Chapter 1: To Get Him Out of Boredom
It's past 3 A.M in the morning at my time, but I still couldn't sleep. I'm blaming it on my muse though, not that it's bad thing of course. It's always wonderful having your muse at work and pushed you into writing yet another fic. XD
Title: To Get Him Out of Boredom
Genre: Romance, humor
Warnings: Languages, sexual references and OOC-ness.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.
Summary: To the genius and basketball star, Nara Shikamaru, life was too easy. He was, simply put, bored. However, his faithful friends got an interesting idea to get him out of boredom.
Warning: shounen-ai (boy x boy love), languages, sexual references and OOC-ness
Dedication: I dedicate this to sonotgoingthere, who manage to put me back into writing by providing interesting prompts for ShikaNeji fanday at LiveJournal.
Author’s Notes: Hello, welcome to my first AU fic of Naruto. The reason I write this is because I’ve re-watched ’10 Things I hate about You’ and ‘Grease’ recently. The inspiration clicked and my muse hasn’t left me since. ^^ I haven’t written any multi-chaptered one in specifically five years, but I hope I still can make this one interesting. Well then, without further ado, please enjoy!
To Get Him Out of Boredom
Chapter 01
By: zielddhy
Nara Shikamaru was bored, to say the least. Sure, he was the basketball captain of their prized basketball team, which had earned Konoha High School the National Championship title the sixth time in a row. Although he was a freshman, no one questioned the coach’s decision to make Shikamaru their captain, because the basketball star had earned Konoha Junior High School the National Championship title three years in a row as well. As soon as Shikamaru had been confirmed to continue his education in Konoha High School, the coach had made the offer. Not even one senior had had a doubt that the Nara was a good choice to be captain. And they were right. Now a sophomore, Shikamaru had won the National Championship twice, although he still adamantly refused to take credit, saying it was because of hard practice and excellent teamwork that they were able to win national championship.
Being a captain certainly had benefits. For example, his teachers didn’t require any explanation in case he didn’t do his homework (during Championship season, of course), and didn’t question anything when he said he wanted to skip a class for basketball practice. After all, when the student could still maintain straight A’s in all of his subjects, why bother criticizing him for not doing his homework and missing out few classes anyway?
Girls and quite a lot of boys fawning over him constantly, he even had his own fans club (which he refused to admit he had anything to do with). Wherever he walked, people waved, said greetings at him, and even at one time a girl begged him on her knees to be his girlfriend. The girl was pretty, he had to admit-she was a cheerleader in their school after all-but looks alone were not enough for him to gather his courage to accept this girl as his girlfriend. Hell, he didn’t even know what her personalities were like!
Even with the whole popularity thing going, Shikamaru still didn’t feel at ease. He still felt that-no matter how cliché this may sound-life was not challenging enough. Everything he had done until now, be it the basketball Championship, maintaining straight A’s, being the most popular jock in school, was very easy for him. Therefore, to put it simply, he was bored.
The basketball star had a lot of friends. His best friends, who mostly were basketball team members, had tried different approach to make him not bored. Of course being the most creative students, the ideas had ranged from a simple cooking-which could be very difficult to some people-to a survival game in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, all of their efforts had gone to waste, because obviously Shikamaru was still bored to death until this day.
Now, Nara Shikamaru was sitting in his History class, and had been spending most of his time looking at the clouds through a nearby window rather than listening to his teacher. Not that he didn’t like history, mind you; in fact, history was one of his favorite subjects. Nevertheless, the aforementioned subject still failed to catch his attention. Shikamaru sighed loudly once more, earning a confused glance from his teacher.
The sigh didn’t escape Sabaku no Gaara’s attention, and he shared a look with his friend, Uzumaki Naruto. Not needing to exchange any word, both of them agreed on one ting: immediate action was needed. When Shikamaru sighed like that, usually it would result in three sessions of practice in a row, without any rest, for the sake of their precious captain’s own personal amusement so that he had something to do.
But now the question was: what else could be done? Since the first time basketball team had learned that when their captain was bored it would usually result in three sessions of practice, everything that could be done had been done. Fortunately, some of them had yielded immediate success-Shikamaru was not bored anymore. Unfortunately, the longest they had lasted was no more than two days, and at the third day, the basketball star was back in his bored mode.
Naruto glanced at the clock. Okay, he and Gaara had approximately two hours and a half to figure out a way to make Shikamaru not bored. The blond glanced around for some ideas, but all the students seemed quite intent listening to their teacher, and they had their eyes staring seriously ahead as Kurenai-sensei explained about World War II. Well, nearly all of them, Naruto noted with a smirk, as he saw the most exhibitionist couple in their school-Yamanaka Ino and Inuzuka Kiba-had yet another hands-down-under-the-table-session. Obviously, Kiba had done something to make Ino moan in a not so discreet way like that.
“If you two can’t keep your hands from each other, then you’re more than welcome in my detention after class today,” Kurenai-sensei said, a scowl etched on her face. The whole class chuckled as the couple blushed.
Something clicked in Naruto’s head as he spared a glance at Shikamaru-who still thought that the clouds outside deserved his attention more than anything else. Okay, now Naruto had an idea how to make his captain not so bored anymore, but first, he needed an extra opinion. Fortunately, Gaara was seated next to him, and he quickly whispered, ‘challenging relationship.’
The redhead stared at Naruto, obviously not understanding a single thing, and Naruto nodded his head towards Shikamaru’s direction while his thumb pointed at where the exhibitionist couple was sitting. An understanding look dawned on Gaara’s face and a knowing smirk was formed. Alright, this might prove to be interesting. Maybe when Shikamaru was challenged to have a difficult relationship with someone, he wouldn’t be so bored anymore. But the question was: with whom? The basketball star could easily have everyone in his bed anyway, seeing that he was the most popular jock at their school.
“Honestly, if you need to have sex, then do it, just don’t do it in my class,” added Kurenai-sensei.
“Are you giving us permission to leave class, sensei?” asked Kiba with a smirk as the whole class laughed.
She smiled. “Nice try, Inuzuka. Unfortunately, you have to hold your hormones back longer, because right now I’m giving you assignments.”
The class groaned and cursed.
A pale hand rose, asking for permission to speak.
“Yes, Hyuuga?”
Hyuuga Neji, the ice prince of their school, said in his soft, timbered voice, “Sensei, seeing as the finals are coming up, do you think it’s wise for you to give us assignments now? Won’t our time will be put in better use if we study for the finals, instead?”
“Honestly, Neji, the only student who will study for finals anytime during this week is you and you only. Finals are six weeks from now, for God’s sake.”
Once again the class chuckled. Really, Hyuuga Neji was already notorious for being a book worm. Sure, he was very good-looking, not to mention very rich also, but his cold attitude, and the fact that he preferred solitude than anything else made him do not have many friends. In fact, the only friend he had was Uchiha Sasuke, his equal in silence and solitude. Because of his good looks, however, several guys and girls had tried to befriend him in hope for a one-night stand, but they all were rudely dismissed by the said Hyuuga without even a second glance. Therefore, he was known as the ice prince.
Gaara turned to see Naruto, an equally mischievous glint glistening in his eyes and silently they reached an agreement: Neji’s our guy.
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The hot sun provided no help for Shikamaru to stifle his yawn as he walked towards the court. After sleeping through nearly all his classes today, the Nara still felt sleepy, although he suspected that it was because he had slept too much. He knew he was supposed to listen to his teachers, but he couldn’t help feeling totally uninterested. Personally, Shikamaru felt he needed something interesting, something challenging, something that could set his adrenaline high. He had considered paragliding before but his mother didn’t let him. Hell, even when he went buggy-jumping and rafting, she had freaked out, let alone paragliding.
He turned a corner and suddenly an object was thrust into his face. A girl, a senior perhaps, awkwardly held out both hands, offering Shikamaru something suspiciously similar to love letter. The basketball star had to suppress the urge to leave-as yet another unknown individual was declaring love to him. He had lost count on how many of them had confessed, because, well, there were just too many of them. Some of them declared it boldly, some romantically, and some others, like this one before him, pitifully shy. The girl stared at her feet and the ground beneath as red blush deepened in her cheek.
“Na-Nara-san, please accept this letter,” said the girl.
Her friends peeked from their hiding place and giggled. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he found that it was such a silly situation. Heck, what was it with these girls anyway?
He stared at the letter offered to him. The girl still remained rigid, head bowed down, hands stretched out, face blushing red. Just as the basketball player was still weighing how to tell this girl that he didn’t even know her, she made the answer for him by dropping the letter, turning and running away in tears.
That left Shikamaru to scratch the back of his head, his brain automatically functioning, how in the name of everything holy, by not saying anything he managed to make a girl running away from him in tears?
Oh, well. Shikamaru continued on his way, barely noticing how her friends were glaring murderous intents at him.
As he came into the court, Shikamaru frowned to see his teammates huddling together in one corner, with Naruto and Gaara being the center of attention. The others were listening to them in keen interest. Apparently, something funny was going on as they all laughed at something Naruto said. Gaara was the first to acknowledge him.
“Hey.” Hmph, trust Gaara to made one-syllable greeting every time.
Naruto quickly ran over to the captain’s side and flung his arm around the other’s shoulder. “Hey, want to hear something interesting?”
The Nara narrowed his eyes, completely not trusting the blonde’s idea of ‘interesting.’ As if he could read what went through his friend’s mind, Naruto immediately pouted, “What? I haven’t said anything! Besides, have I ever got you into any trouble? If anything, you should be thankful that you have such a wonderful friend like me!”
His captain chose to ignore his protest, however, as Shikamaru turned to the rest of team and asked in suspicion, “Now what are you guys up to?”
They all looked at each other, except Gaara of course, but then again the redhead rarely showed any emotion, so probably there was not a surprise there, and was that a guilty expression Shikamaru caught?
As they still wondered how to break this news-more like a challenge actually-a cheerful voice piped in.
“Want to get hooked up?”
The rest of the team scowled at Naruto as Kiba smacked the blonde’s head. “Idiot. You should put that in a more tactful way!”
Naruto, rubbing the spot Kiba hit him earlier, rolled his eyes. “Then how would you put it?”
The Inuzuka smirked at his captain. “Wanna get a good fuck?” he raised his eyebrows suggestively and licked his lips.
The guys snickered while Shikamaru processed what the hell Kiba had just proposed, his brain immediately running: Get a good fuck? With Kiba? Eeww.
Hold on. Kiba was straight and would never ever turn gay-Shikamaru would bet his basketball career in that. So that meant he had found someone for Shikamaru to get a good fuck. The only reason he did this, of course, was because he knew the captain was bored. Again. Plus, knowing Kiba, the basketball star was sure the chosen bed-partner wouldn’t stay permanently.
As much as he hated the idea of a one-night stand, he had to admit that it was nice to know that his friends still cared for him, no matter how bizarre their way of showing it was. He decided that this effort needed at least an appreciation and so he asked, “With whom?”
The team cheered and gave each other a high-five. Shikamaru on the other hand couldn’t help but smile at their antics.
“Hyuuga Neji,” Naruto announced proudly.
Shikamaru blinked.
And blinked again.
“Hyuuga Neji?”
“Yeah, Neji, you know, the pristine princess.”
“Whoa, hold on a minute, isn’t Hyuuga Neji a ‘he’?”
“Well,” Naruto scratched his head. “Yeah, but he has this long brown hair and pale skin thing, plus smooth face. Hell, you can swear he’s a girl.”
“Rumor has it that he takes such extra care for his hair, trims it every six weeks and all that. Not to mention he’s neat as a pin. You should have seen his locker. Hence, the title pristine princess,” added Gaara.
Shikamaru stared in disbelief as Gaara willingly provided information without even being asked. The redhead was famous for being incredibly taciturn-bordering creepy-guy. Nearly all students in their school, with the exception of basketball team, wouldn’t talk to him unless they didn’t have another choice. Gaara glared back at Shikamaru and said nothing, obviously challenging-threatening was more like it-to comment on his unusual behavior. Shikamaru decided not to comment any further and turned his attention back to Naruto.
“Hold on, back on a second. You want me to go out with him? I don’t know the guy! Hell, I don’t even know if I’m gay or not!” Shikamaru said exasperatedly.
“Oh, we do know that you’re bi,” Shino, the quiet yet incredible basketball player joined the conversation.
As his captain gave him a skeptical look, Shino explained, “Ino told Kiba.”
Shikamaru glared at the grinning Inuzuka and sighed. Well, they were not wrong. He was bi, with a tendency to be gay more often than straight. Ino was his childhood friend, and at one time she had caught him looking mesmerized at a gorgeous male model in one of her teen magazines. That was when she had known for sure that her friend took a liking to the same-sex relationship. She had seemed to understand and hadn’t said anything, which Shikamaru had been eternally glad for. Until now, that was.
He took a deep breath and relented. “Okay, but that doesn’t mean that you know what my type of guy is.”
“Yes, but we won’t know until we try, right?” Naruto crossed his arms in defense.
“Sure, but-“
“Oh, come on! Just try it! At least get to know the guy?” Kiba pleaded.
“That’s not the point! I mean-”
“Nara.” Everybody froze as Gaara dangerously growled. Apparently, he was fed up with the way things were going-exceptionally raucous. As he fixed his gaze on Shikamaru, the redhead continued, “See the guy, if you don’t want anything to do with him, leave. How about that?”
Shikamaru stared at Gaara as he weighed the whole thing. Finally, he sighed and gave in.
“Fine. But if I don’t like him, then we drop this thing, alright?”
A half-hearted ‘okay’ chorus answered him and Shikamaru was satisfied, until Kankurou, Gaara’s brother piped in, “Until we found the next guy, that is.”
This got the rest of the team snickering as the captain scowled. He decided not to comment any further, though.
“Why the title princess anyway? Don’t tell he’s whiny,” he shuddered.
“Quite the contrary, he’s exceptionally independent. The title is because of his appearance and upbringing.”
At Shikamaru’s puzzled expression, Naruto tapped the other’s shoulder. “Just see him. You’ll understand.”
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It was lunch time and all students were in the cafeteria as the basketball team all sat in the center table. As the most popular guys in school, it was only natural that they chose the best spot which got the rest of the students’ interest. The whole team was wearing their prized leather jacket, the one that reserved only for the notorious basketball team. With all the good looks, the jacket and of course, the famous captain Nara Shikamaru, who to the disappointment of his fans didn’t wear his jacket, the team was indeed the center of attention. Today, however, they seemed more energetic than usual. Why? Because today they would point out which one was Neji to Shikamaru.
Right now, however, they were all still waiting for the target to show up. Shikamaru was looking bored as usual and didn’t seem the least interested in the whole business. But he had agreed to his friends and he wasn’t one to take back his words anyway. Kiba was talking in a loud voice to Kankurou and Naruto eyed the door as he nibbled on a straw.
The Hyuuga finally made an appearance and the blonde beamed, “There he is.”
Couldn’t help but feeling curious, Shikamaru turned his gaze to the door and he saw him: the epitome of human kind.
Seriously, the genius never saw anything more beautiful in his life. The flowing brown hair, the oval face, the pale eyes that glinted under the cafeteria’s lights, the milky white skin, the graceful movements… everything just screamed one thing: perfection. How the hell had he never noticed Neji before?
Noticing the way his captain looked at the Hyuuga boy, Kiba suddenly had an idea. “Want to make this more interesting?”
Shikamaru looked at him challengingly. “What’s on your mind?”
“Four hundred dollars. In a month, you’ve gotta fuck him.”
The Nara was interested. Well, that certainly made everything more appealing. After all, he was always up for a challenge. He put on his own prized captain jacket, the one that made him different than the rest of the team, and got up.
He leaned into Kiba and said in a low voice, “Double that.”
Kiba agreed, “You’re on.”
Satisfied, Shikamaru looked at where Neji was sitting and quickly made his way there. Barely noticing that all eyes were on him, he confidently crossed the cafeteria. He smirked; no one could refuse a Nara’s charm.
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Author’s Note: I notice Shikamaru is a bit OOC, well actually he’s a lot OOC, but then again, that’s the only way I can think about so that he’d fit with the story line. ^^;; As for the next chapter, I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t write anything yet. Hopefully, as soon as I can finish my internship project I’ll go back to writing and make the second one. Wish me luck, guys! Oh, and of course a comment/review would be much appreciated. *bowes*
Title: To Get Him Out of Boredom
Genre: Romance, humor
Warnings: Languages, sexual references and OOC-ness.
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.
Summary: To the genius and basketball star, Nara Shikamaru, life was too easy. He was, simply put, bored. However, his faithful friends got an interesting idea to get him out of boredom.
Warning: shounen-ai (boy x boy love), languages, sexual references and OOC-ness
Dedication: I dedicate this to sonotgoingthere, who manage to put me back into writing by providing interesting prompts for ShikaNeji fanday at LiveJournal.
Author’s Notes: Hello, welcome to my first AU fic of Naruto. The reason I write this is because I’ve re-watched ’10 Things I hate about You’ and ‘Grease’ recently. The inspiration clicked and my muse hasn’t left me since. ^^ I haven’t written any multi-chaptered one in specifically five years, but I hope I still can make this one interesting. Well then, without further ado, please enjoy!
To Get Him Out of Boredom
Chapter 01
By: zielddhy
Nara Shikamaru was bored, to say the least. Sure, he was the basketball captain of their prized basketball team, which had earned Konoha High School the National Championship title the sixth time in a row. Although he was a freshman, no one questioned the coach’s decision to make Shikamaru their captain, because the basketball star had earned Konoha Junior High School the National Championship title three years in a row as well. As soon as Shikamaru had been confirmed to continue his education in Konoha High School, the coach had made the offer. Not even one senior had had a doubt that the Nara was a good choice to be captain. And they were right. Now a sophomore, Shikamaru had won the National Championship twice, although he still adamantly refused to take credit, saying it was because of hard practice and excellent teamwork that they were able to win national championship.
Being a captain certainly had benefits. For example, his teachers didn’t require any explanation in case he didn’t do his homework (during Championship season, of course), and didn’t question anything when he said he wanted to skip a class for basketball practice. After all, when the student could still maintain straight A’s in all of his subjects, why bother criticizing him for not doing his homework and missing out few classes anyway?
Girls and quite a lot of boys fawning over him constantly, he even had his own fans club (which he refused to admit he had anything to do with). Wherever he walked, people waved, said greetings at him, and even at one time a girl begged him on her knees to be his girlfriend. The girl was pretty, he had to admit-she was a cheerleader in their school after all-but looks alone were not enough for him to gather his courage to accept this girl as his girlfriend. Hell, he didn’t even know what her personalities were like!
Even with the whole popularity thing going, Shikamaru still didn’t feel at ease. He still felt that-no matter how cliché this may sound-life was not challenging enough. Everything he had done until now, be it the basketball Championship, maintaining straight A’s, being the most popular jock in school, was very easy for him. Therefore, to put it simply, he was bored.
The basketball star had a lot of friends. His best friends, who mostly were basketball team members, had tried different approach to make him not bored. Of course being the most creative students, the ideas had ranged from a simple cooking-which could be very difficult to some people-to a survival game in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, all of their efforts had gone to waste, because obviously Shikamaru was still bored to death until this day.
Now, Nara Shikamaru was sitting in his History class, and had been spending most of his time looking at the clouds through a nearby window rather than listening to his teacher. Not that he didn’t like history, mind you; in fact, history was one of his favorite subjects. Nevertheless, the aforementioned subject still failed to catch his attention. Shikamaru sighed loudly once more, earning a confused glance from his teacher.
The sigh didn’t escape Sabaku no Gaara’s attention, and he shared a look with his friend, Uzumaki Naruto. Not needing to exchange any word, both of them agreed on one ting: immediate action was needed. When Shikamaru sighed like that, usually it would result in three sessions of practice in a row, without any rest, for the sake of their precious captain’s own personal amusement so that he had something to do.
But now the question was: what else could be done? Since the first time basketball team had learned that when their captain was bored it would usually result in three sessions of practice, everything that could be done had been done. Fortunately, some of them had yielded immediate success-Shikamaru was not bored anymore. Unfortunately, the longest they had lasted was no more than two days, and at the third day, the basketball star was back in his bored mode.
Naruto glanced at the clock. Okay, he and Gaara had approximately two hours and a half to figure out a way to make Shikamaru not bored. The blond glanced around for some ideas, but all the students seemed quite intent listening to their teacher, and they had their eyes staring seriously ahead as Kurenai-sensei explained about World War II. Well, nearly all of them, Naruto noted with a smirk, as he saw the most exhibitionist couple in their school-Yamanaka Ino and Inuzuka Kiba-had yet another hands-down-under-the-table-session. Obviously, Kiba had done something to make Ino moan in a not so discreet way like that.
“If you two can’t keep your hands from each other, then you’re more than welcome in my detention after class today,” Kurenai-sensei said, a scowl etched on her face. The whole class chuckled as the couple blushed.
Something clicked in Naruto’s head as he spared a glance at Shikamaru-who still thought that the clouds outside deserved his attention more than anything else. Okay, now Naruto had an idea how to make his captain not so bored anymore, but first, he needed an extra opinion. Fortunately, Gaara was seated next to him, and he quickly whispered, ‘challenging relationship.’
The redhead stared at Naruto, obviously not understanding a single thing, and Naruto nodded his head towards Shikamaru’s direction while his thumb pointed at where the exhibitionist couple was sitting. An understanding look dawned on Gaara’s face and a knowing smirk was formed. Alright, this might prove to be interesting. Maybe when Shikamaru was challenged to have a difficult relationship with someone, he wouldn’t be so bored anymore. But the question was: with whom? The basketball star could easily have everyone in his bed anyway, seeing that he was the most popular jock at their school.
“Honestly, if you need to have sex, then do it, just don’t do it in my class,” added Kurenai-sensei.
“Are you giving us permission to leave class, sensei?” asked Kiba with a smirk as the whole class laughed.
She smiled. “Nice try, Inuzuka. Unfortunately, you have to hold your hormones back longer, because right now I’m giving you assignments.”
The class groaned and cursed.
A pale hand rose, asking for permission to speak.
“Yes, Hyuuga?”
Hyuuga Neji, the ice prince of their school, said in his soft, timbered voice, “Sensei, seeing as the finals are coming up, do you think it’s wise for you to give us assignments now? Won’t our time will be put in better use if we study for the finals, instead?”
“Honestly, Neji, the only student who will study for finals anytime during this week is you and you only. Finals are six weeks from now, for God’s sake.”
Once again the class chuckled. Really, Hyuuga Neji was already notorious for being a book worm. Sure, he was very good-looking, not to mention very rich also, but his cold attitude, and the fact that he preferred solitude than anything else made him do not have many friends. In fact, the only friend he had was Uchiha Sasuke, his equal in silence and solitude. Because of his good looks, however, several guys and girls had tried to befriend him in hope for a one-night stand, but they all were rudely dismissed by the said Hyuuga without even a second glance. Therefore, he was known as the ice prince.
Gaara turned to see Naruto, an equally mischievous glint glistening in his eyes and silently they reached an agreement: Neji’s our guy.
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The hot sun provided no help for Shikamaru to stifle his yawn as he walked towards the court. After sleeping through nearly all his classes today, the Nara still felt sleepy, although he suspected that it was because he had slept too much. He knew he was supposed to listen to his teachers, but he couldn’t help feeling totally uninterested. Personally, Shikamaru felt he needed something interesting, something challenging, something that could set his adrenaline high. He had considered paragliding before but his mother didn’t let him. Hell, even when he went buggy-jumping and rafting, she had freaked out, let alone paragliding.
He turned a corner and suddenly an object was thrust into his face. A girl, a senior perhaps, awkwardly held out both hands, offering Shikamaru something suspiciously similar to love letter. The basketball star had to suppress the urge to leave-as yet another unknown individual was declaring love to him. He had lost count on how many of them had confessed, because, well, there were just too many of them. Some of them declared it boldly, some romantically, and some others, like this one before him, pitifully shy. The girl stared at her feet and the ground beneath as red blush deepened in her cheek.
“Na-Nara-san, please accept this letter,” said the girl.
Her friends peeked from their hiding place and giggled. Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he found that it was such a silly situation. Heck, what was it with these girls anyway?
He stared at the letter offered to him. The girl still remained rigid, head bowed down, hands stretched out, face blushing red. Just as the basketball player was still weighing how to tell this girl that he didn’t even know her, she made the answer for him by dropping the letter, turning and running away in tears.
That left Shikamaru to scratch the back of his head, his brain automatically functioning, how in the name of everything holy, by not saying anything he managed to make a girl running away from him in tears?
Oh, well. Shikamaru continued on his way, barely noticing how her friends were glaring murderous intents at him.
As he came into the court, Shikamaru frowned to see his teammates huddling together in one corner, with Naruto and Gaara being the center of attention. The others were listening to them in keen interest. Apparently, something funny was going on as they all laughed at something Naruto said. Gaara was the first to acknowledge him.
“Hey.” Hmph, trust Gaara to made one-syllable greeting every time.
Naruto quickly ran over to the captain’s side and flung his arm around the other’s shoulder. “Hey, want to hear something interesting?”
The Nara narrowed his eyes, completely not trusting the blonde’s idea of ‘interesting.’ As if he could read what went through his friend’s mind, Naruto immediately pouted, “What? I haven’t said anything! Besides, have I ever got you into any trouble? If anything, you should be thankful that you have such a wonderful friend like me!”
His captain chose to ignore his protest, however, as Shikamaru turned to the rest of team and asked in suspicion, “Now what are you guys up to?”
They all looked at each other, except Gaara of course, but then again the redhead rarely showed any emotion, so probably there was not a surprise there, and was that a guilty expression Shikamaru caught?
As they still wondered how to break this news-more like a challenge actually-a cheerful voice piped in.
“Want to get hooked up?”
The rest of the team scowled at Naruto as Kiba smacked the blonde’s head. “Idiot. You should put that in a more tactful way!”
Naruto, rubbing the spot Kiba hit him earlier, rolled his eyes. “Then how would you put it?”
The Inuzuka smirked at his captain. “Wanna get a good fuck?” he raised his eyebrows suggestively and licked his lips.
The guys snickered while Shikamaru processed what the hell Kiba had just proposed, his brain immediately running: Get a good fuck? With Kiba? Eeww.
Hold on. Kiba was straight and would never ever turn gay-Shikamaru would bet his basketball career in that. So that meant he had found someone for Shikamaru to get a good fuck. The only reason he did this, of course, was because he knew the captain was bored. Again. Plus, knowing Kiba, the basketball star was sure the chosen bed-partner wouldn’t stay permanently.
As much as he hated the idea of a one-night stand, he had to admit that it was nice to know that his friends still cared for him, no matter how bizarre their way of showing it was. He decided that this effort needed at least an appreciation and so he asked, “With whom?”
The team cheered and gave each other a high-five. Shikamaru on the other hand couldn’t help but smile at their antics.
“Hyuuga Neji,” Naruto announced proudly.
Shikamaru blinked.
And blinked again.
“Hyuuga Neji?”
“Yeah, Neji, you know, the pristine princess.”
“Whoa, hold on a minute, isn’t Hyuuga Neji a ‘he’?”
“Well,” Naruto scratched his head. “Yeah, but he has this long brown hair and pale skin thing, plus smooth face. Hell, you can swear he’s a girl.”
“Rumor has it that he takes such extra care for his hair, trims it every six weeks and all that. Not to mention he’s neat as a pin. You should have seen his locker. Hence, the title pristine princess,” added Gaara.
Shikamaru stared in disbelief as Gaara willingly provided information without even being asked. The redhead was famous for being incredibly taciturn-bordering creepy-guy. Nearly all students in their school, with the exception of basketball team, wouldn’t talk to him unless they didn’t have another choice. Gaara glared back at Shikamaru and said nothing, obviously challenging-threatening was more like it-to comment on his unusual behavior. Shikamaru decided not to comment any further and turned his attention back to Naruto.
“Hold on, back on a second. You want me to go out with him? I don’t know the guy! Hell, I don’t even know if I’m gay or not!” Shikamaru said exasperatedly.
“Oh, we do know that you’re bi,” Shino, the quiet yet incredible basketball player joined the conversation.
As his captain gave him a skeptical look, Shino explained, “Ino told Kiba.”
Shikamaru glared at the grinning Inuzuka and sighed. Well, they were not wrong. He was bi, with a tendency to be gay more often than straight. Ino was his childhood friend, and at one time she had caught him looking mesmerized at a gorgeous male model in one of her teen magazines. That was when she had known for sure that her friend took a liking to the same-sex relationship. She had seemed to understand and hadn’t said anything, which Shikamaru had been eternally glad for. Until now, that was.
He took a deep breath and relented. “Okay, but that doesn’t mean that you know what my type of guy is.”
“Yes, but we won’t know until we try, right?” Naruto crossed his arms in defense.
“Sure, but-“
“Oh, come on! Just try it! At least get to know the guy?” Kiba pleaded.
“That’s not the point! I mean-”
“Nara.” Everybody froze as Gaara dangerously growled. Apparently, he was fed up with the way things were going-exceptionally raucous. As he fixed his gaze on Shikamaru, the redhead continued, “See the guy, if you don’t want anything to do with him, leave. How about that?”
Shikamaru stared at Gaara as he weighed the whole thing. Finally, he sighed and gave in.
“Fine. But if I don’t like him, then we drop this thing, alright?”
A half-hearted ‘okay’ chorus answered him and Shikamaru was satisfied, until Kankurou, Gaara’s brother piped in, “Until we found the next guy, that is.”
This got the rest of the team snickering as the captain scowled. He decided not to comment any further, though.
“Why the title princess anyway? Don’t tell he’s whiny,” he shuddered.
“Quite the contrary, he’s exceptionally independent. The title is because of his appearance and upbringing.”
At Shikamaru’s puzzled expression, Naruto tapped the other’s shoulder. “Just see him. You’ll understand.”
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It was lunch time and all students were in the cafeteria as the basketball team all sat in the center table. As the most popular guys in school, it was only natural that they chose the best spot which got the rest of the students’ interest. The whole team was wearing their prized leather jacket, the one that reserved only for the notorious basketball team. With all the good looks, the jacket and of course, the famous captain Nara Shikamaru, who to the disappointment of his fans didn’t wear his jacket, the team was indeed the center of attention. Today, however, they seemed more energetic than usual. Why? Because today they would point out which one was Neji to Shikamaru.
Right now, however, they were all still waiting for the target to show up. Shikamaru was looking bored as usual and didn’t seem the least interested in the whole business. But he had agreed to his friends and he wasn’t one to take back his words anyway. Kiba was talking in a loud voice to Kankurou and Naruto eyed the door as he nibbled on a straw.
The Hyuuga finally made an appearance and the blonde beamed, “There he is.”
Couldn’t help but feeling curious, Shikamaru turned his gaze to the door and he saw him: the epitome of human kind.
Seriously, the genius never saw anything more beautiful in his life. The flowing brown hair, the oval face, the pale eyes that glinted under the cafeteria’s lights, the milky white skin, the graceful movements… everything just screamed one thing: perfection. How the hell had he never noticed Neji before?
Noticing the way his captain looked at the Hyuuga boy, Kiba suddenly had an idea. “Want to make this more interesting?”
Shikamaru looked at him challengingly. “What’s on your mind?”
“Four hundred dollars. In a month, you’ve gotta fuck him.”
The Nara was interested. Well, that certainly made everything more appealing. After all, he was always up for a challenge. He put on his own prized captain jacket, the one that made him different than the rest of the team, and got up.
He leaned into Kiba and said in a low voice, “Double that.”
Kiba agreed, “You’re on.”
Satisfied, Shikamaru looked at where Neji was sitting and quickly made his way there. Barely noticing that all eyes were on him, he confidently crossed the cafeteria. He smirked; no one could refuse a Nara’s charm.
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Author’s Note: I notice Shikamaru is a bit OOC, well actually he’s a lot OOC, but then again, that’s the only way I can think about so that he’d fit with the story line. ^^;; As for the next chapter, I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t write anything yet. Hopefully, as soon as I can finish my internship project I’ll go back to writing and make the second one. Wish me luck, guys! Oh, and of course a comment/review would be much appreciated. *bowes*