his face, but Sasuke had already grabbed his shirt. Her hand left his, and some sick and twisted (or really sweet) part of her brain noted the difference in temperature, and how cold her hand had become once he left it.
She hated feeling weak. That was one of Hanaru's biggest pet peeves. Feeling that weakness... she didn't think to train her human form because nature was nature. She'd hide out on her one night of vulnerability and if, for whatever reason, she was threatened, she'd slip away and fight them with the rising sun, once her claws and fangs officially returned. But now that she was working with Konoha, and trying to scrape together something reminiscence of a normal life, then maybe... just maybe she'd have to start training the human part of her as well. These nights would only return, who knows at what convenience or inconvenience, so she needed to be ready for the inevitability of being out on a mission and shifting.
Shifting. She hated that word. It brought up too many painful memories. Hopefully she'd never be in any form, place, or position where any of these... people (no, she was NOT going to say friends, because that'd be ridiculous) would have to meet that monster.
Speaking of monster (nice transition brain, brain: you're welcome~), when everyone was focused on the fact that the pool was filling the room with fog, Hanaru was turned away from the center of the room, and a girl with pure black eyes pushed through the fog, and she could have sworn that she felt the color drain from her face. "NARUTO WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SUMMON?!" Hanaru shrieked, stumbling backwards and into Sasuke's form as she floundered for the hilt of her short sword, the wakizashi's handle evading her in her moment of need/panic.

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Shikamaru only offered Asuna a snort as she used his catchphrase to describe their current predicament. He couldn't help but agree with her sentiment though. The pool? Swimming? That was all fun--at least until Kiba showed up, it was. He liked the idea of sneaking in, having some harmless fun (screw you dad, no he did not have 'daddy issues'), and get out. Nothing was damaged, barely any rules were broken, and it had been a blast. Wandering the dark, abandoned school hallways at night? Getting randomly teleported to places you were nowhere near? How turned around they'd gotten in the yard of a school they'd attended for longer than years not? No thank you. Shikamaru didn't believe in ghosts, but he wouldn't put all these genjutsu tricks past some super bored Jonin who happened to be on duty tonight.
"Yeah, definitely a better pastime," he rolled his eyes, shoving his hands in his pockets as they continued to walk down dark corridors and empty hallways. "I don't believe in ghosts, but yeah it definitely looks a whole lot creepier at night." His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he lead the way through the dark. "C'mon I don't think we're going to find anything in here," he shook his head. "We can search the yard for your phone again when we're in the yard, and then we can leave. I promise I'll come here super early tomorrow to find it." No one wanted to attend as early as (most of) the teachers had to get there anyway. He doubted anyone would find it or care to steal it that was out that early. If anything, the ninja and kunoichi who were on campus grounds at 7am would either ignore it or take it to the lost and found.
Shikamaru watched Asuna light a cigarette and his eyes narrowed at her choice. Leaning over, he plucked it from her lips and rubbed it out with his heel on the floor, pointing a finger at her. "Hey, no," like he was talking to a dog. She looked like she was considering lighting a second one and he rose an eyebrow at her in a semi-disappointed glance.. Asuma-sensei smoked too, and he wasn't all too fond of the smell, "That shit will destroy your stamina and give you cancer," he mumbled, taking the lighter from her hand and placing it on top of her stuff, taking the now-free hand in his own, so she wouldn't be able to light another cigarette. That was the reason, right? He wasn't entirely against smoking--in fact, he really didn't care what people did... usually. When it came to Asuna, he felt like... well... like she shouldn't bother with it. She was too good for it... the smoke of cigarettes didn't deserve to be replacing her oxygen.
Shikamaru noticed, after a little more walking, that they were now in a different section of the building entirely. "What the heck is going on with this place tonight?" he mumbled his thoughts out loud, though he had no inclination as to what was going on. He shook his head and tilted it to one side as he thought, pausing in his step only slightly before they continued foreward. "Wait, hold on," his hand tugged on hers as he waited a moment, patiently listening as some shuffling sounded in front of them. "What was that...?"
 
Asuna felt a little tug in her chest when he offered to come in early to have a look for her missing device. No one liked coming in early, aside from the weirdos who volunteered for cleaning duty as if it wasn't a punishment. It wasn't exactly an unknown feeling, but it was an unwelcome one. This was the first day in years where they actually spent a little time together and not as a team on missions or training. For a long while she was almost certain that whatever they had wasn't there anymore, but here they were. It was enough. A small voice in her back of her mind quietly echoed 'You don't deserve it,' and to an extent she believed it, she wasn't the nicest person out there or the most compliant. It wouldn't be right to feel like that, not about him. With the nicotine filling her lungs, it was easier to push down those feelings and push back that little voice. When the Nara boy had snatched the cancer stick and snuffed it out, Asuna almost couldn't believe it. Anger was quickly spreading through her, she wanted to jump up and shove him, yell even, his words only rubbed salt on the wound. Sure it was bad, and if she was honest, she didn't like the taste, but it wasn't like she had one everyday! "Thanks for policing my life there, dad, you gonna ground me next?" she said through gritted teeth.

The attitude might have been uncalled for, but, smokes were pricey so wasting them was a crime! "I don't do it enough to get cancer, I'll get cancer from the damn sun faster!" She wasn't in the wrong! No, her anger was totally justified! She only had one or two every once in a blue moon. Ok, maybe she took a drag when she felt she was at her breaking point. Ok, maybe she sometimes split one with her father when they chilling and not yelling at each other. That's all beside the point! There was nothing wrong with it and she didn't have a problem. She'd say that everyone else had the problem, but currently 'everyone else' who knew was just her old man, Hinata who caught her in the girl's bathroom and now Shikamaru because she thought she could trust him to be cool with it. At least that's what she believed, she didn't whip one out when she was with her team and since no one else had mentioned it, she was sure that she was being stealthy enough about it. For a moment she had forgotten that she was mad at the boy as she angrily debated with herself in her head, trying to justify why she didn't need to be stealthy about it because there was nothing wrong with smoking, she just didn't want to do it infront of other people because she was...being respectful? Tch, that was the biggest bull reasoning she could have come up with, but it was better than what the little voice in her head whispered to be the 'truth'.

Her short anger fuse had burned out though, it wasn't nearly as explosive as it normally would be, but she'd learned that unlike her dad a lot of people took the things she said very personally. Asuna heaved a sigh, expelling what little remained from her earlier rage, swinging their hands slightly. In hindsight, he wasn't trying to be a jerk, but 'sorry' was crossed out from her vocabulary a long time ago. "It's...been a long night. If we can find wherever 'outside' is, we can just go home. A dumb phone isn't worth a scavenger hunt in the dark," she gave his hand a quick squeeze. She didn't care if he was mad at her...alright, fine, maybe she cared a little. "I don't know, man, I just know it's messing with my head. It's kind of like this one time when that traveling carnival came to town and I got lost in the house of mirrors." Asuna left out the part where she ended up crying until her parents came looking for her because she couldn't get out. She was a real cry baby, just about everything could send her into tears and for the dumbest reasons too, sure she got better after she became friends with the boy beside her now, but still, it was something she felt ashamed of.

"What?" she looked towards him in the dark, when he told her to stop. Her eyes starting into the empty void of darkness before them, she was about to open her mouth to ask "Hear what?" when the muffled sound of shuffling hit her ears. Asuna strained her ears, someone or something was moving ever so slowly, pausing much like they were. The thought of it listening for movement filled her mind, and she squeezed Shikamaru's hand trying to will herself from turning around and running away.

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Sasuke barely had a chance to turn towards Hanaru, before the girl crashed into him. Instinctively his arms shot out to steady her, but with her struggling so much, his hands ended up resting awkwardly on her upper arms. They had all turned to look, their horror stricken faces all staring directly at the strange sight. At first no one moved, trying to come to terms whether what they really seeing the ominous figure in the fog. The girl seemed around their age and although her body was mostly obscured, her clothing seemed to wrap around her, her hair clinging to her features with a wet shine. Even as she stood there it was painfully obvious just how pale she was, here and there her skin was tinted dark blue. The room itself seemed to grow cold and dark in her presence. Was this it? Was this the ghost whispered about in the hallways? No, Sasuke didn't believe it, there was no such thing as ghosts! This must still be part of Kib- his thought derailed as he looked to Kiba, but the brown haired boy was frozen in fear, eyes wide. Sasuke could practically see his fight or flight instinct rippling through the boy as he tensed up, shifting his body ever so slightly closer to Hinata who looked like she was about to either scream or faint, or both. That was genuine fear. They were not behind this. Damn it Naruto!

The girl in the fog lurched forward, her body moving in an uncanny fashion and her hands were stretched out towards them. Her mouth opened, darkened water spilling to the ground as she croaked at them. He wasn't sure what came over him, maybe he just didn't want to attend a teammates early funeral, but Sasuke wrapped his arm around Hanaru's waist, hoisting her up ever so slightly. "Everyone get out!" he barked the command, pushing Kiba back as he pulled Hanaru with him. How did you fight a ghost?! Was it a ghost? Who cared, they needed to fall back and regroup. They weren't running away, it was a tactical retreat! Naruto was the first to sprint to the door, despite being afraid and yelling "I'm sorry! I thought it wasn't real!" over his shoulder, he still had his phone up recording the mess that was going on behind him. Kiba was pushing Hinata to safety, he might have been the biggest flirt on campus, but just like the animals he was around, he was loyal to a fault. WIth Hanaru struggling for dear life, Sasuke barely managed to get them both out and slam the door before an inhuman force crashed into it with a loud screech. The heavy door rattled and creaked as the ghost or whatever it was on the other side slammed into it repeatedly. The thunderous THUNK THUNK THUNK died down into nothingness while small wisps of fog crept through the cracks in the door.

"What the hell was that?!" Kiba demanded as he stood protectively over Hinata. Naruto was on the ground, his legs had turned to jelly as his quivering hands almost dropped his phone. There was no doubt in his mind, ghosts were real and there was a really scary one that tried to attack them! Sasuke on the other hand, quickly let go of Hanaru, not wanting to hold her longer than he should. Not that he wanted to hold her in the first place! He was just...helping his teammate, just like Kiba was. End of story. "I don't know but, if we're going to take it down we need a plan," Sasuke said glaring at the door. "Take it down? Take it down?! Are you crazy! That thing wanted to kill us!" Naruto yelled from his position on the floor, "You can't hit a ghost with a sword you know!"
Sure, maybe, if ghosts were real...which they totally weren't, "You're the one who said her name, Naruto. You're the only one she wants to kill," Sasuke said trying to think back to the story his brother use to tell him.
"Me?! Huh?!"
"She'll drag you down under the water and hold you there, just like they did to her," the raven haired teen stated, which was not sitting well with the blond.
"What? No, she's going to take him to the roof and push him off into the swimming pool," Kiba interjected with the version of the story he had heard. There were too many versions of the story to really tell which one was the real one.
"Who cares, what she's supposed to do," Sasuke said and Kiba seemed to bristle a little, the Inuzuka felt like the 'child prodigy' was challenging him again.
"I care! I'm the one she's after!" Naruto flailed, "H-Hanaru will help me! Right? Ha-chan?" he pleaded for mercy seeing as the other two guys looked like they were about to throw him back in there. "W-we're friends right? You wouldn't let me die right?" he pleaded giving her the puppy eyes and he was oblivious to the shy little wall flower looking a little troubled.
 
Shikamaru could feel her rage, it rolled off of her in nearly-tangible waves. She was smoking, and yeah he realized she probably didn't do it that often. But bad habits were bad habits, and he shot her a glare that looked... tired. A truly "disinterested-in-your-excuses" kind of glare. He didn't want to fight with her on this--Asuna was smart (sometimes) and she knew that smoking was bad for her. With the new realization as of this night that he might have feelings for her, Shikamaru didn't want to see her struggle with something that was such a known addiction. After all, her mother had terrible health complications. Not that he knew her mother smoked or anything--from what he remembered she didn't? That he knew of? But if that kind of thing was genetics, the last thing she needed was the extra nail in the coffin of paper and nicotine incarnate.
Thinking about it like that left such a horrible taste in his mouth. He made a mental reminder not to do it again.
Thankfully though, whatever rage that looked about ready to boil over subsided, and they remained in silence regardless of how much she wanted to chew him out. Shikamaru knew he was kind of being an ass about it. But... he couldn't help it. Not when it came to Asuna. Not when it came to her well-being. He swore to himself he would have done the same thing if it were any of his friends, but ever since Kiba threw around the possibility so carelessly, he hadn't been able to get the idea out of his mind. If he did truly like Asuna in such a way, the feeling was in its adolescence. Too early to even be called immature, and he definitely didn't want to pursue it. Not if she didn't feel the same way (especially if she didn't feel the same way). After all, the last thing he wanted to do was take this carefully-cultivated relationship that the glue was still drying on, after having pieced together the broken bits of shattered trust and confusion over what they were, and ruin it once more. He had a sneaking suspicion that if it were to break again, there would be no glue... it would be irreparable.
His thought process, as usual, was disrupted by something, and he narrowed his eyes, straining to hear anything more than slight shuffling. The sound of fabric rubbing was all that he could hear, until a quiet groan had him stiffening. Ghosts weren't real. Of course they weren't... rght? Although, the more he listened, the more it became far too tangible for it to have been an incorporeal being. Narrowing his eyes, he found his hand wandering to where his kunai pouch normally was, though he hadn't brought it on their little night-time rendezvous. Rolling his eyes, he wondered if coming into the school wasn't such a good idea, though it wasn't like this illusion they were under was giving them much of a choice. At least whatever was around the corner sounded human.
Motioning to Asuna to follow his lead, Shikamaru lead the way around the corner, making sure to remain in front of the sandy-haired blonde just in case they were about to get jumped by a patrolling jonin. He groaned when they rounded the corner, just in time to see two female kunoichi groggily standing up--the last females he'd ever wanna see... A blonde shot a groggy, pointed look to her fellow teammates, her face riddled with confusion.
"Shikamaru... Asuna...?" Ino groaned, Sakura emitting a similar noise beside her. "What are you two doing here...? Is this another freaky ghost-vision."
"Nope," he sneered, trying to be civil. "Unfortunately..."

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

She was the queen of doing things she wouldn't normally do tonight--when looking back on it, Hanaru would willingly blame her "dumb human form" on most of tonight's "mistakes." That wouldn't account for the fact that her heart was pounding when she'd vaguely, unconsciously realized who she had crashed into, and whose arms were wrapping around her waist to pull her away from the creepy ghoulish female. She... was scared! No, she didn't want to admit that either, but honestly of the two afflictions to her person, she was far more willing to admit this one than the other possibility. Lord forbid she ever think it, much less name her feelings out loud. She was so difficult.
She barely processed Sasuke's words, her eyes wide as she could only stare at the creature... was it considered a female? Did ghosts retain their genders after death? The last thing she wanted to do was assume a ghost's gender. The door shut and Sasuke let go of her--she felt like she could finally breathe again--but what stole her breath, well... yeah, not going there. The usually-calm-and-collected female breathed heavily, a cold sweat on her brow as she remained tense as the door pounded. A moan could be heard from behind it--it was bone chilling.
"Porcupine is right, Naruto," Hanaru growled, looking to the blonde haired ninja with steely-chocolate orbs. She had to pull out the names otherwise she might do something good for once and use his name without insulting him. And that would be out of character and she'd cringe. However, the more Naruto whined, the more she seemed to be at some form of snapping point. "Naruto, listen to Sasuke for once in your damn life!" she growled, placing her hands on her hips. "Of course I don't want you to sacrifice yourself to that... thing. But you're the dumbass who said it's name!!' She wanted to yell at him about 'atonement'. But that was at the top of her to-do list and she was nowhere near ready to speak about that, much less go through with it. So rather than be a hypocrite, she sighed and shook her head, biting her lip. "You're going to have to go in there and... dispel... whatever you did. I dunno, apologize to her?!" She thew her hands up in the air. "I don't care, just get rid of her!"
She not-so-gently pushed him toward the door, biting her lip nervously. She hated this. She hated not being in control. She hated not knowing anything. She hated being human. "G-Go on..." she mumbled, waving him off as she unconsciously hovered by Sasuke. The onyx haired male was... an odd sense of comfort. Even though being around him was twisting her intestines into a knot of worry and frustration. Her heart was pounding in her chest still. That was... because of the ghost, right? Yeah. Ghost. The sky was dark, but she could see bits of clouds above them, foretelling the on-coming morning, and the cloudy day that it would be. Shit! What if any of them saw her transform? Granted, her hair just transitioned from brown to purple, her eyes would go back to gold with the slit pupils, and her ears and tail would return, but it would probably look really odd to someone who didn't know what she was. She wondered... how many of her peers even knew the term "half breed" (well, that was derogatory but oh well) or that demons even existed. She doubted it.
 
"W-what?! Hanaru!" Naruto cried out in disbelief, sputtering as the girl grabbed him and started pushing him to the door.
Sasuke felt prideful that she had actually admitted he was right and the smug look on his face was all the more proof of it, "If you only had about half as much sense as Hanaru did, you'd understand why this was all your fault." He was careful and on guard as the pounding and moaning at the door picked up feverently, but that didn't mean that he could deny that his point of view was acknowledged. Hanaru was the one who acknowledged it to boot! He felt more validated, why though, he wasn't sure. It must have been because she was such a zealot little cactus and refused to connect with people. Yes, yes, that was it! He knew he was the best, and his rival just openly admitted to it...sort of! It was good enough for him though!
"Wait! Wait! Wait! No! Stop it!" Naruto dug his heels into the floor as his voice climbed higher and higher, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't want to die! I haven't taken Sakura out on a date yet! Please, you guys, you can't do this to me!" The pounding had stopped and all was silent and for a moment Naruto hoped that the ghost had heard his please and she was going to let them go.

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Asuna nodded and fell into step with Shikamaru as they hit the wall and moved quietly in the dark. She didn't know what was around there, it could have been just another illusion for all they knew, but she trusted him. As they rounded the corner though, she sighed, "Ino, I'm actually glad to see you for once," but that good feeling was gone the moment the platinum blonde opened her mouth, "What do you mean 'for once'?! What are you two doing here?!" Asuna checked them both over, "I'll tell you later," she said though she would conveniently 'forget' about it. The two girls seemed fine though, their memories were still a little foggy about what had happened after they left the biology lab. It started to make a little more sense, Sakura and Ino were targeted first by the jonin because out of their respective teams the two girls were the best at picking up and dispelling Genjutsu, so the others turned into easy pickings.
"Any idea where the rest of your team disappeared to then?" Asuna didn't really care, if Ino could dispel the illusion, she and Shikamaru could disappear...but there was a little problem with that plan and that problem was- "Sasuke must have realized it was all a trick! He's probably out there looking for us right now!" Sakura said almost dreamily.
"M'kay, you two have fun with that...but mind dispelling whatever is messing with the halls first? I'm tired, I'm cold and I just wanna go crash on my bed." The moment the words left the sandy blonde's mouth Ino was up in arms, outraged that the girl could even consider leaving them behind. Despite Asuna's protests and complaints, Ino was able to manhandle the girl into bending to her will and was dragging her down the hall.

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Kiba had his hand on the door while Hanaru and Sasuke each held Naruto in place, ready to shove him into the room to confront that thing inside. Hinata didn't want to be a part of it, trying to defend Naruto, but her quiet protests fell on deaf ears. "Naruto, stop resisting! Just get in there and dispel whatever unholy curse you unleashed on us!" Sasuke said firmly, pushing Naruto closer to the door, but the blond was not having any of it, "You're all traitors! I'll never forgive you! When I die, I'll come back to haunt every single one of you!"
"C'mon, be a man! We'll be right behind you!" Kiba assured, they had a makeshift plan, but it wasn't a reliable one as no one knew how to fight a ghost. Would ninjutsu have any effect on it? They were going to try and find out, if their efforts were in vain then hopefully the spirit would accept Naruto as an offering and leave the rest of them alone. Sasuke though, still wasn't sure if it was a ghost, it couldn't be because they didn't exist right? He was planning to find out once they got the scaredy cat into the pool house. With that girl tugging at Kiba's shirt pleading for them to stop, she could see if there were any traces of chakra in that ghoul. They'd be able to tell if it was real or not, but neither she nor Naruto were having any of it. "K-Kiba, please! It's not Naruto's fault!" Hinata tried to reason, "Of course it's his fault! He said her name, she's here because of him!" Kiba retorted, he didn't want to get behind Sasuke's plan, he didn't want to submit dominance to that stuck up prick, but he was doing it for the safety of his teammates!
"On the count of three. One!"
"Guys! C'mon I said I was sorry!"
"Two!"
"I-It was for the vlog! I-I was going to make us all famous!"
"Three!"
Kiba opened the door while Sasuke and Hanaru pushed Naruto inside. He stumbled a bit, sliding on the wet floor. Once he gained his footing he looked around, but there was no sign of the ghost. The fog still drifted lazily over the floor, licking the walls and rolling back. "H-hey, Sayu-Sayu!" he called out, but nothing happened, "I-I'm sorry for calling you out!" the fog swirled slightly in the corner before the face of a girl pushed through. "Sorry that your teammates drowned you, or pushed you off the roof. I mean, I also heard you slipped and fell or something?" he fidgeted as the ghostly apparition lurched towards him, "Wait! I swear, I didn't mean to summon you! You'rereallyscaryandmyfriendsaremeanandtheylockedmeinheretodieohmygodpleasedon'tkillmeIhaven'thadmyfirstkissImeantherewasthatonetimewithSasukebutthatwasanaccident!" he rambled, the word vomit spewing from his mouth as the ghost launched at him, but it never made contact. To his surprise, when he opened his eyes, the girl and fog had all disappeared back into the water.

"Th-that actually worked," he sighed in relief, he almost didn't believe it! "Hey guys, the ghost is gone! I think it accepted my apology!" he called out.
What? Seriously, that worked? Sasuke was actually a little annoyed that that worked, "What? No," he pushed open the door and sure enough everything looked normal. There was no eerie fog, no ghoulish figure, nothing! "No, it couldn't have been that simple!" he said barging in, he was still on guard but, that was so...anticlimactic! "What? No way! Naruto, you did it!" Kiba entered the room, who knew it was that simple? Horror movies always made it out as such a hard thing to do. "Yup! I guess my boyish charms were enough to make her swoon," Naruto got up looking proud of himself, while Sasuke wanted nothing more but to push the blond into the swimming pool himself. "Once again the day is saved, thanks to: Naruto Uzumaki!"
"Whatever. Let's just get out of here, before I drown you myself," Sasuke said, but he had a sinking feeling that it wasn't over, it was too easy. He was right as the water started swirling, it was picking up speed, turning faster and faster. "Go, everyone go!" Sasuke barked out as they started running, "What are you standing around for?! Run!" he pushed Hinata who was staring wide eyed at the violently swirling vortex of water. They had barely made it halfway down the hall when a deafening roar ripped through the air. Those who dared to glance back, could only see the gaping maw of a giant water dragon speeding towards them.

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Ino had dragged them all down to the bio lab, working with Ino to dispel whatever genjutsu they encountered along the way. Asuna was irritated, she didn't want to be there, but the Yamanaka had her wrapped tightly around her finger. They were currently on their way to the swimming pool, they did all come to find a ghost, but aside from being dragged around by Ino, what was really getting on her nerves was each time she reached to grab Shikamaru's hand, her blonde friend would swoop in and herd her away while bombarding her with questions.
"I thought you had family obligations or something?" Sakura asked curiously, that was why Ino said the boy couldn't come on their ghost hunt, "Were...you guys on a date or something?"
"Asuna would have told me if she was going on a date, right?" Ino was scrutinizing said girl in the dark, she was the self proclaimed bff and that meant that Asuna had to tell her all her secrets. Asuna refused to look at the blonde holding her arm captive, her cheeks were warm at the thought and she was fighting to push that thought out of existence. "H-hey stop that!" Asuna quickly pushed away from Ino who was rubbing her back only to pause and look at her suspiciously, "What were you guys doing, Shikamaru?"
"Ino, shut it," Asuna groaned in embarrassment, she wore her swimsuit under her clothes on the way to school, but didn't pack anything for after their swim. They weren't supposed to have been out this long, a quick in and out and in the dark it wasn't like anyone would even notice. They weren't even supposed to run into anyone who'd take it all out of context either. An odd sound in the distance caught her attention, "Seriously, shh, I hear something!" it had been a while since they heard or ran into anything strange. The strange unnatural darkness was no longer around, there were no more whispers and ghostly touches in the dark.
"Maybe it's the others!" Sakura said happy at possibility of Sasuke being nearby, "Let's hurry! They might be caught in a genjutsu!" the duo quickly ran off after the sound and just like chopped liver, Shikamaru and Asuna were left behind and forgotten in favour of dearest Sasuke. "Why Ino? Of all the people running around, it just had to be Ino," Asuna grumble quietly, taking the boy's hand.
"Asuna! Come on!" she could hear the blonde calling from the other end of the hall.
 
"Sorry Naruto, it had to be done," Hanaru stated, clapping her hands together briefly, as if in prayer for his life, before pushing him towards the door with Sasuke on his other side. "Maybe if you haunt her she'll finally 'go out' with you, cause she can't smack you if you're dead...!" The currently-human half demon snickered, shaking her head as she pushed down whatever shred of guilt was trying to worm its way into her throat. Out of anyone in their... acquaintance... group... Naruto probably understood her the most. Or at least... Hanaru related to a few "shared experiences" that they had. Of course, Naruto was the lucky one of the two of them. He wasn't the monster--he was just the host. Not to mention he had a parent--adopted or no. But she felt just a twinge of guilt for shoving him into the bathroom with the scary ghost.
Wincing when she heard his muffled voice become silent through the heavy door of the pool house, Hanaru felt her eyebrows furrow in concern against her will, biting her lip. Doubt crept up her throat, trying to crawl out of her lips while she kept them sealed shut--though it was hard. 'Another weakness of being human, I see...' she thought, her eyes narrowing slightly as she waved off her own guilt as something that was attached to her momentary weakness.
"Don't worry about Naruto, babe, it had to be done," Kiba smirked at her.
"Shove it." She advised blankly--thankfully Kiba knew when to take a hint.
When Naruto called out to them, Hanaru looked disgruntled. If anyone was looking at her they could easily write it off as disappointment--like maybe she had wanted the ghost to eat him or something. No, instead it was very cleverly-disguised relief that their resident knucklehead was okay. At least with Naruto around, things were never boring. She'd... well, as dumb as it was, she'd miss that if he were offed by some dumb ghost. Hanaru was less eager than the rest of them to walk back towards the swirling vortex of water that was the pool--even if it was still, it was deadly. She wanted to hiss at it, but... that would have been weird. Too weird.
"It's... gone...?" she questioned, hating how much her voice echoed on the tall, tiled walls of the complex. All of them spoke far too soon, however, as the water began swirling, Hanaru blanched, the color once again draining from her features. She vaguely heard someone scream to run, but it was almost like she was already underwater. Her lungs heaved painfully as her feet were frozen in place. Without her animal instincts she was no longer a predator, but prey, rooted to her position and brown eyes doe-like and wide in fear as she tensed and braced for impact. Water doused her being, it encompassed her. She was impressed that in the chaos she somehow managed to keep her mouth closed. Her body shook as it was pused back by water, and dark memories swirled in her mind.
Her hands were covered in blood, her vision blurry from tears as snot ran from her nose. No... No no nononono this couldn't be happening...! She didn't! She didn't mean to! NO! Dark figures chased after her, shouting things she couldn't make out. Blood was pumping in her ears, a wound on her back stung but it was numbed as the adrenaline aided her escape. She could taste salt--her tears maybe? And iron. This was hers. Her whole face stung, swollen. Cut open in a clean slash. She hadn't been watching where she was running, her instincts were just screaming at her to get away, no matter what. She tripped. The water of the river was ice cold... she tried to scramble up to the surface, but... the numbness was nice. It made her forget. It made her lose the monster... but the monster refused to give up, no matter how much she wished it would let get and let her drown. It clawed up onto a rock, snarling, pristine white fangs curled like saber tooth fangs down to her chest, seeing a mixture of black and red. She flung herself to the back, breathing and bleeding, her essence draining slowly as she succumbed to the bitter call of unconsciousness.
Her eyes snapped open, a heightened sense of awareness about her, and the light coming in through the pool's windows was about them. In the chaos, she had turned back--the dawn must have broken, heralding in a new day, though it couldn't be seen through dark gray clouds. She panted heavily as a hand rested on her head, and she shivered, tail flicking in annoyance behind her as she looked up at the smiling (well, she could only assume it was a smile, considering how his singular eye creased) face of team 7, her sensei, Kakashi Hatake.
"Yo. You all have.... detention," Kakashi snickered, shaking his head. "Though I haven't gotten to use my genjutsu in a long time... the ghost was a great trick, thanks for the idea." He winked... er... blinked at Team 8, showing Shino's unconscious form leaned up against the back wall, unharmed (and surprisingly not wet) and asleep.
"YOU...! YOU!!!" Hanaru shrieked, nearly puncturing her hands with her claw-like nails and how hard she was fisting them at her sides. "Y-You scared me, and then DRENCHED my FUR?!" She wanted to tear her hair out. At least it was purple now. Detention? She'd had worse. BUT THIS MAN. She was livid. Yes, about the ghost thing, but mostly about the water.

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

Shikamaru let Ino and Asuna talk, having no desire to speak up. That is, until being accused of having gone on a date by Sakura, Ino being quick to think along the same lines. Say what you will, they were nearly carbon copies of each other, despite being "rivals in love" or whatever the hell it was. Yes, Shikamaru was not jealous of Sasuke's popularity in the slightest. "Geez. We're both going through some serious shit and you two think we snuck off to the school... at night... on some sort of messed up date?" he raised an eyebrow in question at her as Ino struggled to come up with a rebuttal to his words.
"Well... why not...?" she frowned, crossing her arms under her chest as she leaned forward, piercing icey gaze set on his figure as he stared back, his usual apathetic persona reappearing now that they were around more people. "You had to have been... right, Asuna?"
"Please, if I were to actually take Asuna out it wouldn't be at the fricking school. There are literaly a million places she'd enjoy more." Ino couldn't seem to argue with that, but thankfully before she could open her mouth to ask another as-equally-annoying questions, a sound in the distance interrupted their conversation. 'Thank god...' Shikamaru thought, rolling his eyes as the girls took off down the hallway. "W-we don't have to follow them...!" he yelped slightly, not exactly used to being tugged around quite like this. With the Genjutsu removed, it was rather easy to get to where they needed to go, following after the darting figures of Ino and Sakura as they reached the pool house. "Back here... again?" Shikamaru questioned. He had a bad feeling about this....
Sakura, determined to open the door for "her Sasuke," stepped inside and gaped openly, her face going white. Ino repeated the same action, and achieved the same results. Shikamaru, having now pulled Asuna with him, blanched as well, as a ghostly apparition appeared to be manipulating some sort of Water release, and Shikamaru shielded Asuna as best as he could, though he couldn't do much more than take in the brunt of the impact--they both still ended up getting soaked. Once the water cleared, he wasn't surprised to see not only all of team 8, but team 7 as well, standing in wet, shocked silence at the sight of team 7's sensei, Copy Nin Kakashi. Shikamaru groaned--if this reached his dad, he would never hear the end of it.
Kakashi walked around, addressing each of them for detention. Maybe they hadn't been spotted...? If they snuck out now... could they just--oh never mind he was walking directly toward them.
Shit.
"Ah, Asuna, I've been looking for you," Kakashi spoke, his voice unnaturally kind. It sent shivers up the back of his neck as he turned his head away. The silver haired male handed Asuna her phone, surprisingly dry and in working order, as Kakashi patronizingly patted her head. "No more late-night trysts to the pool you two, okay? Anko might turn a blind eye, but next time... I won't be so lenient."
"Now, I won't tell on you for this little.... experiment," Kakashi was hatching something, that was for sure. "But, you have to either arrive early or stay late for cleaning duty the rest of the week." A collective groan was heard.
 
Dragons in Asuna's opinion were cool.
Elemental release dragons? Hell yeah!
A strange ghostly ghoul manipulating a giant water dragon? Well that was just unfair.
She didn't have time to think too much about how it was possible before Shikamaru pulled her closer as the water serpent barreled violently towards the doors, sweeping everyone up along the way. It all came to a rather splashing end, leaving the teens soaked and shivering. Dawn was already breaking through the windows, revealing a rather smug Kakashi, of course it had to be him, ugh, they never stood a chance to begin with. Even if they were able to avoid the scarecrow, his pack of ninken would have found them in a heartbeat. All hope of escaping vanished when he approached them. She expected a scolding, maybe even temporary suspension which Anko had threatened her with last time, but his smooth voice and kind words had the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. "W-what?" was all she could say, a part of her wondering if this was another genjutsu when he handed her back her phone, patting her head. Asuna wanted the ground to swallow her whole, she wanted to protest at the jonin's choice of words -seriously, why did everyone jump to that conclusion?- but giving her phone a quick once over the long list of missed calls and unread messages made her wish there really was a ghost and that it would drown her.

Sasuke had his arms crossed, he was not pleased by this outcome at all. As his sensei made his way around addressing everyone, he couldn't help but glare daggers at the ground. He wasn't exactly angry at his sensei, more at the intense level of genjutsu the man had used, no doubt thanks to his hidden eye. He wasn't even an Uchiha! How could a man with a stolen Sharingan use it to such an extent, but he himself, a pure blooded Uchiha, struggled to see through a basic genjutsu with his own?! Practice? Well he practiced too! Everyday! "I was a little disappointed that you didn't dispel my genjutsu, but your overall performance was excellent," Kakashi said at he gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze, but Sasuke only huffed and slapped his hand away with a bitter "Whatever."
"You kids are free to leave and I will see you all in class later," Kakashi said addressing them all only for another collective groan to erupt. They were all tired, they had been trapped in the school all night and quite a few of them thought about calling in a fake sick day to sleep it off. Kakashi was showing them mercy by not contacting their parents or reporting them for trespassing, but that didn't mean he was just going to let them off the hook just like that.

He left the members of team eight to tend to their comrade as he took Hanaru firmly by the shoulder, brushing off her look of murderous intent, "We need to talk. In private," he didn't leave any room for arguing as his lead her out of the building. He was serious, grimly so, like he was leading the girl out to a funeral or to tell her that he just ran over her dog or something.
Sasuke noticed them leaving, he also noticed that Hanaru looked normal again, not that he was paying attention to the way she looked! There frustration building in his chest, did she do better than him? Was Kakashi going to praise her outstanding performance so the rest of them didn't feel like complete failures?! He was the one covering her all night! His face contorted into a scowl as he pushed past the rest of the teens, stomping his way out of the building. "Sasuke!" Sakura called after him, running to catch up, "Hey, so I was thinking, maybe we could walk together?" she was blushing and twiddling her fingers nervously. "Walk yourself home. I don't care," he said picking up his pace and leaving the girl behind.

Just about everyone had heard him, "I don't know what you guys see in him," Asuna said trying to stay on neutral ground. She didn't want to Ino to go into a rant on how great he was or think she like the boy. Adjusting the weight of her bag she waved them off, "I've gotta run. I'll catch you later," she brushed of Ino's request to walk together and hurried off. Her father was going to kill her and she didn't want him to associate her friends with the situation and end up going off on them too. Kiba had his arm around Shikamaru's shoulder as he turned to lightly teasing the boy, asking how far they'd gotten and if this meant Kiba couldn't ask Asuna to the next school dance, not that he would, she was too plain and serious for his taste, but he wanted to get a reaction out of his bro.

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Kakashi had led Hanaru around to the back of the school, glancing behind him to make sure none of the others were following them. He was suppose to have spoken to her about this matter the day before, but he'd been swept up by so much paperwork he didn't even make it to training. "Hanaru, what I'm about to tell you is best kept between us. Lord Sarutobi wanted to speak to you personally, but unfortunately something has come up," he spoke quietly, as he found a spot he deemed private enough. "It's important, and if you don't want to end up someone's bounty, then you have to take what I tell you now seriously," he stood in front of her, there was no point in sugar coating it and he wasn't going to talk down to her like a child. She was far from it. "When the Sandaime let you stay here, he did so without consulting the council and up until now he's been keeping the information out of the government's hands. Until now that is," he paused before continuing, "They're representative will be visiting the school. We'll need everyone to be on their best behaviour...especially you and Naruto." This wasn't just about Hanaru's past and Sarutobi had his concerns that this 'surprise inspection' would be more than just that. This wasn't just to check up that the school actually taught the children, or to check that they weren't turning the students into child soldiers, no, Sarutobi had the suspicion that they were specifically going to check on Naruto to make sure they weren't letting the demon run wild, and Hanaru's presence was going to open up a whole new can of worms. "You should be careful of him."
​
 
Shikamaru was wet, and this time not by choice (wasn't consent important?). The elemental dragon had crashed through the group of teens and effectively soaked all of them--but Shikamaru was mostly grateful that he'd bothered to throw his phone into a plastic bag, which was an old habit that he'd picked up from his mother who contingency-planned for everything. Maybe that's why he was usually so immaculate with his plans...? Regardless, Kakashi was revealed as the ultimate haunter, and Shikamaru should have known better. After all, who would love pranking team 7 more than team 7's own sensei? Among other jonin, Kakashi was both respected and known for his strength and a slightly understated mischievous nature. The male sighed, shaking his head and hoping to dry off to the best of his ability.
Yes, Kakashi threatened them, and he was willing to waive their "sentence," but Shikamaru was seriously considering staying home and not returning for classes. That would be the ultimate slacker move, right? Though the idea of giving his parents more fuels for the flames that burned so viciously against him did not, in fact, sound all that appealing. He couldn't help but sigh again, knowing that the slippery scarecrow had caught all of them somewhere firmly between a rock and a hard place. He watched idly as the silver haired male gave Asuna her phone back, and he rose an eyebrow at his lackadaisical response to everything. He was... quite carefree. Although Shikamaru supposed you would have to be, to in order to put up with a bunch of children trained in the ancient arts of combat and ninjutsu like they were. Imagine--putting a bunch of hormonal teenagers in one building, and giving them weapons? Oh wait.
That was literally their schooling.
Shikamaru nodded in agreement when Asuna mentioned Sasuke's prickly, angsty demeanor. As far as the lazy boy was concerned, Sasuke could go whine in his own little corner (of hell) by himself for as long as he wanted. Then maybe that way, no one would be subjected to the whining, fawning, and excitable yelling of his fanclub. His thoughts drifted back to Asuna's previous quip about him having one, and he shuddered at the thought. No, he would very much so despise a fanclub. It was the only part of Sasuke that he pitied.
His head turned, however, when Asuna made to walk off, looking at her phone with a troubled expression. He could only guess what was going on--probably her dad figuring out she had spent the night out, and was now tearing his hair out. Shikamaru pulled his phone from it's plastic protections, only to reveal a blank screen. He scoffed silently, before putting it back and sealing it. Of course his parents didn't care--they never bothered to check up on him, especially at night. Unfortunately for him, it was at this precise moment that Kiba began to pester him, and he shot the dog nin an unamused and exasperated glare.
"C'mon, just a few details...?" Kiba's non-existent tail was wagging in excitement.
"First of all, you don't need my permission to ask anyone out or not--I don't have to be a genius to know she'd turn you down flat." So... that felt good for Shikamaru's ego, Kiba's though? Not so much. "Secondly, we just broke in to swim--we've got a lot of family shit going on, and Asuna is like... the oldest friend I've got."
"W-What...?! What about me...?" Kiba, thankfully, was easily distracted, and the thought of his position being uprooted in the dudebro hierarchy being usurped by Asuna on a mere technicality was a no-no.
"Please," Shikamaru snorted, walking out with Kiba. "I knew Choji before I knew you, and I knew Asuna before Choji. You never stood a chance."
"That's cold, even for you," Kiba shivered.
"That's because you're wet and it's cool outside." Shikamaru, ever the realist. He pointed to the overcast skies that were just starting to become visible thanks to the appearance of dawn. "Now lets get going before any rain decides that despite our bath, a shower would be good as well." His gaze trailed after the quickly-retreating form of Asuna, and how she turned the corner, no doubt heading back to her house/store combo. He hoped her dad would go easy on her. Coping was hard... and at least he was there for her. It wasn't like she had been at the school alone, or, lord forbid, gone to another bar. For as long as she didn't find his presence annoying, Shikamaru would be there for her. He wouldn't tell Kiba, but the brunette had helped him learn a few things.
'I have... some sort of feelings... for Asuna...' The thought rattled around in his brain. It was the only thing he COULD think about. It was an odd feeling, but one that he'd keep to himself. No need to rock the boat. Besides, she'd never like him back--that was ridiculous.

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

Hanaru was grumpy enough as is, what with the drenching of her fur, and the thought of having to clean for a whole week... and appearing early no doubt! All of that mess bit at the back of her mind, but she held her tongue. Kakashi had done a number on the group, herself included, scaring the crap out of everyone. If she wasn't so interested in the inherent desire to wipe that smug look off of his mostly-obscured face, she might have been proud that such an individual was her sensei.
But no! This was neither the time, nor the place. She chose to listen to his words once he had stopped to chat. However, what came out of his mouth was the last thing she wanted to hear. "YOU DIDN'T TELL THEM ABOUT ME... AT ALL?!"
"No need to get all worked up," Kakashi tried to mediate her feelings, raising up a hand as she felt her blood boil. There was a mixture of anger and rage, but also a deadly fear that wished to rise to the surface no matter how hard she tried to force it down.
"Worked... worked up?" she asked incredulously, her gaze snapping back to Kakashi as she seemed to bristle with emotion. "Oh, no worries, it's only my life I've got to worry about losing!" She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.
"No more stupid stunts like this. He will do whatever he can to get a rise out of you, you can't let him." Kakashi sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Best behavior,"
"Yeah yeah yeah, I got it," she waved him off dismissively. "You don't need to repeat yourself. I know all too well what happens otherwise." Prison for life, or death penalty? Gee, what a fun game of 'would you rather'. She was not so easily amused. She could feel Kakashi's gaze on her, even as she turned around and began walking back towards the gate. Realizing that at this rate, there was no way her fur, much less her hair, was going to dry before school started, Hanaru began to run. She enjoyed running, it was what she had the most experience with, and she was fast. Fast enough, it seemed, to run away from most of her own problems--like usual. A government official, huh...? Maybe she'd just have to pull Naruto in a closet. Unless he really was some evil asshole, Hanaru could pretend to be a model student/citizen. Naruto, on the other hand... really was a lost cause.
As she ran, a rather thoughtful, and relatively untroubled look rested on her features, save for the slight furrowing of her brow. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going--no one was out at this time in the morning anywah.
 
The thick cloud cover made for a rather grey morning. Small rays of light that dared to peek over the horizon, was quickly extinguished as the overcast skies grew heavy.
Asuna was prowling the empty street, lost in her own head as she tried to gather up the right words for the inevitable confrontation that awaited. She deviated from her usual route to stop by the 7/11, there were just a few short hours before school started and while it would be enough to get through her routine, she couldn't predict how long she and her old man were going to go at it. Might as well get a peace offering on the way. It wouldn't save her, not by a long shot, but she was tired and this wasn't an ideal way to start the day. The odd looks she was receiving wasn't helping and neither were the questions the clerk had. All of which went ignored.
Stepping out into the dreary morning air, she almost walked right into someone. Thankfully, said someone had inhuman senses and catlike reflexes and the collision was safely avoided. Asuna stared tiredly at Hanaru, what kind of normal person would be out running at this time? Oh right. "You missed. Try running a little faster next time," she said bringing the hot cut of coffee up and taking a swig. She wasn't exactly sure what to say, she didn't really know the girl. Hanaru was just one of those people that were there somewhere in the daily blur, she'd seen her around, Ino kept her up to date on all the latest gossip, so she'd heard about her. How long has it been, three months? Either way, she knew the girl had been around long enough to have moved on from the "new girl" status. Asuna wondered for a moment if she'd actually ever officially "met" her before, she honestly couldn't remember. "Hanaru, neh?" it wasn't the most respectful way to talk to someone, and as per Ino, Hanaru was supposedly a year or so older than them, which meant she'd technically have to address the girl as senpai. "I don't know a lot of people who run this early, guess you're the first," she spoke between blowing and sipping from the plastic cup, her feet moved on their own as she continued on down the street, "You do you, I suppose."

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Kakashi watched after Hanaru as she had left, he couldn't help but worry about her and Naruto. Naruto had grown up as a demon vessel and many had shunned him even after he had proven himself time and time again. Many still had their reservations about him and he could be so reckless to boot. Hanaru though, she wasn't a vessel, she was the product of something many saw as unholy matrimony. It was no surprise that many in their ranks had taken a strong disliking towards her and to add to all of that was her history. Sarutobi believed there was good in her, he trusted that she could integrate into society and be granted a normal life. A lot of people had raised their voices in protest, and if he was honest, he wasn't too sure about her in the beginning, but he trusted the lord third, he was a wise old man after all. Sarutobi wanted to prove that Hanaru could live peacefully amongst people before he told the council, the government, as he knew they'd have the girl's head before she'd even have a chance to plead her own case. Kakashi could feel the worry in the old man's words when they had discussed this yesterday. The signs were subtle, but they were there, the old man didn't really trust Aku Mitomori, the representative, and he hoped that for once the old man was wrong about something.
The silver haired man only sighed behind his mask as he made his way to the gate, making sure all the teens left. A smile tugged at his lips, he was being extremely lenient on them, but they had made his boring night a little more exciting. It would make for a great story in the teachers lounge.

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Sasuke made his way home in silence, hands stuffed into his wet pockets as he glared at the ground the whole way there. He jumped over the compound's wall, not wanting to talk to anyone right now, let alone the night guard at the front gate. He made his way up the stone walkway and around the house, climbing up and into his bedroom. Everything was quiet, it didn't seem like anyone had noticed he was missing, so he grabbed a pair of sweats and headed to the bathroom. He couldn't believe Kakashi had been behind the whole ordeal. He couldn't believe he had wasted his time going to the school to begin with! One thing he was certain of though was that he needed to train harder. Kakashi had manipulated all of them so easily, the man only had half a Sharingan for crying out loud! If only Itachi hadn't gone on a mission he'd barge into his room right now and ask to start training. He supposed he could ask his father, but he'd look so weak doing that though. 'Hi dad, so, my teacher beat me with our clan's eye technique!' he wanted to pretend that it never happened. It did happen though. It was just another jab at his lack of skill. Not only was he weak in the eyes of his teacher, but he failed the whole team! Sakura and Ino were kidnapped. He couldn't protect Hanaru no matter how hard he tried! She wasn't even herself last night, she wasn't as fast or as strong, she couldn't even sniff out Kiba like she normally did. When he saw her this morning though, she looked like she was back to normal, well, if normal meant looking like a drowned rat. Oooh, that's a good one, he'd have to remember that when he saw her again! Maybe she had something like the werewolf curse, but in reverse? Instead of being human by day and beast by night, maybe she was the opposite, it's not like he'd ever seen her after dark before.

His body froze and it wasn't because of the cold wet clothes clinging to his form. Why was he actively thinking about Hanaru? Why did he feel more disappointed at the thought that he couldn't protect her compared to being a failure in the eyes of their sensei? He felt his cheeks flare up. What was wrong with him?! At one point he thought that he liked her but that wasn't possible...at all. No, he must be catching a cold, that's why his face keeps turning red and hot. Who'd ever like a stubborn cactus like her? Definitely not him! As he sunk into the hot bath, he reminded himself to drink a vitamin boost before going to school. He'd fight off his cold before it could take hold on him fully.
 
Hanaru didn't care to look where she was going, after all, it was super early in the morning. Only crazy people were out this early and if they were that usually meant they deserved to be run over... her thoughts wandered to how Kakashi warned her to be on her best behavior, and she mentally groaned. It was already so hard to play nice for all the individuals that hated her. The government coming in? This was no longer about living a normal life as a ninja. This now became about her living in general. If she screwed up enough, that was it. They'd execute her, no questions asked--and it wasn't like anyone would care enough to know that she was gone. She had no family. None that cared about her anyway.
In her musings, she almost didn't see the blonde haired female in the middle of the road--that being said, thanks to her instincts, she was able to avoid a collision and nimbly lept out of the way, her ears flicking as the girl spoke. Her eyes narrowed lightly, nearly missing all of the words coming out of her mouth as she struggled, trying to remember the girls name. Outside of team 7, she knew very few individuals. I mean, of course she recognized her face and her scent, but names? That was hard. And she would have had to put effort into it. Giving up entirely, Hanaru shrugged in order speak briefly--if Hanaru noticed the lack of proper honorifics, she didn't care enough to correct her. "Yeah, you wanna die do it on your own time. I can't afford that kinda shit anymore," she snickered, the briefest hint of a smile on her face. The blonde wasn't annoying, like the other one! Come to think of it, wasn't she the one with the other blonde, and pineapple hair, and Mr. Munchies? Yeah, probably...
She offered a raised, steady hand in goodbye, before she took off running again. There was no way she'd be able to shower completely in time for their morning cleaning duty that they'd have to be on thanks to Kakashi (she honestly would have preferred the detention), but she could at least wash her ears and tail so that the drowned animal smell would be replaced with something more... pleasant.
By the time Hanaru returned to the school building, more jonin, eyes drooping from lack of sleep or early rising, were on the premises. They eyed her with suspicion, but when Kakashi showed up to escort her to the classroom, they turned away. Giving her sensei a glance, she tilted her head. "So since the big bad government guy is coming I have to have a shadow? Don't you have classes to teach?" she muttered, clearly not amused or impressed by this turn of events as Kakashi shook his head from side to side.
"Nope, the honorable third said that I should be nearby in case any... misunderstandings occur. But they shouldn't, right...?" he prodded her patience with a finger in the shoulder--her good shoulder--and she sighed.
"I told you I'd play nice today already, didn't I?" she mumbled, her gaze darkening. "I more than anyone know my fate should I step out of line." There was a time when her life had been hopelessly dark. Fighting to the point of reckless abandon, she took on just about anything and anyone she could, wanting to feel... something. Anything. Hoping and praying that each fight would be her last, and yet she cut her foes to ribbons--she couldn't hold back, the monster wouldn't let her. She wasn't proud of that time but it was another puzzle piece in her history, and it was written in the scars on her arms and on her back. Like a Pollock she was splattered with memories.
She... didn't want to die. Hanaru thought she'd never feel this way again, but the will to live was a powerful thing, and it somehow wormed its way back into her being. She wasn't going to say the school, or heaven forbid the people that filled it. But something brought it back, and she wasn't about to argue that fact.
Bending over to get the materials for cleaning the blackboard from the cabinets, Hanaru leaned up to start cleaning the boards for the day. She was smelling a whole lot better than she had after Kakashi had soaked them all--her go-to scents that weren't quite so offensive to her nose was chamomile with the slightest hint of sweet--the Japanese peony. Kakashi sat at the back of the classroom, closing his eyes as he leaned against the chair he had positioned there. Hanaru couldn't blame him. She was used to pulling all-nighters--Kakashi was too, surely, but if the Sandaime had him running around, then he probably took whatever chance to relax that he should get.

----------

Shikamaru returned home without a hitch. He met no one on the road and his house was dark. Walking in through the front, he was met with no resistance there either. That meant that his parents had either: not cared and went to bed early, or were distracted by his father leaving on another mission or something. His parents never did discuss with him a lot of the details that they shared in private. He doubted it was due to lack of trust--more than likely it was protocol, and with his mother being the head of the Nara clan she was often busy with their internal affairs and ongoing projects.
Let's just say he had a lot of expectations to be living up to, and he wasn't exactly interested in pursuing them, no matter how hard they tried. Yoshino was a good man, and an even better ninja, but Shikamaru hated the way that they treated him. As if he didn't have a choice. As if he didn't know any better. And with the clan business on the Nara side of his mother, Shikaku, he didn't even know where to begin with his extended family. Knowing that he was destined, unless he died, or was usurped (could that even happen in clans) to take his mother's place eventually made his cousins and other family place a lot of high standards on him. That in turn was backlash against his parents for raising "such a lazy son!" and it created this unhealthy feedback loop of just... gross things. And expectations that were just crushing.
He reached his room with a sigh, knowing that if he gave in to his most basic desires of sleep now, worry later he'd be just be taking off the tape from a can of worms he did not need re-opened. He turned on the light, and noticed something on his bed, and with a furrowed brow, he walked closer. A plate, wrapped wth seran wrap, of chocolate chips cookies was there, and he sighed, a small smile forcing its way onto his lips at the "<3 Mom" note that lay on top. They were parents. They were trying. He wasn't that impressed with their efforts, but he was sure an agreement would appear eventually. It was the little things that reminded him why he still gave them a chance. And the fact that they were good people. Again... just at odds for the time being. Hopefully they would do more to understand him. Eventually. It was a start.
[pindnet]It wasn't long till he was walking to school, needing to be their early to clean as per Kakashi's rules. Every fiber of his being wanted to do nothing more than turn his ass around and crawl back into bed. But no, here he was, back at school, merely an hour in between leaving, and he groaned outwardly. 'What a drag...' His feet dragged through the empty hallways, but when arrived in the classroom, Hanaru was already there, and so was Kakashi sensei. He gave the duo a raised eyebrow, but he chose against breaking the peace of the early morning, and instead set upon sweeping the classroom. It was pretty immaculate already, but there were standards that the school upheld, and there was no way that as ninjas and ninjas in training that they weren't going to continue that old tradition. He sighed internally--this was super boring. But... once again, it needed to be done. His gaze lingered on his backpack. In there Shikamaru had packed some of those cookies his mom had made. He'd brought one for himself, and one for each of his teammates. Hey? He could be nice if he wanted to be... and he knew that if he just gave one to Asuna, at least Choji would find out because he sniffed out food like a blood hound. And if Ino found out? Well, let's just say he wasn't particularly interested in committing social suicide. Besides, w-why would he only bring one for Asuna anyway?[/pindent]
 
Green eyes only trailed after the lavender haired girl as she took off again, Asuna was glad in a way as she wasn't the best at small talk, not that she had the time for it at the moment. Shuffling down the road, keeping to herself as she sipped the coffee. Why was it always so hot? Everytime she attempted to drink the acclaimed beverage of the gods in hoped it would bestow it's amazing side effects on her, she always ended up burning her tongue.As she passed by the park, her eyes dared to glance up, already feeling a pair of eyes on her form. Of all the buildings on the street, only one had it's light on and even from a distance she could make out a figure leaning against the railing of the first floor. Yipee. She kept on the park side of the road until she was directly across from the building, her father's gaze was boring a hole through the top of her head, but she didn't want to meet it.
"YOUNG LADY, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?!" his voice broke through the silence of the morning as Asuna reached the middle of the road, she almost felt bad for the neighbors as her father leaned over the railing, knuckles white and going off. "Can we do this inside? I'm wet, it's cold and I brought a peace offering," Asuna tried to keep calm, her father had already stirred the neighborhood as she could see some bleary faces peeking out from behind their curtains.
"Eclairs or cream buns?" he yelled down. "Custard pudding," she said holding up the plastic bag. He was silent for a moment before telling her to get inside and she did just that. With the custard cups safely tucked away on the counter, they resumed only with more ferocity than before, neither relenting to the other even as they went about their morning. Asuna hadn't bothered to close the bathroom door as she scrubbed at her arms, the cat darting in and out chasing something only he could see blissfully unaware of what was going on. There was just the slightest moment of peace, her father was still yelling, but he was doing it at whoever was calling to complain about them. It was only a brief respite though before "Can you even comprehend how worried I was when you didn't answer my calls?!"

Asuna had told him the truth, or at least a half truth, about how she and some friends decided to break into the school for a swim, avoiding the fact that it was just she and Shikamaru who had gone there for that purpose while the others were being idiots and chasing after a ghost that didn't exist. It was already bad enough that the group of night swimmers included boys (though she was sure it was just one boy her father had an issue with) but she could only imagine how much worse it would have been if she'd told the whole truth, the truth where she and a boy broke in and went swimming alone. Sure, nothing happened, but she was having a hard time convincing her father of that even if her current story included them all as a group. It would have been impossible to convince him otherwise, and knowing him, he'd shove her into the car and drive them to the Nara residence to have a 'word' with Shikamaru and his parents about him 'fondling her cupcakes'. There would be no talking to him at that point.
The custard pudding they ended up having to eat as her father took her to school, by now most of their anger had subsided, but the tension was still suffocatingly thick. Unfortunately, Asuna was late. Forget about early cleanup duty, she was late to class, which the one of the roaming jonin informed her of with threats of even more detention as she scrambled up the path, leaving her old man with a strained and raspy 'love you'. She didn't even notice the increased amount of teachers on patrol that morning.

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Being up early wasn't an issue for Sasuke, he usually used this time to train a bit, but today he couldn't bring himself to do so, but he also couldn't sit still. Might as well take the early morning cleaning duty slot, he figured. His father had woken up some time after he'd gotten dressed but only spared him a curt "Good morning, Sasuke", he didn't even question why he was up so early and most likely hadn't even noticed her was out all night either. What a surprise. If Itachi had snuck out all night their father would have noticed. He didn't hate his brother, he just wished his father would notice him too sometimes. Sure, Itachi was the 'accomplished' son, he'd made it to jonin by the time Sasuke had started his own shinobi training. He was the genius son, even if Sasuke knew he studied and trained just as hard as his brother. Without so much as a goodbye, the youngest Uchiha left, kicking rocks down the road as he walked. Maybe he should tell his father he was out all night, that he broke into the school, maybe that would get the man's attention. Then again no, breaking into the school wouldn't be that great a feat and he never wanted to bring up the fact that Kakashi had gotten the better of him. He was just tired that was all, if he was in that situation again he would have resolved it easily, but last night he was just tired!
With a hard kick he sent a small pebble flying, hitting a stop sign and ricocheting off down the street.

"My, you seem upset there?" came a rather deep voice. A man clad in a fancy suit and a long hair braid fell into step beside him. Sasuke didn't say anything, giving the man a cold glare, eyeing the big black folder he was carrying under his arm. "I don't see many students out and about at this hour," the man continued to speak and Sasuke continued to ignore him. He'd caught a glimpse of the man's badge and vaguely remembered seeing that name before. Was it on the news? "I don't see people like you out at this hour either," the raven haired boy retorted and the man let out a chuckle.
"True, but I haven't been in this part of town for so long, I decided a nice stroll would be good to jog my memory."
"I'm not in the mood to chat, so if you'll excuse me, I have to get to school," Sasuke said adjusting his book bag, picking up his pace to get away from the man. "Very well, Mr. Uchiha, I'll see you later in class then!" the man called out to him and Sasuke almost tripped over his own feet. Quickly he glanced over his shoulder as the man stood there on the sidewalk writing something down in that folder he had earlier, glancing up and giving the boy a bright smile. It bothered him that that man knew who he was, just where did he come from? He recognized his face and name but couldn't remember where he had seen him before. Aku Mitomori, it was on the tip of his tongue.

When he reached the school he had to do a double take, there were a lot more jonin around than usual and some of them weren't even teachers. He reported for detention and was set to start cleaning the firstfloor boy's bathroom, apparently there had been a 'leakage' during the night. Tch. Yeah right, he knew it was from Naruto's encounter with the 'ghost girl'. He grabbed a mop and was furiously scrubbing at the water on the floor. He was the top student in his class, he was the son of the proud Uchiha family and not once, but twice now in a row he had gotten detention because of someone else. Was this some sort of punishment? Did he offend someone in a past life and this was what he had to deal with?! It was demeaning! He had no problem with cleaning, he just didn't think it was fair for him to be cleaning up someone else's' mess, specifically if he knew who had made it in the first place!
Despite his internal grumbling at his task, he performed it to the best of his ability, that was to say that he was sure he cleaned the tiles so well he could see his entire ancestral tree in it! Every Uchiha before him, smiling down at what a damn good job he did.
The student body was slowly starting to make their way into the building, though the hum and chatter wasn't as loud as it usually was thanks to the increased jonin patrolling the hallways. Just what was going on? Were they expecting a school visit from another school or something? "You! Stop standing around in the hallway and get to your class!" he heard one of them scold the students while he returned the cleaning supplies. He made his own way to class, it was strange to see the groups of students being disbanded, usually the teachers didn't care if they socialized before school as long as they didn't do it between or during classes.

"Sasuke! You're here! Did you have morning cleaning time too?" Sakura had made a beeline towards him the minute she had laid her eyes on his figure. "What's going on?" he asked as he stepped into the classroom, most of the students were already there chatting in their little friend groups around their tables. "I heard we're getting a surprise inspection today," Sakura said tailing him back to his seat. Hanaru was there and he shot her a look. An inspection? Why now? He didn't voice his thoughts though as he remembered who that man he had seen earlier was as he leaned his head in his hands and closed his eyes for a moment. Shit, he was being really snippy with the man earlier, it didn't look good. Everyone was always told to be on their best behaviour and make only the best impressions on the man. He looked at Hanaru again, he'd have to avoid her at all costs today and maybe even Naruto too...and Sakura and Ino who was violently shaking that fat teammate of her, though they were lacking a member. Great. Perfect, what a day to decide to slack off! The teachers obviously hadn't known for too long about the inspection, they usually drilled them for weeks before the time to make sure everyone could at least pretend to fit into a perfect little mold for a day.
During his musings, Iruka had stepped in, hushing them all and sending them to their seats. He looked really grim, his eyes lingers on the students, "Good morning class. I ask that you all be on your best behavior today. We are receiving a...surprise inspection," he spoke and immediately whispers broke out among the class. Iruka continued listing off all the things he expected from the students, such as not crowding the halls, always having a pass, remembering to use proper honorifics and overall to please not be assholes. He'd spent a good 15 minutes before the door slid open and the female half of the slacker duo came stumbling in making Sasuke roll his eyes. 'Idiots like that are giving the school a bad name,' he thought.
"Thank you for gracing us with your presence. If you're quite done disturbing class, I still have some announcements to finish off!" Iruka seemed to be cracking a little, probably because he hadn't had the proper time to prepare his students and to be fair his class probably had the highest amount of problem teens in it.
"Come to class or don't, just stop wasting everyone's time," Sasuke grumbled, they had been at least ten people here last night and everyone was here on time, he was actually surprised to have seen the pineapple headed one, but their lack for school rules and authority was getting to him. Or that was just the lack of sleep.
"Ah, I see the SNAFU fairy visited you again," Asuna said, he voice sounding raw as she took her seat.
 
Hanaru was on pins and needles, and it wasn't too hard to tell how uncomfortable she was. The amount of jonin around weren't helping either--especially considering all that was riding on this experience. 'I can't believer that they failed to inform the informant about me... I'll be lucky if he doesn't solo me out in front of everyone!' her thoughts echoed loudly in her head, her eyes narrowing as she glared down at her desk, her claw marks from the other day still hanging there. She covered them up with her hand, and turned back to eye Kakashi at the back of the classroom. He nodded at her, maybe so as to give her reassurance? But she couldn't help but feel a lump settle in her stomach. If they found out who she was... what she had done... would anyone still talk to her?
Why did she care? Why was the thought of them finding out her 'true monster nature' so terrifying? The fear of discovery had her eyebrows furrowing, and her ears, usually pointed straight up and tilting whichever way to better hear who was talking, were now flattened forward against the top of her head. It wasn't submissive, but more so agitated, and she bit her lip, nearly ready to bite through it. She'd avoided the government for long enough--it would have only been a period of time before her "hiding spot" was found out.
When Sasuke walked into the room, she found her gaze pulling to him. Why couldn't he have just... stayed home today? Eat the detention and avoid what he may find out? Why? Why did she care? The lame, and easy answer, was "I don't know." She could pull "I don't know" out of her ass and then some, but deep down she knew what was going on. It was like a horrible taste in her mouth, but... she was starting to like life at the academy. She was, lord forbid, even starting to make little holes for those around her in her dead heart. To have everything come crashing down around her in one day? After three months of building relationships with her peers (shaky ones, mind you, but it was really to do in her world). Hanaru felt--and looked--like she was going to throw up. It was almost as if they had placed her bingo book entry on the blackboard, 'MURDERER' or 'MONSTER' written on it in blood.

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

The more Shikamaru cleaned, the later Asuna became, the more worried he was. The Nara knew her father, and he knew that she had probably gotten the chewing out of her life with being out as late (or as early) as they were. There was only so much Shikamaru could and wanted to protect her from, and the wrath of her own father? Let's just say there wasn't too much that scared Shikamaru, but if he wanted any shot at... well, he wasn't going to even finish that thought. Let's just say he didn't want to get on the man's bad side, for whatever reason.
He had spent so much time worrying about Asuna and the wrath of her father, he had barely noticed how the classroom was beginning to fill up as Iruka walked to the front of the classroom. He tapped his foot anxiously underneath him, his eyebrows furrowing as he saw Kiba smirk out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, Shika..." Kiba tried to get his attention, but the black haired boy did his best to ignore him. A few more whispers and snickers had Shikamaru annoyed enough to turn around, and he gave Kiba an irked, tired look. "You worried about your girlfriend? You look ready to jump outta your seat."
He rolled his eyes, an annoyed sneer gracing his features. "That wasn't worth turning around for..." he mumbled under his breath, his eyes narrowing slightly. "She didn't show up for morning cleaning--so she'll have to stay after late with you guys." That was problematic in and of itself, considering she usually worked at the family shop after school. He groaned internally--did that mean that he needed to help her out with The Shuffle of Things? Well, no, not necessarily, but as Iruka began to talk about the inspection going on (that explained all the jonin and how much everyone seemed to be on edge), the more Shikamaru knew that he should probably help her out. After all, instead of dissuading her from going to the school, he instead provided a foul-proof way to do exactly that.
When Asuna finally rushed in, late, he couldn't help but snort at her sass, impressed with the balls that she seemed to possess in order to talk back to Sasuke--especially after missing their sentence for sneaking into the school late at night and causing quite a bit of a ruckus. "Hey," he whispered, leaning over slightly as she took her seat next to him. "Your dad blow up?" He didn't even need for her to answer to know that it's what happened. "Here... I got you something..." he reached into his bag and pulled out a cookie--he'd individually wrapped them in seran wrap before he left for school--and handed it to her, hearing a gasp from Choji on the other side. He couldn't help but chuckle, handing him his and then leaning forward to toss Ino's at her head. She (luckily) caught it before it could break, but she glared at him and he snickered.
"Ahem, students, please be polite for our guest today... I would like to introduce Mr. Aku Mitomori..." Iruka motioned to the door, and everyone turned their heads to the door.
 
Asuna slumped in her chair a little, giving Shikamaru a deadpan look, "Yeah well, I kind of deserved it," she mumbled trying to keep it down as Iruka seemed to be in a bad enough mood and she didn't need more detention as it was. Her brows furrowed as the boy reached down, something...for her? Her heart sped up a little, and she hoped it was the coffee finally kicking in, she couldn't really think of a reason for anyone to give her things. It wasn't her birthday or some other made up holiday that she could think of, or was it and she just forgot? "Your mom made them?" she asked taking the cookie with a faint smile. It had been so long since she'd had them, but she remembered loving them, "Thanks," she slipped it away not wanting Iruka's attention to turn to them. A cookie might not have seemed like much to most people, but to Asuna, it brought back pleasant memories she thought she'd forgotten about. She knew she shouldn't read into it much, this was her grandmother baiting her, or Ino trying to rake up future favours, but as dumb as it sounded, Asuna saw the cookie as a mending agent to their broken bond. They weren't kids, just because they said they were 'all good' didn't mean she could pretend that the ten years of avoidance hadn't happened and that they were the same as they were all those years ago. Having missed most of what Iruka had said that morning, she took to leaning her head on her hand, what was the point in listening to the rest?

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Sasuke's eye twitched, just when did the moody blonde become so outspoken? Tch, he didn't care, he was still right. His eyes trailed over to Hanaru, she looked so tense. Was she sick? The inspection was serious, sure, but it couldn't be that right? It would be her first so maybe she was nervous? He quickly turned his head away, feeling his stomach knot. Ugh, not again, he took a vitamin boot and some cold medicine before he left for school and he was fine up until now. As Iruka announced their guest, Sasuke's swallowed the lump in his throat as a tall man in a fancy suit, with a long hair braid stepped into the classroom. His pointed shoes were polished to the point he was sure he would still be able to see the shine even if they had launched them into space.
It was the same man he'd seen that morning, but he hadn't registered who it was at the time. 'Damn it, did I offend him?' he wondered, his mind racing as he wondered if that's what the man was jotting down in his book? He wouldn't give them a citation for something he'd done outside of school hours right?? Shit, no he could! Sasuke had his headband on! He grinded his teeth as the man walked to the middle of the room. "Hey, it's that weird old dude again!"
No one dared move, but their eyes all traveled to Naruto who was blatantly pointing and staring at the man. Why did he come to school today? Sasuke wondered as he tried to control himself from strangling the boy.

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​
Asuna watched as Iruka looked like he wanted to die, "Naruto! You apologize right now!" he yelled. Ah, an inspection, that explained why the man was so tense...but wasn't it too early? They usually only saw the man once every two years or briefly towards the end of the year? And Iruka drilled them to death on the proper way to greet the man and how to act when he was here to avoid any 'misunderstandings' as he would call them. "O-oh! Right! Please forgive my rudeness, Mr. Mitomori!" Naruto quickly stood up and bowed, the fearful stares was probably enough to remind him of all those drills. To be honest, they weren't really sure why they were supposed to be afraid of the man, he was always very nice, and he enjoyed joking around with the students.
"No, no, you're right. I am here once again, dear students! The weird old dude!" he waved Iruka off, and he smiled though his eyes never left Naruto and there was an odd emotion in it that Asuna couldn't place. "I know some of you might be wondering why I am here today, well, the answer is simple! I have missed your bright, shining faces!" he raised his arms, spreading them wide as he addressed them. He was a friendly man, but one of those really friendly people that Asuna didn't like, for no reason really. They were just so happy all the time and it made her mad. The kind of customer to walk into the Shuffle of Things to just have a conversation and not buy anything. They were almost as bad as the people who just browsed for five hours.

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Being form such a prestigious family, Sasuke knew that while the man was as friendly as he looked, he was not to be trifled with. Some said he fought tooth and nail for such a high governmental seat, other said he bribed his way there, and then there were theories that went even darker than that. His father had refused to comment when he had asked once, he was only told to show the man the utter most respect at all times. He highly doubted a man as important as him was here just because he "missed" them. He knew there was a rise in people who thought the schools were producing child soldiers, he heard his father discuss it with another clansman, was that why he was here? To make sure they were abiding by the law?
"I want you all to go about your day as normal and pretend I'm not here. I will pull some of you aside for a few questions, but don't worry, you're not in trouble," the man assured them. It was the same BS he said every time, but there was a strange undertone to his words that Sasuke couldn't place and he didn't like the way the man was eyeing Hanaru. It made his skin crawl. He had eyes like a predator and he was burning holed into Hanaru's head with more intensity than when he looked at Naruto. He wasn't sure why he cared. It was just unsettling.
He tried to concentrate as Iruka went about his lesson, but now with the looming man walking up and down the rows of tables.

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The man stopped behind Hanaru, a cold hand resting firmly on her shoulder, "You're a new face here," he had leaned down to whisper in her ear, "I don't believe you were on the class rosters I've been sent. Why is that?" though his tone was friendly, his fingers dug into her shoulder. Kakashi had never stopped watching the man, seeing him lean so closely to Hanaru made put him on edge. "Ah, there was an error with the administration," he said, less worried about Hanaru causing a scene and more worried that Aku would do or say something while they were in class. The man turned to him with a sneer, "How many more students haven't been recorded then? Ten? A Hundred? One slip up like this is one too many. I'm starting to wonder if you're taking your job seriously? A lax system like this could end up very...problematic." His hand squeezed her shoulder hard before he stalked off, glancing down and over the student's shoulders every now and again. Kakashi didn't like this, neither did Iruka as the man was putting all the students on edge and belittling them. He wrote something down in his folder before making his way out of the classroom. Even when he wasn't there his presence still lingered. Kakashi watched Hanaru, he knew that Aku would call her in for a 'chat' as well as Naruto, but he doubted the man's focus would be so set on the boy this time. He couldn't let Aku corner her alone in a classroom, at least that's what his gut was telling him.
 
Shikamaru probably didn't take his gift as that important of an item, but he gave it none-the-less. There were times as children where he would have given Asuna the shirt off of his back if she had asked it of him, and he supposed he'd do that for any of his teammates now (though at least with Asuna he wouldn't have complained --much--). No as a child he would give her beetles, cool strings he found, share his snacks, and of course, share his mom's cookies. She often didn't have time to make them, but they were good. Or maybe it was because she took the time out of her busy schedule with clan meetings and ninja business to make them that made them special to him. He also had distinct memories of particularly burnt batches, where he'd swallow them despite how much the flavor made his eyes water. He snorted softly to himself as he nibbled on a piece. Her cooking had decidedly gotten better over the years.
The black haired boy watched with mild interest as the individual who was supposed to be completing the inspection of the school stepped in. Mr. Mitomori was someone he wasn't all too familiar with, aside from seeing him once or twice every year or so. Shikamaru was the farthest thing from a fool, and he knew not to trust him. Rather, he would continue to "play nice" as the need arose, but he wasn't about to change his behavior just because this guy showed up--he wasn't all too intimidated, just because an important rat appeared. He sighed, leaning back in his chair as Naruto had his outburst--they could always at least rely on the blonde haired knucklehead to keep things interesting around them. He was aware of what Naruto was--his father had told him long ago not to avoid Naruto like the other children did. He knew he was a tailed beast carrier called a Jinchuuriki, but nothing beyond that. It wasn't his business to know, and as far as he was concerned, he didn't care.
He could still kick Naruto's ass anyday of the week.
Their first period seemed to drone on even slower than before--that was most likely due to Iruka and most of the class being on pins and needles thanks to this guy watching them. Why'd it have to be this class in particular...? Shikamaru wondered silently, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at Aku Mitomori out of the corner of his eye. Maybe because of the particular blonde...? And yet, his gaze seemed to be on their resident prickly pear purplette. He didn't know what to make of this development, but he liked none of it. He was almost tempted to ditch classes after/during lunch again just to avoid the tense atmosphere and all the jonin, but sneaking out would be next to impossible with all of the extra staff and he suppressed a groan in the back of his throat from making any external noise.
"Psst, Asuna... lunch on the roof today?" Shikamaru leaned over slightly during a moment where they could chat briefly. Unfortunately, Ino's ears were particularly good today.
"Squad lunch on the roof...? I'll miss eating with my Sasuke though..." she pouted, brushing a hand absentmindedly through her hair. "And I look so cute today too... I'll just invite him to come with!" Turning over towards the direction of Sasuke's desk, she tried to get his attention, pouting once more when he refused to turn his head or even grace her with his gaze--if he even noticed her in the first place. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. This dude was an ass, seriously what did all those girls see in him?!
"I brought extra chips today too... good..." Choji mumbled, sneaking his hand into his desk and pulling out a mouthful of salted potato chips--barbecue flavor. "What?" he questioned at Shikamaru's knowing smirk. "I-I eat when I'm nervous."
"Feel better buddy, something tells me that guy's not so interested in us," he mumbled as Iruka called all of the students that were now talking amongst themselves quietly back to focus at the front of the room. "But sure, the more the merrier. Squad lunch on the roof. Don't--" he glared at Ino. "Invite Sasuke." She huffed but crossed her arms and didn't object.

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This entire day was going to be a wash. It took Hanaru this long to barely keep up with the teachers when she needed to take notes, and reading the board was still a little difficult. Yes, she could see it clearly, it's just... her lack of basic scholarly skills was her deepest regret and disadvantage. The presence of the male currently burning holes into the back of her head frazzled her thoughts, and she knew... she KNEW that no matter what she did she wasn't going to retain any information. Or even wrtie well today for that matter.
'Asshole...' she thought, her brow furrowing as she tried to swallow without somehow throwing up.
She could swear that she felt another pair of eyes on her figure as well, but she wasn't about to look up to see who it was. It was probably just Kakashi, keeping an eye on her to make sure she wouldn't screw anything up. Iruka's words sounded like he was speaking in a foreign language, or maybe in the distance somewhere far off where she couldn't understand what he was saying. Oh shit he was getting closer. If Hanaru wasn't already tense, she would be now as Aku Mitomori stalked up to her seat, and his hand felt both hot and cold on her shoulder at the same time. She resisted the urge to shake him off, rather impressed with her own self-control as she felt him lean over, his shadow looming over her figure, and her ear flicked as he whispered in it, as if trying to avoid the sound of his voice pervading her existence.
Rather than say anything, she kept her mouth shut, which was really out of character, but she couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't going to somehow backfire on her. So the surefire way to not offend someone in record timing? Keep your mouth shut. Man, Ino and Sakura could really learn a thing or two from that lesson... Thankfully the minute he left his classroom, Hanaru let out a breath of relief. She was trembling like a leaf and she hadn't even noticed it. Her worksheet was blank and she already felt exhausted. She was so tempted to ask to go to the nurse and sleep in Tsunade's office for the rest of the day, but the blonde haired nurse was just about ready to kill the purplette herself, considering how many times she frequented the medical sector.
She was trying not to hyperventilate, and yet... she knew in the back of her mind that this man was probably weak himself. Right? She would have been able to sense if he'd had any strength within that prim and proper disguise of his...? Maybe? But she was more terrified of what his connections would mean for existence. Who was he stepping out tell? The thought returned, the reoccurring idea of being executed on sight. She gulped, before abruptly standing up. "I'm stepping out for air..." she growled under her breath, asn swiftly left, trying to avoid anyone's gaze as she nearly slammed the door behind her, ignoring Iruka's call and Kakashi glare (or was he actually concerned for her? She doubted it.). She just couldn't be in there any longer. It was suffocating. 'The classroom... or your own thoughts? Your fear?' She nearly growled at herself, holding her head in her hands in the hallway a little ways down from the classroom.
 
Sasuke did his best to ignore the walking suit. It wasn't hard to tell that his presence was causing a stir, every now and again he would glance around and he'd find other students doing the same. Their eyes trailing after the man, while some tapped away impatiently with their stationary. Of course there were those who decided to break into school in the middle of the night, some were struggling more than others to keep their eyes open and focused on Iruka's lesson. He endured though, as expected of all shinobi, trying to take as many notes as he could to review after he'd gotten in a few winks. This day was already feeling long and it was just the first class. He paused momentarily feeling Mr. Mitomori leaning over his shoulder, watching his every movement before stalking off to the next unfortunate soul.
"Psst, Sasuke!"
For a second the raven haired boy thought he heard something, but he wasn't going to turn around. He already had his reputation blemished by two sets of detention in one week.
"Sasuke! Hey, Sasuke!"
Oh, it was Ino, now he definitely wasn't going to turn around and acknowledge her. She was like a carbon copy of Sakura and they were both equally annoying, always at his heels like two small dogs who constantly wanted his attention. He hated it so much, even when they were kids, out of all the girls that followed him around they were the worst. Everywhere he went they would follow him, cheering him on when he'd claim his turn, albeit a little forcefully, on the swings. They practically worshiped the very ground he walked on, and sure, it was a heck of an ego boost and it was fun at first, but honestly, he just wanted to be able to have lunch without a flock of girls all shoving homemade lunch boxes into his face. It's not like they could begin to compare with what his mother made.
"Sasuke, sweetie, come have lunch on the roof with us~!"
"Shut up Ino-pig! Sasuke would rather have lunch with me than with you! Right Sasuke?"
Ugh, now Sakura was on the bandwagon too. Being direct and telling them to get lost hasn't really worked out for him. Girls played those weird mind games right? He hadn't figured out how it worked yet, but he was sure that if he just kept ignoring them they would take the hint, not that that was working either.

HIs eyes trailed over to Hanaru, she still looked like she wanted to be anywhere but at school, more than usual. He almost swore he could see a shiver rippling over skin as Mr. Mitomori loomed over her. Sasuke didn't like the look on his face one bit, he looked sadistic as he spoke in her ear, but it was loud enough for most of them to hear. She wasn't on the class roster? But...she was, he'd seen Iruka and other teachers mark her off as present. He was sure she was in the schools system, everyone was, that's how they kept track of the students and their progress. This man must have been lying. Like most of the class, he sat listening, only glancing out of the corner of his eye, as Kakashi inserted himself into the conversation. What was going on? Was...Kakashi-sensei lying about Hanaru? No, that's not it right? The school wouldn't hide any student information from the man that kept them in operation, right?
He didn't realize that the man had left, his mind was swimming, trying to make sense of what he had heard. It sounded like the honorable Sandaime had been lying, or at least withholding the fact that Hanaru was attending the school. Why? Was it the ears? Naruto was there and the man knew the knucklehead and he didn't seem to have a problem with him...this was all very odd. There was no way Sasuke would be able to fully focus on Iruka-sensei's lesson. When Hanaru left he almost wanted to follow after her, he wasn't sure why, his body wanted to move without his permission again. He couldn't just get up and walk out, normally it wouldn't be a problem, but with the school in 'inspection mode' only one student at a time was allowed out of the classroom. A wave of whispers broke out around the classroom, but Iruka quickly quieted everyone down and continued on as if nothing happened.

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Kakashi sighed quietly to himself. He didn't expect Aku to just zero in on Hanaru in the middle of class, or to be more precise, he expected things to go differently. The students were already on edge with the man walking around, but having him address a student like that? He was going to have his work cut out for him, especially when Mitomori started calling students aside for a 'talk'. With a silent nod towards Iruka, he excused himself to find his student when she didn't return after a few minutes. Stepping out of the classroom he spotted the girl leaning against the wall with her head in her hands. Walking over, he leaned against the wall beside her, his eyes glancing up and down the hall, "You did good back there," he said quietly.
"I don't think he's done with you yet. Try to stay in a crowd, he's the last person you want to be cornered with alone," there was no point sugar coating it. Hanaru deserved to know what she was dealing with at least, "You've been here for three months now. Besides the occational headbutting with Sasuke, no one's been hurt. This is all Sarutobi needs as proof to keep you here. Mitomori will try to corner you in hopes you'll lash out," he knew it wasn't fair. He knew what she was, what she'd done before they caught her, but this was just cruel. "Be strong, alright? I'll be here to watch over you."

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Before Asuna could answer, Ino was twirling her hair, she and Sakura had gotten the most sleep out of all of them so she was obviously more perky thank the rest of them. If Sasuke was going to be there, she'd rather find an empty classroom and have lunch on her own. Asuna did not have the patience for him or his attitude today. She watched as Ino tried to get his attention and failing, she was sure she could just overlay some random nature documentary and it would still have the same energy. A thought crossed her mind, what if Sasuke was a jerk because he didn't like girls? Her tired brain was hopped up on caffeine and it felt like she was experiencing a whole new level of enlightenment at that thought. She'd have to wait for Ino to not be around before she could even think of voicing the thought out loud, but until then she'd observe him. It all made perfect sense in her mind. Either that, or he was some undead being that charmed girls and devoured their souls, but that sounded stupid.
"Fine, but I don't see why I can't invite him!" Ino huffed returning Shikamaru's glare, "I bet Asuna wouldn't object, right?" Choji snorted quietly, "That doesn't count, you can't bully her into agreeing with you," he shook his head checking to make sure the inspector wasn't any near them before sliding his hand into his desk again.
Asuna was nowhere near their conversation as she tried to remember anything that could prove her theory wrong, not that she ever really paid much attention to him. "Huh? What?" she snapped back to reality as Ino called her, "Oh, lunch? Y-yeah, sounds good," she said, that's what they were talking about right? The look on Ino's face however said something else as she leered at the sandy blonde, "What's wrong Asu? You thinking about...a boy~?" she asked raising her brows and glancing at Shikamaru. Kiba had given her the full account of the night before and she was actually excited about the idea. Asuna blinked at her, "Yeah, Sasuke-" she started but Ino's face quickly turned into a scowl, "Why are you thinking about Sasuke?!" Ino couldn't believe her ears, since when did Asuna like Sasuke? She was suppose to like Shikamaru!

The sound of approaching steps made them all face forward as Mr. Mitomori walked by, glancing down at them as he did. How was she going to tell Ino she was wasting her time? Asuna couldn't recall a single instance of Sasuke showing any interest in any girl whatsoever. Between taking notes and staring blankly at the back of Iruka-sensei's head, Asuna rapidly tapped her pen on her notepad as she thought. Sasuke's preferences wasn't her business and she really didn't care. He was an all around jerk and looked down on literally everyone. Ino was her friend though and her borderline obsession with the boy was going to end up badly if she was right either way. That was her business...sort of...she didn't want Ino to spiral down into depression and do something stupid if her theory ended up right.
The thick tension in the room hadn't phased her, her mind was racing but her body was lagging behind. This is why she stuck to juice, the coffee was making her feel weird and somehow even more tired than before she drank it that morning. Her eyes trailed after the inspector as he left the room, Hanaru and Kakashi following not long after. Was she in trouble? "Did something happen?" she asked leaning over to Shikamaru.

The morning seemed to pick up speed after the suit had left the class, there was still remnants of the tension he had caused and thankfully, Iruka hadn't given them homework and had forgotten to ask them for the previous day's worksheets too. Once the bell chimed and everyone started packing up for their next class, Asuna took hold of Shikamaru's hand, leaning closer, "I think Sasuke's playing for the other team," the absolute seriousness of her statement didn't match the dead zombie look on her face. "I've been thinking about it all morning, either that or he's some weird kind of undead being and he's going to eat Ino, but that sounds stupid," she kept close to the boy's side as they walked, something Choji couldn't help but notice. Was what Kiba and Ino said true? They were acting differently than usual, but he and Shikamaru were best friends, surely the boy would have said something to him.
 
Hanaru held her head in her hands, not even focusing on those around her. Kakashi didn't necessarily sneak up on her, but when she looked up at the silver haired nin, she looked so lost. Who could she turn to, after all? Aside from the Sandaime and maybe Iruka, Kakashi was the only adult-like figure she had in her life that was a positive influence, if not impartial. Her lip quivered. She absolutely hated this. She felt dumb. She felt stupid, and useless, and her own fear was eating her apart from the inside out. "Kakashi-sensei..." was that the first time she'd ever treated him with respect rather than some dumb nickname? Maybe. She was too stressed to acknowledge anything. She'd never had a panic attack--at least not that she'd remembered--but this was definitely one.
"I'm scared..." her lip quivered as she looked to his form and then quickly away. She had killed some horrible individuals in her time as a rogue nin for hire. Some really bad individuals, and some mildly corrupt who probably would have changed their ways with a good scare. She wasn't ever claiming to be a saint. Far from it. But that didn't mean she was impenetrable. In fact, that usually meant that she was more vulnerable. Especially now that she was trying her damndest to be good. She sighed softly, nodding slowly. "Y-Yes sir... I'll... just be a moment to compose myself..." She half expected Kakashi to leave her there as she collected herself, but instead he sighed softly and offered her a nod, the gentle creasing of his singular eye suggesting that maybe under that mask there was a smile, before he leaned against the wall.
Once she felt that she had let out enough of her stress, she returned to the classroom, Kakashi delivering her to the door. "Remember what I said... stay safe," he murmured, patting her head not unlike one might a pet. Her lips parted for some snarky retort, but there was a seriousness in Kakashi's gaze that made her shut up, and she bit back a comment, her cheeks flustering in embarrassment at the minor affection. Was she so touch starved that she'd even say... it felt... good?
"I will..." she mumbled, and left Kakashi outside the classroom. Of course, the silve haired male left to go report what happened with the Sandaime--he was hoping he wasn't going to be gone for too long, but a ninja's work was never done, so there was no guarantee that he would be there to help with every little instance.
Hanaru didn't necessarily look any better than when she had left, but she took her seat silently, ignoring every and all stares that were on her figure, and that included Iruka. There, on her desk, laid her empty worksheet, and the bell to change periods rang shortly thereafter, Iruka forgetting to tell everyone to turn everything in. Some students left sheets of paper upon his desk (try-hards and teacher's pets like Sakura), but Hanaru stuffed hers into her bag. There was no way she was just handing him a blank sheet. He knew of her situation, and her... less than stellar reading and writing skills, so he often gave her a day longer to turn things in. She'd do the work from the safety of her apartment, where only her neighbors could complain about her curses of frustration. Standing up, she silently shouldered her bag and made to move for the door and ignore everyone... just like normal. 'That's right... just act like normal...' she thought, but then couldn't help but wonder what her own normal really was.

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Shikamaru finished his assignment long before those around him, though he purposefully made sure to come in at a perfect 94%. At this point it was almost like a game--how long could he continue to score the same percentage on everything he did before even the administrative board questioned him rather than just Iruka? He was almost eager--giddy--to find out what they would do about it.
He warned Ino not to invite Sasuke, but it wasn't like she would listen that intently to him. The Nara sighed and rolled his eyes--honestly it really wasn't that hard of a thing not to do! Sasuke was unapproachable and distant, just the way he preferred, and Shikamaru was more than happy to leave him to it. If he didn't want to fraternize with his peers, then let him. What a loser. Or was it loner? Pbfft, Shikamaru got the two things mixed up. When Ino mentioned Asuna wasn't really paying attention, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. There was no way she was thinking about--oh. Sasuke? She was... legitimately thinking about Sasuke?
Why did that thought leave such a bitter taste in Shikamaru's mouth? He ignored Choji's curious gaze before he glared at Ino for her nosiness--it truly knew no bounds. Asuna could think of whoever the hell she wanted--it wasn't like they were in a relationship, but that didn't stop his heart from pounding, and stupid, dumb thoughts of jealous floated through his mind regardless of how many times he told himself internally to calm down, or that it wasn't a big deal. When Mr. Mitomori walked back, Shikamaru watched him closely, his brow furrowing in distrust. He really was like a rat in some sort of student-desk-maze, wandering through, looking for someone, anyone he could exploit for information. There was no doubt in Shikamaru's mind that he was looking for any reason to raise a little hell, and he wasn't about to be one of the individuals to give it to him.
Shikamaru stood up as the bell chimed, but he blinked when a warm hand gripped his own, and he blinked, his cheeks lighting up a light pink as he looked into Asuna's earnest gaze for a moment. He laughed. He couldn't help it--between his jealousy flittering away like little butterflies of thoughts, and her words and deciding expression, he couldn't decide which was more ridiculous. "You think so? If that were the case, then he'd be all over Naruto at their practices," he joked, trying to imagine Sasuke and Naruto as a couple. He shivered at the mental image. "On second thought, never think of that, please." Now, Shikamaru wasn't the best on relationships, and it took him forever to realize his own feelings, but that didn't mean he couldn't see it in others. "I don't know Asuna, as funny as either of your suggestions are," he pointed to where the onyx haired boy and certain purple-haired troublemaker were. "Remember that old saying, about how boys usually only pick on someone because they like them?" He snorted, shaking his head. "Don't tell Ino," thankfully the chatter of the changing period was enough to keep their conversation between each other. "But I think he's been quite smitten and he's just too stupid to realize it."
"C'mon, let's go or we'll be late," he encouraged her, getting his things together and shouldering his bag. After all, the last thing he wanted was to be late for another one of Kurenai-sensei's classes. If he was, she'd tell Asuma, and then they'd never hear the end of it. Speaking of couples that just... needed to get together because it was annoying everyone... Kurenai and Asuma clearly had feelings for each other. They were just pussyfooting around the issue, and Shikamaru hated it. 'Isn't that exactly what you're doing...?' his thoughts betrayed him and he shook his head mentally. That was different! They had mutual pining... his gaze slid over to the sandy-blonde girl beside him and he let out a low, nearly inaudible sigh. No, this was definitely unrequited. And he would be support should he need to. The last thing he wanted was to give himself false hopes or promises that he couldn't even keep to himself. He was resigned to being her friend, and that was what they'd stay. He wasn't going to do anything about it. There was no reason to make things weird. "C'mon. Maybe if we walk enough behind the group, we'll avoid Mr. Mitomori."
 
"Don't laugh, I'm being super cereal," Asuna muttered tugging at Shikamaru's hand. It was not funny, Ino could really lose it if Sasuke decided to come out of the closet! She stood on the tips of her toes to follow where the boy was pointing and there was Sasuke, making a beeline straight for the purplette. He tugged at her bag, almost pulling it off of her shoulder, then bumped her with his shoulder. Ah, ahh-haah. She always thought that the old saying was just something mothers told their kids, she didn't really think there was any truth behind it. Why were guys so weird? 'I hurt you because I like you' seemed really really counter productive to her. "But...but they kissed. Open mouthed too," her disappointment carried right into her body language, "I guess it makes more sense." She wasn't upset about her theory being wrong, not in the slightest. Glancing up at the boy beside her, she tried to oppress the butterflies in her stomach. Guys picked on girls they liked, he didn't pick on her, it was an open and shut case. He didn't like her like that, at most they were just friends. Asuna's body was on autopilot as they made their way to their next class, her hand slipping from his as they approached their seats. "It's good to see a full class for a change," Kurenai's comment went through one ear and out the other. This was probably one of Asuna's most skipped classes. It wasn't intentional, things usually just happened, but this was the her old man's ultimatum; since she loved school so much to have stayed there the entire night, she was temporarily banned from the shop. It wasn't the worst punishment out there, and she could actually catch up with some schoolwork, but she was tired and her mind was not set on taking in anything the teachers were saying today.

"I've heard some of you are still struggling with basic genjutsu detection and release," Kurenai spoke, making some of the students shuffle awkwardly in their seats, "So today we'll be going back to the basics." Asuna should have paid attention to Kurenai's lecture, but her eyes were staring unblinking at her hands as she cupped them together and uncupped them, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. She'd already made up her mind last night that her little crush was immature and would just lead to a dead end. It was nothing more than her brain practically jumping at the chance to shoot copious amounts of norepinephrine, dopamine and endogenous opioids into her system. That was it, she was just being a hormonal teen. If she walked up to any guy she was sure she could induce the same effect. Shikamaru was just the closet boy in proximity, she couldn't just have a crush all willy nilly on him because they hung out together for one day. Besides, she'd make for a terrible girlfriend!
A cold hand on her shoulder brought her wandering consciousness back to her body, her head was on the table and she had her arms over her head as if trying to hide from whatever she was thinking. "Hm, long lectures bore me too," a smooth voice spoke quietly in her ear, "Why don't we step outside for a moment, hm?" Aku Mitomori leaned over her, when did he come into the classroom? "Uh, yes, sir," she said getting up. She couldn't exactly deny the man, it wasn't like she was even paying attention to the lecture to begin with and the disappointed look on Kurenai-sensei's face made it clear she had noticed too.

"It's much nicer in the hall, don't you think?" the man asked once the door was closed and they were alone in the hall. Asuna prayed he wouldn't ask her too many questions, she was having a hard time as it was pulling herself together, "I suppose, sir." Aku had his folder open scanning the pages, "Hm, you seem to have quite the undesirable class record; low test scores, mediocre field scores and you're absent a lot too. Why is this, Ms. Takanashi?" Asuna looked down, trying to pick her words carefully. "Are the teachers not teaching you properly? Perhaps there are some students that make it hard to focus on your work?"
Asuna looked at the man in confusion, "No, sir. I just, have some personal issues at home that make it hard to balance my schoolwork," she spoke honestly, but she didn't miss the slight crease in his forehead, "I see, and the teachers aren't taking this into account? Are you at least receiving extra lessons to make up for the ones you've lost?" This caught her a little off guard, no she wasn't receiving extra lessons. Iruka had offered before, and it was something he'd tried discussing with her father before, but honestly she just couldn't see herself squeezing extra lessons into her already tight schedule. "What a shame," he spoke before she could answer, "I haven't given you an answer, sir!" she quickly protested, but he was already scribbling in his folder, "No need, I can read you like an open book, Ms. Takanashi. How do you feel about certain classmates? Mr. Uzumaki and perhaps Ms. Ikama?"
"Naruto has always been the energetic one in the class. He's good at making friends," she shrugged, he was a knucklehead and always causing trouble, but he wasn't a bad guy. "I don't really know Ms. Ikama, I don't spend that much time around team seven. I see her around, I guess." Aku wasn't writing anything down this time, instead, he just stared down at her and Asuna couldn't help but feel awkward under his gaze. She almost jumped when his hand came to rest firmly right on the junction between her neck and shoulder, "Would you like to try again, Ms. Tanakashi?" he asked lowly, his thumb brushing against her throat.

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Sasuke kept glancing at the door where his sensei and teammate disappeared behind. He was working on his paper, but had now taken to tapping his pen on the paper impatiently. He could hear Ino saying his name again, but he ignored it, eyes focused on the door. He was curious and a little concerned, surely there was some kind of innocent misunderstanding. Maybe the school had accidentally sent through an outdated roster, he wouldn't put it past Izumo and Kotetsu to have mixed up something somewhere while goofing off, but why was it such a big deal then?
"Sasuke, are you stuck on that question? I can help you out," Sakura asked leaning, she'd probably noticed how long he'd been sitting on the question. "I don't need your help," he said flatly pulling his paper away from the pinkette. It wasn't long after that Hanaru stepped through the door, almost everyone stopped what they were doing and their eyes were glued to her figure as she made her way back to her seat. "I wonder what's up with her?" Naruto asked leaning back, out of all the students he was probably the most used to Mr. Mitomori's presence as the man practically turned into his shadow whenever he was here. "Probably just a misunderstanding," Sasuke said, or more accurately, something he hoped. As the class came to an end, Sasuke packed up as fast as he could, slinging his bag over his shoulder and ducking into the crowd. He ignored Sakura calling after him as he made his way to Hanaru, his hand reached out to her and he ended up grabbing her bag, tugging at it. "Looks like it's Naruto's lucky day," he said giving her bag an extra hard tug to get her to slow down, "He's usually riding Naruto's ass around," he smirked but it faltered as she ignored him. "Oi, stop ignoring me," he shoved her lightly, "You know he can't expel you for not being on the class roster right?" He made a guess, but with the lack of information he hadn't even realized how wrong he was or how deep the rabbit hole went. "You still owe me, you know," he stated, with all the chaos the previous night he couldn't execute his plan to scare the girl, but she was still scared of the 'pool ghost'. "Lunchtime, the art room, don't chicken out on me," he said simply, fighting that weird feeling in his chest. It wasn't like he was asking her on a date or something! He was just cashing in on their deal.

"Hanaru! Hey Hanaru-chan!" Naruto appeared between them, his arms flung over their shoulders. Sasuke rolled his eyes, it's like the blonde had forgotten that they were supposed to get to class in an "orderly" manner and not goof off in the hallways. "Your hair is totally back to normal again, what kind of dye did you use?" Naruto asked fiddling with her hair, crossing a strand between his lip and nose to make a moustache. "Knock it off, idiot. We're going to be late for class," Sasuke glared at Naruto, who was hanging off of Hanaru's shoulder, his face much too close to her face, "Aw c'mon, it's just a question! I'm thinking of putting some of that hair dye in Kakashi-sensei's shampoo or something since it washed out so quick!"
"We were talking first," for a moment, Sasuke almost sounded like a child who was told to share but didn't want to, "Go bother Sakura or something!" Unfortunately their next class was closer than the Uchiha would have liked for it to be, Kurenai was waiting for them by the door, hurrying the students along. He actively made sure to get a seat as close to Hanaru as he could, "Look, whatever's bothering you," he started as he pulled out his books, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, his thoughts were running wild 'You can tell me about it' 'I'm here for you' 'I'll help you' all of it made his heart speed up. "We're a team. We're here if you need us," he said looking anywhere but at her, he couldn't say any of what was going on in his mind. It was all just nonsense thoughts, those thoughts were only there because Shizune put them there. It wasn't like he cared, like he actually wanted to put an arm around her or anything. He was just...thinking of the team. 'Liar' his mind whispered as Kurenai addressed the class. 'You care a little', psh, no he didn't. He cared about being the best, about being the top student and making it as the number one shinobi!

Kurenai had barely started before Mr. Mitomori stepped through the door, "Pardon the intrusion, please don't mind me," he smiled as he closed the door, strolling to the back of the class to take a seat at an empty desk. Sasuke's eyes followed him, what was this guys problem? He turned his attention back to Kurenai, trying to focus on what she was saying, but the suit was already having an effect on the students. It wasn't long before he started stalking between the desks again, his hands folded neatly behind his back, Sasuke could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as the man approached them and he let out a quiet sigh of relief as he walked right past them, but not without giving Hanaru a side glance. He watched the man stalk away, before stopping in his tracks and turning around, making his way over to the slacker duo. If under any other circumstance, he'd smirk thinking that that girl deserved whatever was coming to her, especially after that snarky comment this morning, but Sasuke was biting his lip as the man took her outside. 'Keep your mouth shut,' was all he thought, the last thing this class needed was to be reprimanded because she said something offensive to the man. Whatever, if anyone should be expelled she was a better candidate than Hanaru, even if Hanaru was bad at her classes, she still showed up to them. "We should have study sessions," he muttered, no, it wasn't because he wanted Hanaru to raise her average, she and Naruto both could probably benefit from study sessions, which would ultimately raise their team's average points. It had nothing to do with the idea of Hanaru being expelled for being a failure.

"Psst, Hanaru-chan~! Let's have lunch together!" Naruto whispered loudly from two desks away, making Sasuke glare at him. "Naruto, I'd appreciate if you'd try to focus on my lesson. From what I hear, you of all people could benefit from today's lesson," Kurenai's voice sharply cut through the air making the boy jump. Ugh, just how many teachers did Kakashi-sensei tell about their failed heist last night? Probably all their squad leaders. The door clicked quietly, as Mr. Mitomori appeared in the arch, his hands firmly on the sandy blonde's shoulders, he looked very pleased but she kept her eyes on the ground. Sasuke felt his heart pounding in his chest as the man locked eyes with him for a moment, "Your students are so cooperative, Kurenai-san. Apologies for interrupting the class. You can go back to your lesson now, Ms. Takanashi." With that he squeezed her shoulders and left. Sasuke looked over to Hanaru, they didn't know each other right? She couldn't have said anything about her. His hands gripped the table, that meant she said something about him or Naruto. That wasn't possible, aside from Ino, their squads didn't exactly mingle a lot, so she couldn't have said anything about him! The girl shuffled back to her seat, keeping her eyes down and ignoring Kurenai sensei. There was a brief moment where her eyes met his, before her gaze turned back to her hands, clasping and unclasping on the desk. Now he was the one on edge, "Sasuke, sit down! Class is still in session!" Kurenai scolded from the front of the room. He remained standing for a few minutes, "What did you tell him?" he demanded glaring daggers. Kurenai had to scold him a second time before he took his seat.
The blonde squealed about something, and he was going to find out what even if it got him into trouble. He wasn't just going to sit idly by as some middle class girl with a blatant disregard for the school and the students in it, turn into a threat for Ha- erm- his team! His eyes were glued to the clock, maybe if he stared hard enough at it, the class would be over faster.
 
"Sorry, sorry, I can't help it," Shikamaru couldn't help but grin, squeezing her hand lightly when she tugged on it. Was it weird that he liked the feeling of how her hand slipped into his so, easily? He quickly chased the thought from his mind--these emotions were fleeting, and wouldn't linger. He was like... 98% confident in that, anyway. "I said pick on, it's not like we maim girls or anything," he rolled his eyes, but a smirk stayed constant upon his lips. At his words, he reached out a finger to poke her nose lightly, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly at her. He had no qualms against her thoughts, in fact, he wouldn't have cared less about what Sasuke chose for a romantic interest. "But if that's really how you feel, you'd better tell Ino so that band-aid can be ripped off quickly. Rather than let it fester only for her to become inconsolable if it were to ever come out." There was one thing they'd had the shared experience of in their years of separation. They both (for better or for worse) knew Ino and what she was like--especially when it came to the black haired Uchiha prodigy.
The Nara ignored Kurenai's remarks, pretending to clean out his ear as if he didn't hear her. A surge of some other foreign emotion flushed over him as Asuna's hand left his own, but aside from the slight twitch of his now-empty hand, he did nothing to show or act upon such a feeling. Those kinds of things were dangerous, weren't they? He couldn't be too sure, but he wasn't about to chance doing something stupid like impulsively act out on every feeling or emotion he had--Naruto was a walking example of why that wasn't a good idea. He groaned, however, now in his seat as Kurenai was talking about returning to the basics of Genjutsu. That wasn't his specialty, and while he understood the importance of being a well-rounded ninja, that didn't mean he wasn't going to be annoyed at relearning concepts he already knew. It was a bad enough embarrassment to have received the "run around" from Kakashi the night previous, but this? Salt. Right there, rubbing into his wounded pride.
'Oh great, this asshole's back...' Shikamaru couldn't help but think to himself as Aku Mitomori returned to their classroom. Didn't he have some other group of students to leer over? Probably not--he was fixated on Naruto every damn time he came to their school, but now his gaze was set on that purple-haired delinquent as well. Shikamaru had no idea what the man was planning, but whatever it was... well, let's just say he knew it wasn't going to be good. He pressed down his black locks against his scalp, as if checking to make sure every strand was caught up in his signature pony tail. He had been slightly upset to undo it from the partial updo that Asuna had put it in [strike]he could still feel her leaning against him, gently pulling his wet locks into a manageable state[/strike] but to say that she had scared him slightly wasn't a total lie. Scared of girls? As if! He wasn't conceited about his appearance, he just really didn't want, or need, any more attention than he already got.
When the rat slid up upon his squad, Shikamaru couldn't help but straighten up, his signature, emotionless expression hiding the sharp intellect behind those calculating obsidian orbs. He didn't like this at all. Why the surprise inspection? Was someone feeding this guy info about the school, and parts of the system were inaccurate? Students got missed all the time and then added by teachers as soon as they need to, that was no big deal. It had to have been something else. Shikamaru didn't like Aku taking Asuna out, but it wasn't his place to speak up. The only thing he could do was lock eyes with her for as long as he could, wishing her to be safe, as she left with the rather large, neatly dressed man at herh heels.
"That guy gives me the creeps..." Ino mumbled under her breath, her eyes narrowing as she leaned back in her chair, Kurenai's lesson nearly all but forgotten.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Kiba agreed from her other side, a shiver running down his spine as Akamaru hid within his hood, Hinata holding up a clenched fist up to her lips as she worried. Shikamaru was rght alongside them all, but he didn't dare show it, aside from during Asuna's absence, his gaze would slide over to the door, again and again until the blonde haired female finally returned.
"Sit down, Sasuke," Shikamaru reiterated, looking at the onyx-haired boy with a dangerous glint in his eyes. How dare he accuse her of anything?! If anything at all, Sasuke's outburst was just making him a suspect. He kissed the inside of his teeth with his tongue as Kurenai did her best to diffuse the situation, but he was already ticked at Sasuke, and that wasn't going to change, even as Ino pestered him for daring to speak against his Sasuke, although she looked to Asuna in concern, her own blue gaze trembling lightly.
"Hey... what'd he ask you..." Shikamaru asked, his gaze turning to the sandy blonde haired girl as he tilted his head. If anything, what she said might at least put Sasuke a little bit at ease, which would in turn get Ino off of both of their backs.

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

Hanaru honestly wanted to hide inside of her locker and not come out until long after the dumb inspector was gone, but that wasn't exactly an option, especially with her being such a high-profile target. A shaky sigh left her lips as she was consumed by her thoughts, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end as her animal instincts and the more... primal side of her being wanted to fight or flee and ignore any other options. She wasn't on the roster, huh...? The purplette partially understood why the Sandaime did it, but she also wondered why this couldn't be resolved in a way that didn't involve her being on pins and needles for the whole day, terrified of a man she could (probably) fold into a paper clip. His status scared her. She was afraid of his social standing, and the influence and power he held over her and even the jonin in the building. Obviously the Sandaime had to listen to him, otherwise there wouldn't be so many patrols out and about in the school during such an event--especially not a surprise one, either.
Lost in thought, she had continued to trudge along, Sasuke's second, more-forceful grab of her bag drew her gaze back to look at him. Anger flashed in her golden ireses, but it quickly faded as she bit her lip. "Let go, I don't know what you're talking about," she spoke monotonously, but Hanaru knew that Sasuke was far too smart to believe in a lie like that. Naruto probably would have bought it, but not the Uchiha in front of her. "Pbfft, I owe you nothing," the purple haired half demon stated, pushing his shoulder lightly as she turned away from him. "I don't believe in ghosts, and I don't believe I have to answer anything, per our bet." Her brow rose at his invitation, and she bit her lip. What would he ask? A part of her wanted to know, but she also knew she shouldn't really entertain anything that would tip the scales of balance out of proportion. Already, Mitomori was stirring up trouble, and one false move would mean execution rather a slap-on-the-wrist punishment like Kakashi gave them the night previous. "One question..." Hanaru finally muttered, before turning her gaze back to stare Sasuke down. "I'll answer one question honestly, so think wisely." Naruto chose that exact moment to appear out of nowhere, and Hanaru jumped, very clearly on edge as she allowed him, begrudgingly, to cling to her form. Normally, she definitely would have swatted him off, but with eyes watching from all corners, she merely helped drag him forward. "I couldn't tell you what it was," she stated about the hair dye. Any hint of whatever seriousness she had held with Sasuke mere moments before was gone--ruined by the blonde knucklehead's insertion into the conversation. "Trade secrets." With that, she turned to take her seat in Kurenai's classroom, more than ready for the day to proceed.
She didn't like any of the events that were happening, and everything was spiraling further and further out of her control. The half demoness sighed, holding her chin in her hand, trying to pay attention for the first five minutes before giving up. There was no way she was going to be able to focus--at least not until Taijutsu class. As weird as Guy-sensei was, she preferred his weird eccentrics and freedom compared to a lot of the stuffy sensei's lessons. "A study session... as if I need that..." Hanaru growled at Sasuke's suggestion, though her throat burned at the lie. She didn't want any of her squad members to know just how bad it was. Wasn't there a saying... something like 'keep them guessing'...? She didn't want Sasuke (her rival) to realize that she was just a dumb idiot who relied way too heavily on her metahuman traits and her gut nature.
But... her thoughts were interrupted by that asshole disappearing and reappearing after ducking out in to the hallway with that sandy-blonde haired girl that she'd nearly mowed over during her run back to her apartment. Her eyes widened, however, as the young man at her side stood up, a verbal accusation laced and lashing out at Asuna. "Sasuke... d-don't bother..." her lip trembled and she cursed every weakness and flaw for slipping into her system and tearing down her core. Hanaru had muttered loud enough for Sasuke to hear it, and quiet enough not to be heard. "What's done is done, there's no amount of accusations that change what's already been said..." The period went by a lot quicker than the last one, even with her spacing out, and as the bell rang for lunch, Kurenai dismissed them, assigning some required reading that Hanaru probably wasn't ever going to finish. It took to much to decipher, and it was just... an all-around mess, so she didn't bother. Getting up from her desk and packing her things that she had just unpacked for posterity's sake, Hanaru shadowed Sasuke. "I--..." she opened her mouth but nothing came out. Her ears flattened against her head, a halfway point between submission and embarrassment in the gesture. "I-shouldn't be left alone right now. I'm sorry but.... can we... go together...?"
She didn't want to be cornered, she didn't want to be cornered, she didn't want to be cornered.
 
To say Sasuke was a little surprised that the Nara boy had spoken out against him, would be an understatement, though he refused to let it show. He kept his glare on the blonde but she wasn't talking, even when the boy urged her. Tch. Why couldn't they understand? There was a reason the school ran drills for the inspections! He sat down, he'd get her to talk. "You just don't get it," he muttered to Hanaru, maybe he was the only one? This was a school for shinobi, a long standing tradition that was almost wiped out. That man was one of the main support pillars, but if they couldn't at least carry on the shinobi pride, then there was no point! He'd bring down the hammer on all of them! He'd thought at least the students from actual shinobi households would understand and would be more concerned that someone like that blonde could ruin years and years of trust and good will their forefathers had to build up. Naruto already had the boat rocking from the get go, now there was Hanaru, he'd be damned if everything came crashing down because someone couldn't keep their nose clean.
His books were packed and he was ready to go before the bell even chimed. Once it did though, he was out of his seat, but the quiver in Hanaru's voice made him stop and turn to her. "What are you talking about?" he was confused, she wanted them to go together? What? WHAT?! "You're being weird," he stated with a raised brow, not at all use to whatever this was, "Sure, we can...go together?" Sasuke wasn't sure what to say, he hoped she wasn't converting into one of his fans, Sakura was a handful enough as it was, he wasn't sure if he could handle two girls on his team fawning over him. A wad of blonde caught his attention, and he quickly turned away from Hanaru to grab at the girl, "I'm not done with you." It was probably the fastest 180 he'd ever done in his life.

"I asked you a question," his glare was met with an annoyed scowl, "What did you tell him?"
"It doesn't matter." His grip on her arm tightened, but he let go as the Nara boy stepped up, "I'm not going to hurt your little girlfriend," he assured, he wasn't looking for a fight per say, "But she clearly doesn't understand. Not that I'd blame her, it's not like she's from a shinobi family. I doubt you can even comprehend what true ninja pride is, you can't even so much as show a little school pride when-" he was cut off as the girl turned on him, "I said it doesn't matter what I did or didn't say! It's about what he wanted to hear. And I'd love to hear you give him your little pride speech when he's digging his fingers into your jugular and trying to take off half of your face!" For someone so small, he wasn't expecting her to be this feisty. "You can stand here and go on and on about whatever dumb pride you want, but you're not the one that punished for not having anything bad to say about this one and that one," she pointed to Naruto then to Hanaru, before pointing her finger in his face, "You on the other hand...you're probably next on his list. So while I learn about your stupid 'pride', you can learn how to be a decent human being, that sound good?"
Sasuke was at a loss for words, he's sure he'd never been spoken to like that before and to make it worse a small crowd had gathered around their little confrontation. Just who did that brat think she was talking to him like that? Did she know who he was? Who his father was?!

He was about to call out, put that brat in her place as she disappeared into the crowd, but a hand landed on his shoulder to stop him from following her into the girls' bathroom. "When I said 'best behaviour', I didn't mean 'picking fights' with someone other than Hanaru," Kakashi sighed, he hoped to have arrived sooner but as he'd left the honorable lord Sarutobi's office, a chunin had come bursting in to report Mitomori harassing a female student. "Squads are advised to have lunch together today, for observation purposes. Everyone, move along now."
"I wasn't," Sasuke pulled himself from the silver haired man's grip, shoving his hands deep into his pockets as Naruto practically cheered at the news. No one loved group lunches like the blond did, "Picking a fight." There was no point in fighting someone weaker than him anyway. "Yeah, I bet she'd totally wipe the floor with you, just like Hanaru-chan!" Naruto had his arm around the purplette's shoulders again, with a big goofy grin on his face. Sakura, of course, disagreed wholeheartedly.
"You should apologize and try to stay on friendly terms with your peers. Someday you'll all go on joint team missions and the last thing you want is for someone to hold a grudge against you when your life is at risk," Kakashi said hoping to pass on some wisdom, but Sasuke was too prideful and neither Naruto nor Sakura were listening. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked with a sigh, they rarely listened to any of his good advice as they were a rowdy little ensemble of teens.
He made sure to walk slightly behind Naruto and Hanaru, they were the most 'at risk' students at the moment. Aku was starting to 'interview' students it seemed, and he found it odd that he hadn't jumped to get at his team first. He was probably trying to gather student testimonies and wasn't afraid to shake a few of them up. Almost every jonin was alerted to keep a closer eye on their students, especially since they dispersed during their lunch break. Even with the lunch hall and the courtyard there to accommodate them, some students enjoyed their private lunches in empty classrooms, the roof and just about anywhere really. Who knows what could end up happening especially if he had the gall to get physical with a student just outside the classroom. The need to keep his own team safe had never been greater.


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Asuna kept her gaze on the ground and her mouth shut as she entered the class. The lower part of her face hurt and she was still feeling lightheaded, she was just thankful for making it to her seat and not passing out. He kept pushing her for information about Naruto, about Hanaru, and she didn't really understand what he wanted, but he kept squeezing her jaw, switching to putting the pressure on her neck when she honestly couldn't say anything. She didn't want to look at Sasuke as he started demanding answers. Just because she couldn't say anything about Hanaru or Naruto, that didn't mean she couldn't say anything about the Uchiha. Asuna felt ashamed, especially when Shikamaru put himself between the glaring Uchiha and herself. Her hands clasped and unclasped as she tried to keep her composure, Kurenai would definitely throw her out or worse, tell Asuma, if she pulled out a cancer stick and lit it in the middle of class. She couldn't answer Shikamaru, let alone look at him or anyone else, it felt like she'd committed the ultimate betrayal. Ibiki wasn't shy about divulging the true horrors of the lengths any enemy would go to for information, and she felt shame for crumbling so easily. What would happen if they were on a real mission and they were captured? She didn't want to think about it, but her actions today made her fearful. What if she ended up killing her entire team; Ino and Choji...and Shikamaru? What if she ended up betraying not just her team but the entirety of Konoha? Her hands clenched together, why was this damn class so long?! Slowly, Asuna was able to calm herself down, enough so to convince herself to at least talk to a teacher. Inspector, government agent, politician it didn't matter what the man wanted to call himself, he had no right to threaten a student's life.

"Asu-chan, are you ok?"
"It'll be fine, Hinata. Don't worry about me," what was done, was done. Even if the teachers couldn't help her, hopefully they could keep it from happening to someone else, like Hinata. When the bell finally rang after what felt like forever, she tugged at Shikamaru's shit, "I um, I'm gonna leave lunch early," she spoke quietly, it was still hard to meet his gaze. "I want to find Asuma-sensei," of all the teachers it would make the most sense for her to talk to their squad leader. Shikamaru might have been the closest to the man out of all of them, but that didn't mean that the rest of them didn't have some or other bond with their sensei. She was more hesitant in taking his hand this time, unsure of what her actions in the hall would lead to, and fearing the worst case scenario.
She hadn't expected Sasuke to grab at her on their way out though, she actually thought they'd dropped the subject. Why couldn't he just piss off? The more he ran his mouth off the more she felt her blood bubbling under her skin, until she finally snapped at him. He was just being a prick, being all high and mighty because he was an 'Uchiha' which meant absolutely nothing! A dung beetle by any other name was still a dung beetle! She didn't want to go into too much detail, not wanting to scare any of the students, everyone was already reduced to nervous wrecks as it was and they didn't need to know about how he cut off the blood supply to her brain until she was on the brink of passing out before releasing his grip and repeating the action over and over. She hadn't even noticed the crowd growing larger as her voice climbed in volume either. Ino was probably going to hate her for a few days, but so be it.

Him not fighting back actually made her more angry, it wasn't satisfying, so she stomped off to the bathroom to splash water in her face. 'Stupid prick! I should have just punched him in the face!' she yelled in her mind trying to get rid of the excess rage. It was actually not as bad as it could have been, she'd already blown most of her load that morning. Opening an empty stall she rummaged through her bag, this wasn't the right time, she could have held out longer, but unfortunately she caved.
"Asuna? A-are you alright in there?" Hinata made her way into the bathroom, she could see the girl's feet from under the stall doors, "Do you...want to see lady Tsunade? A-are you smoking?"
"No, I'm fine. Just give me a minute," Asuna called back, only to hear an angry Ino stomping in, "Hinata! Tell Asuna I'm never talking to her again!" she yelled, and Asuna could picture the shy little wallflower jumping as she stuttered, "Uh, um, Asu-chan?" Why couldn't they just leave her in peace for a few minutes, "I heard, thank you Hinata."
"And tell her...I'm worried, and that I hope she's ok!"
Asuna snuffed out the bogie, a couple of quick drags already did wonders for her mood, "It's fine Ino," she stuffed the leftovers back into her bag and left the stall. Hinata covered her nose and mouth, making the blonde take wide strides around her to rinse out the horrid taste, not that it helped much. Hinata was the first to know, and the first to chastise her, but unfortunately she wasn't very assertive and she'd caught the blonde on a bad day. Asuna had never raised her voice against the shy girl before, and she still felt a little bad for it, but she made sure to keep a respectful distance and make sure that the girl knew she'd taken her words into account. Ino was standing outside the bathroom, as did the rest of the team, but Ino was clearly 'ignoring' her. "Choji, tell Asuna if she'd rather go to the infirmary than have lunch with us, that's ok!"
"Ino said to tell you all that, but i'm not going to," he said with a sigh, somehow he always ended up being Ino's 'speaker' whenever she swore to never ever talk to their teammates again.
"I don't want to go to the infirmary! He's probably there, going over the student's medical records," that shameful feeling returned again. Mitomori wouldn't be digging through the students- Sasuke's- medical records if it wasn't for her, "Let's just...have lunch."
 
Hanaru didn't know what to make of the argument with the blonde haired girl, but she knew that whatever was going on was certainly not good, and nothing spelled trouble more than this dumbass government dandy snooping all around their business. Her eyes narrowed as she bit her lip, choosing not to intervene, and instead watched as Asuna retreated into the girl's bathroom, Kakashi keeping Sasuke from causing any more problems. The purplette watched her squadmate with a careful eye, golden irises calculating and curious--just what was he so concerned about, anyway? It wasn't like it was his neck on the line! There was no way he was acting out because of her unease--that was certain. She blinked as Naruto threw his arm around her shoulder--and for some reason, this time she didn't mind it. Sighing in an exasperated manner, a light "tch" left her lips as her body posture made it appear as though she was indifferent, but her ears... they were straight up, pointed and ready to hear if any threats were incoming.
They reached the lunchroom and as the rest of their squad got their lunches, Hanaru found herself alone in the courtyard for a moment. She didn't eat as much as humans did, so it was rare that she actually ate anything during the middle of the day. Closing her eyes and taking in the much-needed fresh air, the purplette tried to force herself to relax as the wind took her hair with it, pulling it past her head in whisps of purple as she raised a hand behind her head to absently run her claws through it. It had been a long time since she'd had to fight for her life. Now she was doing it again, except this time, it was in a different way. She couldn't punch him, that'd be proving him right. She couldn't gut him, that'd confirm that she was every bit the monster she was and more.
She would be complacent. Her stomach churned at the the thought, but it was necessary. 'It's not just me anymore...' the thought tumbled around in her scatterbrained head, and her ears drooped as her eyebrows furrowed at the realization. 'While it's true, I'm not ready to die, I have... these idiots who are tagged along with me. It's not their fault they're being scrutinized--it's all mine...'. She shook her head, hating how in what seemed like such a short amount of time, she had somehow allowed herself to become attached to these fools. "Just by associating with me... they're in danger..." she mumbled to herself, looking down at her clenched fist at her side.

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

Shikamaru was quick to put himself between Sasuke and Asuna, his eyes cold and directed at the Uchiha. "Stop it, man. You're not going to like what's going to happen if you continue," he warned, and his gaze hardened as he persisted. He didn't even bother correcting Sasuke's wrong assumption--mainly because it wasn't important and the Nara didn't want to detract from what was going on. "Don't think you can just man-handle whoever you want to get any sort of information. Just because you've got a fanclub doesn't mean everyone thinks they should trip all over themselves for you!" He was pissed, and although his voice wasn't raising, it wasn't almost scarier to hear a quiet, deadly Shikamaru. He was so close to using his jutsu and shadow-controlling Sasuke as far away from them as possible, but that wouldn't have been very productive. Shikamaru was smarter than Sasuke, of that he had no doubt, but the other male had him in both strength and speed. Shikamaru wasn't weak by any means, and he'd probably hold his own for some time, but in the long run, he didn't doubt that Sasuke would outlast him.
He had always been more of a strategizer anyway.
Shikamaru let Asuna go off, knowing that she needed to throw it in Sasuke's face, but his brow furrowed considerable when she mentioned what had happened to her in the hallway. He did what?! Shikamaru was livid, and he ran to the girl's bathroom after her, though he didn't follow her inside. He wasn't about to get up in her safe-space, and that would have been weird in general... but he wanted to comfort her. He wanted to do the best he could to help her, and he punched the wall outside of the bathrooms, pissed that he couldn't have done more as Choji walked up to him.
"I-I'll go see i-if she's okay..." Hinata, bless her heart, slipped into the girl's bathroom with that quiet utterance, and Shikamaru watched as a pissed-off Ino followed inside not long after. When Asuna returned, considerably calmer than before, Shikamaru's eyes narrowed again. If he knew any better, and he did, he'd have to wonder whether or not she had lit up in the bathroom for her nerves. The last thing she needed, however, was another person getting on her for another thing. Between Ino's loudmouth and the other events of the day, Shikamaru could feel a headache coming on, and he placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose, attempting to rub soothing thoughts and frustrations out of his body.
"If you're sure..." Shikamaru sighed, looking to her and inspecting her for any injuries. "I swear if he comes near you again, I'll kill him..." The second part of that was muttered under his breath, but he didn't care who heard. So what if the government supported their schools? There was no way that any government official would be allowed to harass students like that. They could get a replacement easily. Sighing again, the black haired boy nodded to the rest of the team and motioned that they should get going. "Apparently all squads are to eat with their squad leaders, Asuma sensei can find us on the roof, so let's go get our food and go." The lunch room was a little more dispersed out as students ate with their squads and squad leaders rather than together, and Shikamaru watched his team carefully, making sure they all stuck together. Ino was still actively "ignoring" Asuna but at least they were all together.
"Hey, gang," Asuma's greeting sounded from down the hallway, and the male tossed an apple up into the air, easily catching it as he looked between them, and how tense they all were. A chuckle left his lips as he designated ShikaInoCho to head up to the roof, a kind, concerned look in his eyes as he turned to Asuna. "You three go on ahead, we'll catch up with you. Just stick together, okay?" Shikamaru opened his mouth to protest but one look from their sensei had his mouth closing. His dark gaze settled on Asuna, as if trying to give her any form of reassurance that he possibly could, before turning around and heading up to the roof with their lunches and the rest of their squad. "Hey Asu... are you okay? Do you need any medical attention?" Asuma asked once they were out of ear shot, concern showing again in the way his forehead creased, and in his words. "Do you... wanna talk about it?"
 
Asuna tried to lean away from Shikamaru as he looked her over for any injuries, mostly because she knew the smell of smoke tended to cling to just about everything and could linger for hours. She didn't want or need another lecture from anyone right now, least of all from him. Something about his words, made her heart thump a little faster. He did confront Sasuke twice, and now he- 'Stop it, he'd do the same for Choji and Ino, it's not a big deal,' she scolded herself as they made their way down to the lunch room. She didn't need to get in line as she usually brought her own packed lunches, a perk of cooking too much for dinner, but she still stayed close to the team, albeit at arm's length. There was a knot in her stomach, the earlier event playing over and over in her head, each time playing with an alternative outcome, a string of what ifs. All useless now, it's not like she could go back and fix it; scream, fight, not come to school. A part of her wondered just what would have happened if the chunin patrolling the hall didn't stumble upon them, just how far would he have gone to try and force her to give him information that she clearly didn't have. The sight of Asuma-sensei should have been a relief, but instead a lump formed in her throat, conflicted thoughts of just brushing it all off and hurrying after the retreating trio were pushing and pulling at her insides and she found her gaze lingering on Shikamaru. An odd feeling, familiar but a long forgotten, was intertwining with the knot in her stomach, like whatever courage she had was disappearing with his shadow to someplace she couldn't be.

"I'm fine, I don't need medical attention," she said once the rest of the team was out of sight. Maybe she should have gone to see Tsunade, there was no telling what could be wrong just under the surface, but there was that stubbornness of 'Takahashi are made of tougher things'. Her jaw still throbbed somewhat, "I'll get some ice at home," she assured, but her eyes stayed glued on the jonin's chest, unable to look him in the eye. "I...don't really know what to say." Asuna shifted, trying to swallow the lump in her throat, "I um..." the mighty lion reduced to a mere kitten, "I did...a bad," she finally said. What was done was done, hindsight was 20/20, she already failed so there was no point in doing it for herself, "Mitomori-san was asking some questions about the school, about the teachers, why they were letting students fail. I hadn't finished answering him before he took his own meaning from it. It didn't put the teachers in a good light, maybe even the system itself. My failure is my own doing, but he took it as the teachers not doing what they could for the students."
She took a steady breath, that was the easy part, "But then he...asked about Naruto and Hanaru, nothing too out of the ordinary, just my thoughts on them," her hands fidgeted, "I couldn't really say much, Naruto is Naruto and I don't know Hanaru aside from what Ino complains about. He got angry at that, like I was lying or hiding something he was looking for."
Scanning around she found they'd slowly made their way to the stairs, there was no one who could hear them, "He got forceful, and started demanding if there had been any incidents with the ninetails, if Hanaru was up to her old tricks. I don't know what he meant by it and honestly I don't want to know, but he wouldn't accept anything I said." her hand trailed absently to her neck, "He was really insistent about information on Hanaru in particular. Like I was suppose to say something specific, but I couldn't." She took her time explaining the man's tactics, before finally pausing...maybe she should see a medic. "I...I folded. I didn't know what to say, so I told him that Hanaru and Sasuke got into arguments. Sometimes they fought. I don't think I've ever seen someone so...delighted before. He took my words and reformed them, he made that girl sound like some kind of monster violently targeting our classmates." A fresh wave of guilt washed over her, "I don't know what he was on about but, he was going to go check the students' medical records."
Asuna finally met the man's gaze, her spirit was completely broken at this point even if she tried to look stone faced, "What if that happened out on the field? I folded so fast the others would probably be dead before they even realized the enemy had me. I feel like I just betrayed everyone."

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The roof was quiet, in the far corner was a team of juniors, much younger than the trio, sitting with a teacher while minding their own business." Man, this sucks. The school feels like a prison with all the jonin around," Choji said as they found a good place to sit, "Even with all of them walking around, I'm surprised no one was around when Mitomori-san was there, y'know?" he didn't need to say much more as a somber mood setted in, making him regret having said it in the first place. "Sorry," he looked up at Shikamaru with a sympathetic look on his face, "You guys friends again?" he smiled, hoping to at least lighten the mood a little. It wasn't that he wasn't worried or anything, but Asuma was there now, and if anyone would be able to help, it would be him.

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"Let me cut in front of you, there's just one chocolate pudding left!" Naruto moaned from behind the Sakura as he tried to shimmy his way between her and Sasuke. "Stay in line," the latter said, throwing the blond a glare over his shoulder. "Aw, c'mon, it's not like you like dessert anyway, just lemme squeeze in here and-" The Uchiha kept his place firmly, no matter how hard Naruto tried to shimmy past him, he wasn't in the mood and he could feel eyes on them from all around. "Man, come on, don't be like that!" Naruto whined trying again and again, growing ever more frustrated at the raven haired boy for not moving out of the way. On any other day, Sasuke might have turned a blind eye, or even given Naruto whatever it was he was complaining about just to shut him up, but he was tired and not once or twice, but trice that day did someone ruffle his feathers. The added stress of the day just rounded it all off with a neat little bow. He was annoyed at everything. There wasn't one thing in particular that he was annoyed at, everything just seemed to tick him off, even the little things that he never noticed because he never paid any attention to. He wasn't sure if he wanted to actually go to Taijutsu class or sleep through it. Ugh, no, he couldn't ditch class he was too noticeable a person and well, he actually cared about his progress.
"What's your problem?!" Naruto snapped as Sasuke blocked him again, and maybe it was out of spite, but the raven haired boy reached for the last chocolate pudding cup and snatched it up for himself. "You're being a real jerk today, you know that?" Naruto huffed, and Sasuke promptly ignored him as he set off to find an open spot to sit and have lunch, his keen eyes scanned around the ordered chaos that was the hall, he definitely didn't want to sit inside.
"Naruto, it's just pudding, I'm sure you'll survive without it!" he could hear Sakura chastising Naruto, "Why are you taking his side? He doesn't even like desserts!"

The need to sit alone had never been so high, ugh, he just wanted to get some answers from the purple cactus and then have his lunch and maybe, just maybe, close his eyes for a few minutes. Sasuke would kill to get away from his team and just everyone in general, just for the afternoon. No Naruto, no Sakura, absolutely no Hanaru and no- wait, where was the purplette anyway? Looking around they seemed to have misplaced their sensei too. Great, just great!

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​
"And why is that, exactly...None?" a sooth, deep voice rumbled behind Hanaru. Aku stood behind her, his folder open and his pen tapping at his chin lightly, "Oh my, did I startle you? Don't be so nervous, I wouldn't want you to endanger more students now," his words were light and chipper, but they were sharp and double edged. He'd been spending his morning gathering whatever he could, he'd spoken to a few students but they didn't give him what he wanted, until one that was. It wasn't really much to go on, but with the proper manipulation he could easily turn it into a very convincing case against the school. It had put him into a very happy mood, even if some idiot chunin stumbled upon him. He was somewhat impressed with how fast the jonin jumped to 'protect' their students, not that it would change much. "Such a vile and violent little monster you are, picking fights? Scaring children?" his voice became lower as he stepped closer to her, one hand resting on the back of her neck as he brought his face beside her, "Sending fellow classmates to the infirmary...I don't think the chief of the special police force would find it very amusing to learn how you're...dare I say...terrorizing his son?"

"Hanaru!"
A frown formed on his face for a moment as the silver haired jonin approached them quickly, but he quickly sent the man a cheerful smile, "Ah, Kakashi Hatake, how very nice to see you again," he said, but his hand on the back of her neck remained firm. "You as well, Mitomori-san, I was just looking for my student if you don't mind," Kakashi was firm, he had kept an eye on her as she took a step outside, but he got distracted for just a second by Naruto. His heart almost stopped when he looked back to see the man looming like death over the girl's shoulders. "Well, we were just having the most pleasant conversation! Weren't we dear?" Aku squeezed the back of her neck, his pleasant demeanor not faltering, but Kakashi dumb, he could see right through that fake facade. "Just like you were having with the Takanashi girl? I don't think she'd agree with you," if anything, he was going to protect his own, even if his head ended up on a spike.
Aku's grip on Hanaru vanished as the hand came up to his face, thoughtfully "Her word against mine, Hatake-san. Troubled children tend to fabricate wild stories for attention." He wasn't going to try something with the silver haired man around, he had all the time in the world, "It's so fitting, you the great Copy Ninja Kakashi, leading a team of shining faces. Oh but I fear where your teaching will end up leading the youth, Friend-Killer Kakashi." Aku turned on his heel stalking away. There wasn't a ninja's file he hadn't read before, and none was marred with death quite like the silver haired scarecrow.

"Are you alright, Hanaru? Did he do something?" Kakashi asked as the man retreated, he stepped up beside her, gingerly wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "Come on. Everything's alright now." His tone was softer compared to the way he addressed Aku as he tried to coax the girl away. He should have kept a closer eye on her. "Over there! Under the tree!" Sakura called to the two boys as she spotted their sensei and their other girl member. Sasuke eyed them suspiciously as they approached, Kakashi was spending a lot more time around her than normal. "Hey, you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost or something?" Naruto asked but whatever playfulness he'd normally have was gone as he looked genuinely concerned.
 
Shikamaru could smell the smoke on Asuna, no amount of pulling away was going to disguise the smell of smoke. As much as he didn't want to leave her side, between knowing how volatile she was and how he wanted to strangle the so-called "government official," Shikamaru thought it was best that he just listened to Asuma-sensei and let him deal with everything. That wouldn't mean he wasn't going to worry about the sandy-haired blonde girl, but he could put it on the back-burner to hand the reigns over their sensei, who was probably much better equipped for the scenario. Shikamaru sighed and followed Choji and Ino up to the roof.
Once on the roof, they sat down to eat, although Shikamaru couldn't quite find it within himself to eat, knowing the things that Asuna and Asuma would be talking about. He sighed, only turning to Choji when the other male addressed him. "Y-Yeah..." he offered him a weak smile, but it quickly left as he looked down at his food, picking at it absent-mindedly with his chopsticks. "I guess I never really considered us... not friends. We just... weren't as close as we used to be." He made sure to keep his voice down so that Ino wouldn't hear their conversation, although he could tell by the way that her eye twitched she was curious. Sitting up, he groaned, rolling his shoulders.
"I'm so exhausted..." the Nara mumbled, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. Ino and Sakura had been passed out for a portion of the night, so arguably they got the most sleep out of everyone who had spent their night at the school building. His eyes narrowed as he kept glancing over to the door that lead to the roof, hoping that Asuma and Asuna would appear soon.
"Calm down, dude, Asuma-sensei is with her. She'll be fine..." Choji mumbled through his food. "If you're not going to eat that, then I will." He was pointing to Shikamaru's food, and the black haired male sighed in consession.
"You can have the bean buns," he mumbled, and Choji quickly swiped them from the bento box.
"You're certainly on edge, Shikamaru..." Ino grinned at her teammate, raising an eyebrow. Of course she was also concerned about Asuna, but rather than focus on the negatives of the day, she would rather put her focus into a distraction, to get her mind off of what was bumming her out. "So... you and Asuna~?"
"What about it...?" he nearly growled, raising an eyebrow at the blonde as she snickered. "Yeah, we were hanging out last night."
"Oh yeah? Kiba says he found you two getting real close in the pool," she giggled, and Choji rose an eyebrow. Shikamaru shrugged. Anything he said could and would be used against him by Ino. She took everything in her arsenal and threw it around.

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

Asuma looked to his student with a gentle expression, listening to everything she had to say, before he sighed, stroking his chin lightly with a thoughtful look upon his face. "Well, I'm glad someone intervened... I'd like to have a word with the man myself..." he mumbled to himself, a darker gaze upon his features, before he shook his head at her worries. "Asuna, you are all barely genin, you can hardly blame yourself for cracking in a scenario where you should have felt no danger." Asuma attempted to reassure her, gently reaching out to touch her unaffected side's shoulder. His eyes were kind, and his face crinkled in the reassuring way that was so uniquely Asuma-sensei.
Asuma sighed, bending over so they could be eye-to-eye, but not in a way that was degrading, but in a way that was meant to keep her from freaking out anymore than she already was. "Besides, you didn't do anything you weren't supposed to. Listen, there won't be a next time. All of us Jonin believe you." Except maybe Mizuki-sensei, but Asuma wasn't about to project his opinions onto the girl. "Now... I'm sure you're hungry. Let's stick with the others for the rest of the day, alright?" He smiled and straightened up, resting a comforting arm around her shoulders as they began to head towards the roof. As soon as Asuna couldn't see his face, it settled into a displeased frown--not by her. No, by how he had allowed Asuna to be singled out by that rat, and that he couldn't have been there to protect her. 'No one, and I mean, no one messes with his kids...' the thought echoed in his brain as he held the door to the roof open for Asuna.
Shikamaru raised a hand in greeting as they came up, and Ino looked rather smug about something, but upon seeing Asuna, the look fell from her face. A few emotions flashed over the blonde--starting with annoyance. Her nose upturned and she looked away, having vowed to ignore her teammate for having gone against whatever it was that Sasuke had wanted. That melted away quickly, and once again, her eyes turned back to her fellow kunoichi and her teal gaze swept over her form in an almost motherly-like manner. Ino, though annoying, was a loyal friend. Even if she and Sakura fought all the time, Ino would still be there for the pinkette should she need her. That courtesy was, in turn, extended to Asuna, whom she usually held more respect for. Upon seeing that, aside from being disgruntled, and maybe a touch injured, she was okay, Ino sighed in relief.
"Hey team, thanks for waiting for us," Asuma-sensei grinned, sitting down and folding his legs underneath him, holding up his own bento. "There's some homecooking in here, if you guys wanna try any?"
Of course, Choji was immediately on-board, but Ino gave their sensei a sly grin, one that Shikamaru noted, and he was glad that grin was no longer on his person. As they began to argue about whether or not the bento had been made by Kurenai-sensei, Shikamaru waved Asuna to sit next to him. "Hurry up, before Choji loses self-restraint and eats all our lunches for us." His smirk was present, but his concerned gaze still swept over her form. She was fine. She was fine. He repeated it in his head like a mantra. Honestly it was one of the only things keeping him from hunting down the bastard that had cornered his teammate and inflicted injury upon them. "Y'know..." his expression was startlingly serious. "Whatever he did... I'll inflict it back upon him ten-fold."

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

Hanaru jumped--not at the sound of his voice, though his intrusion did make her wonder how dull she was getting to where she didn't hear him approach. No, she jumped at the sound of her moniker, and her eyes narrowed as she turned her head to look at him, but she dared not to turn fully. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as her lip peeled back in a snarl. "Don't use that name ever again," she hissed, though it was a controlled, quieter utterance than something full-blown in anger. "Oh please, I'm not the one who's hurt someone today. I believe that title goes to you." She didn't want to instigate anything in the classroom earlier, lest he let something slip that was... unsavory. But here in the courtyard, her infamous barbed tongue broke through the cage she had put it in for the day.
"I don't scare children, I think you're confusing me with yourself," Hanaru grumbled, trying not to let Aku see how much he actually scared her. his hand upon the back of her neck had her stiffen significantly, her eyes narrowing as she turned to look forward, not wanting to see just how close his face was to her own. He was vile. She wouldn't be surprised if in the underground layers of the city there was a bounty for his head. If she was still into that kind of business, she would have gladly taken the job. "A lady doesn't start fights, but she finishes them just fine..." she growled in response, though he probably still felt the tremble of fear that ran up her spine, her jaw clenching painfully as she tried to steel her nerves.
Hanaru did not cry. The other day was a fluke--she had been in pain! That never happened. That being said... when her ears perked up to hear Kakashi-sensei call her name, she nearly did, biting her tongue until it bled to keep herself from doing anything else that was rather... rash. Her eyes screamed "help me, please" as she looked to her sensei, and it took every muscle in her body to freeze so that she wouldn't forcefully rip herself away from Mitomori-san. He seemed like the kind of man who would want to cut off her tail to mount it on his wall--and he'd enjoy it, too, the sick bastard. When he finally let go after giving her neck a painful squeeze, Hanaru took a cautionary step forward, turning to watch him go with a gaze that was full of hatred. "He's an ass..." she growled. She knew Kakashi before she had been captured and detained by Konoha-nin, purely through his Bingo Book entry. That nickname was cruel and she disliked anyone talking about her sensei in that manner. In fact, aside from the Sandaime, Hanaru didn't have many older male figures to look up to. She didn't particularly respect Iruka--he was kind, but a pushover, and Gai-sensei, well... he was Guy-sensei. You had to be a special kind of stupid to love him (and secretly she did), but Kakashi? After having bad run-ins with any older male figures in her life, this man who gave her the time of day, pushed her, and didn't talk down to her like she was an idiot (except when she did idiotic things)... he was an oddity. A rarity in her life that she, whether she admitted it out loud or not, treasured. In all honestly, she wanted to cling to him and not let go.
"Nothing but accuse and grab my neck..." Hanaru mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. "I've felt worse pain, with worse injuries..."
And then there was an arm around her shoulder. Her golden irises widened as she looked up at the silver haired nin, and her eyes watered. "K-Kakashi-sensei... I-I don't wanna die..." her voice broke, the iron taste of her own blood on her lips from biting her tongue too harshly coating her mouth.
Anything else was shoved out of her mind as the sound of Sakura's voice, and she pushed herself away from Kakashi, not wanting to appear weak and helpless in front of her teammates. She'd already done that once in front of Sasuke, and she never wanted it to happen again. Furiously rubbing at her eyes, she faced away from the group. "I'm fine!" she spat, a little too harshly, as Naruto deflated and the blood in her mouth was suddenly tasting like guilt. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it... please." The kitty could learn manners, after all. Nodding stiffly to Kakashi as the only form of 'thank you' that any of them would actually ever receive if they were lucky, the purplette moved to sit underneath the large tree in the courtyard, not caring whether or not they moved closer or stayed where they were, having long since retreated into her own mind.
"Ne, Ha-chan! What did Mitomori-san want? I saw him walking away, and he's not following me around today," Naruto asked her, his question innocent in his meaning.
"I dunno, I guess he got tired of grabbing my neck and thought he'd find some other little girl to accost," Hanaru scoffed, and Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Leave me alone, Naruto." Her words, this time around, were soft. Sincere, even. The blonde couldn't help but blink in surprise, before digging into his food, whining about not getting the last pudding cup or whatever had been on his mind.
 
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