"Shikamaru-san?"

Hinata Hyuga waved her hand in front of the Nara's face. No reaction. She pulled her hand back, and if her pout was any indication, she was obviously annoyed. He's sleeping-

She frowned, and continued to glare intently at the boy's prone form as she took her seat next to him; silently hoping the heat of her stare would rouse him from his slumber, or at least ignite his pineapple head into flames. Sadly she had no such luck, his breathing only seemed to deepen as he hunched even further in his seat. She groaned inwardly, lowering her head in defeat. She just wanted to get this biology project done.

He didn't even bother to open the book I set out for him to help with the project…

The project. She sighed. The project that they had three weeks to work on. The project that was due by the end of the week. The project that Shikamaru seemed to want to pin totally unto her. She was in near tears when she had to persuade him to come with her to the library so that they could get some work done.

"So troublesome," "Not worth it," "In the end it doesn't matter," he had huffed, only to concede when he noticed the way Hinata's lower lip was trembling, a common predecessor to tears. "Fine." He muttered, cursing women under his breath the entire trek to the musty building.

All that and he still has the nerve to fall asleep.

She coughed into her hand to clear her throat and pulled a stray strand of her dark hair behind her ear. She swiftly arranged the books she'd gathered on their workspace, not bothering to muffle the hard thud of thick texts on plywood. He didn't even so much as flinch. In fact, just to spite her, he seemed to fall into a deeper sleep.

It's almost kind of cute how his mouth hangs open when he sleeps.

She blinked, a bit surprised by her own train of thought. Suppressing a blush, she gives him one last appraising glance. Quite frankly, Hinata didn't know what to make of her sleepy lab partner. He seemed clear on the concepts learned in class, grasping them even more so than she did; at least that's what she gathered from her brief conversations with him. But his test scores left much to be desired. It didn't help that he had a reputation for sleeping during quizzes. A lazy genius- she sighed as she looked down at her textbook…

---

-Since when does my shadow have spiked hair?

---

A long slim gangly arm was suddenly draped around her neck, and the light scent of chlorine and salt filled the air around her. She audibly gulped, already well aware of whom it was. She slowly looked up from her book, only to find her face inches away from the feral grin of the Konoha High School Shark, swim team captain Hoshigaki Kisame.

"Hoshigaki-sempai!" she squeaked. How long has he been standing behind me?

She tensed under his touch, all week Kisame had been teasing her. Snapping his teeth at her when she walked by, tugging her hair when he passed her between classes, leaning in too close when he'd approach her at lunch break. Never anything really inappropriate, it was more of a nuisance than anything. For some reason beyond her grasp of comprehension he found it amusing to make her blush and squirm, and much to her chagrin-

"Shhhhh, Hinata-chan, it is a library."

-so did his friends.

She saw his shadow before she felt his hand brush past her, coming to rest on the desk. She looked up to see the delinquent artistic prodigy, Deidara, leaning over her.

"Gomen, Deidara-sempai." She whispered, staring straight ahead in a vain attempt to keep her blush hidden from the both of their views.

"Such a well-mannered little kohai, eh, Deidara-kun?"

Kisame gently thumbed her nose, forcing her attention back on him. His smile somehow managed to widen even further as he watched that dark mop of hair flick over her shoulders and that deep rosy blush spread across her cheeks.

"Cute too." He added, his long tall body leaning languidly against her. Hinata couldn't help but note how everything about him screamed predator, from his gait to his lean physical build. Maybe that's why they call him 'the Shark.'

Hinata was certain that anything within 3 centimeters of her face would ignite in flames, though Kisame must have sought out to prove otherwise the way he was zeroing in on her. She hoped she never had to get used to this much physical contact. Kisame and Deidara had invaded her bubble of personal space, leaving very little room for herself in said bubble.

"Look at the way she blushes, it was just a compliment Hina-chan."

"Pretty girls like you should be used to them Hina-hime. I bet your boyfriend gives you compliments all the time, mm?"

"I- umm," Hinata began praying that the floor would just open and swallow her whole. Under normal circumstances she would have run away by now, but with Deidara at her back, and Kisame's grip across her shoulders, escape seemed impossible. Stop playing their game, speak up! Just say it! 'I don't have time for this.' She brought her hands up below her chin, 'I. Don't. Have. Time. For. This.' and began pressing her forefingers together, a nervous habit she had developed as a child. " I -Don't-"

"-Eh? Little Hinata-Kohai doesn't have a boyfriend?"

"I bet she hasn't even had her first kiss yet. We should correct that, eh, Kisame-kun?"

Kisame only nodded in the affirmative, gravely stroking his chin as if deep in thought. Deidara in the mean time leaned closer to Hinata to whisper into her ear.

"Oi," he licked his lips, and his posture tensed a bit, "Would Hinata-koi mind, if I stole her first kiss, mm…?"

Hinata flinched. Deidara's hand was tracing along her jawline, drawing her face upwards towards him. She heaved a sigh of relief when Kisame chose that moment to tug on Deidara's blond ponytail, hard.

"Baka," He hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously, as he fixed his hair.

"What if I wanted her first kiss, eh?"

"Ano…." She didn't like where this was going. Not one bit.

She caught herself glancing at Shikamaru, a little jealous that he was able to escape the attention of their bored seniors. How can he still be asleep? When she looked back at Kisame she almost blacked out from his closeness. The hand around her shoulder was absently playing with her hair, the other gently cupping her cheek. She let out a soft whimper "-Kisame-san –"

"Ssnnnnnnrrrrrkk…"

They all turned their attentions to the now stirring lump next to Hinata that had previously been ignored. It muttered something about, "Noisy seniors," and something along the lines of "how troublesome," before lifting its head up. Shikamaru leaned upright on his elbows, boredly examining his surroundings, vaguely aware that they were all staring at him.

With her tormenters momentarily distracted Hinata had to act fast. She reached out to grab her classmate by the ears, careful to mind his piercing, and pulled him towards her, their lips crashing together and noses bumping.

Her reasoning had been self-preservation. Running away wasn't an option, but if all Deidara and Kisame wanted was her first kiss, giving it to someone else meant that they couldn't have it and they'd leave her alone. Right? Riiight?!

She opened her eyes to see Shikamaru's wide-eyed stare. She pulled away just as suddenly as she had initiated the kiss, and stared intently down at her lap. What had she done? Her eyes suddenly widened as the weight of her actions hit her.

She just kissed Shikamaru-san! Her first kiss! She couldn't look at him, at any of them. She started fidgeting in her seat; a brand new shade of red spreading across her face.

Shikamaru seemed to be taking this in very slowly. He blinked a few times, before staring down at his own lap. He hadn't expected that. It wasn't often one would receive such a wake-up call. Judging by the looks on both Kisame and Deidara's faces, they hadn't expected that either. He reached a finger up to touch his lips. They were still a little slick with her spittle.

Kisame was the first to recover.

"Doesn't count, no tongue."

Much to Hinata's surprise, Shikamaru quickly corrected that.

---

Damn she runs fast...

He was wet, bruised, and bleeding.

Ever since the incident at the Library, Hoshigaki Kisame deemed in necessary to seek out the lazy genius, threaten him, beat him, and today, he threw him into the school pool. At least Hyuga Neji wasn't after him. He shuddered at the thought of what the normally stoic Hyuga would do to him if he found out he shoved his tongue into his precious cousin's mouth-

Shikamaru plucked the nearly spent cigarette paper from his lips, recklessly casting it aside. He'd quit, a few months back, but today he really needed it. He snuck a pack out from his guidance counselor's office drawer, escaping straight away to the school roof were he could be left to enjoy his smokes in peace.

-She, she was the cause of all this. That troublesome Hyuga…

The kiss was still on his mind, in spite of his insistence that it wasn't that great. He fumbled for the beat up carton of cigarettes in his chest pocket, picking through trying to find one that hadn't been soaked through, crushed, or bent.

Yeah, her fault. All she had to do was write the paper on her own. She ended up doing it anyway in the two days that she had been avoiding him. -Heck, she didn't even have to write the paper, he would have been content with the failing mark- what did she have to lose? She was one of the top marking students in their class.

He snorted as he threw the battered carton on the floor in frustration, running his hands threw his hair mussing up his high ponytail. He wringed out some more water from his shirt before leaning back against the chain-link fence that enclosed the rooftop space. At least today was sunny, so it wouldn't take too long for him to dry. He turned his attention skyward, blinking lazily against the warm afternoon sun.

Troublesome, and not a cloud in the sky-

He groaned as he nursed his side. Cloud watching was a small pastime he took up during his academy days. Just looking at the clouds, so soft and free, made the world seem better, calmer. It was an escape- Clouds didn't force you to go to libraries to work on useless unimportant school papers. They didn't kiss you awake, or run away after you kiss them back. Clouds didn't have an annoying jealous sempai that beat you up and push you in swimming pools for kissing the clouds.

They didn't ignore you for two days.

He frowned, why should I care- It's not like I like her, right? His body relaxed further, and slowly his eyelids drifted close, he hoped that a small nap would at least make him feel better

"Oi- Shikamaru!"

Oh please, anyone but-

"How did I know you'd be up here?"

Shikamaru pulled himself up and lazily cracked one eye open. Above him in his blazing blond glory was none other than Uzamaki Naruto, self-proclaimed leader of the second year students of Konoha high school. He inwardly groaned and silently wished that all his cigarettes hadn't been destroyed.

"Naruto," He nodded in greeting, slowly pulling himself up from the floor. "What brings you here? He really wanted something to dull the edge of the well-meaning knucklehead's obtrusive attitude. At least he stopped saying Datte-

"You look like shit. -tebayo!"

As much-

"Tch," He muttered, shooting the dolt a dark glare. He languidly reached up and pulled down his ponytail, wringing out the excess water from the frizzy shoulder length mess.

"What'd you do to piss Ino off this time?"

"Nothing," He snorted, pulling his hair back up and tying it. He watched as Naruto squatted down in front of him. "Who said it was Ino?"

"It wasn't?" He blinked stupidly, holding out his hand in front of him counting down on his fingers. "Was it Tayuya?"

"No."

"Rin?"

The Nara bit the inside of his cheek to keep from shouting in frustration, and chose instead to shoot the oblivious blond a fierce glare.

"I know, it was Temari nee-chan!"

Shikamaru groaned and slumped into his lap. "Why do you keep naming girls?" He muttered, rubbing his temples. He looked up again at Naruto only to have something behind him catch his eye. Pale creamy legs, long dark hair, white eyes-

"You have a tendency to get involved with girls most would find-"

"Troublesome." He grunted, ignoring Naruto and unconsciously gaping at the approaching Hyuga.

No, it wasn't Neji.

"Oi, Shikamaru, what are you star-" Naruto turned to the direction that Shikamaru was staring. "Hey, isn't that Hinata-chan?" He started waving wildly in the air, "Oi Hina-tan! What-cha doin' hiding over there?"

Shikamaru blanched, choked on his own spit, causing him to have a coughing fit. Naruto cast him a suspicious glance, but proceeded to hit the Nara on the back to help it pass. "You okay?"

"I got to go-" He bolted upright only to find himself face to face with the last person he wanted to deal with.

"H-hello N-nara-san," She paused and looked down at her feet, blushing. Naruto had casually draped his arm over her shoulder when she had approached. Her giddiness was obvious the Shikamaru, though he wasn't sure why it bothered him. That shy little smile she was directing towards the blond wasn't helping his sour mood much either. "Naruto-kun." She nodded in greeting.

Shikamaru blinked; a bit surprised that he had been demoted from Shikamaru-san, to the even more formal sounding Nara-san. He was tempted to reach out and shake her, screaming something along the lines of 'I shoved my tongue down your throat, at least call me Shikamaru-kun-' or 'what would you have called me if I had copped a feel as well?' Or maybe he should just pull her into another ki-

He shook the thought from his head.

Naruto still had a big gaping stupid smile on his face, ignorant of Shikamaru's inability to look Hinata in the eye, and Hinata's new found interest in her polished school shoes. "So what's a girl like you doing waiting on a couple of delinquents like us? Challenging one of us to a throw down? Eh Hinata-chan?"

He waggled his eyebrows and winked playfully as he nudged her ribs, making her smile wider and blush even darker in his loose hold.

"No, no nothing like that, actually… I need to speak to-"

She looked up to where the Nara had been standing, only he wasn't there. "Nara-san…"

Naruto blinked, watching as Shikamaru disappeared down the stairwell, and then Hinata after him.

"That was…" He scratched the back of his head, "strange-"

" …dammit, I had something important to say- tebayo!

---

"You've gone soft, Kisame-"

Hoshigaki Kisame looked up distractedly, scratching his neck. He had detention for the little stunt he pulled back at the school pool, and like any good friend Deidara did something equally as mischievous so to spend the following afternoons with his brooding friend.

"Eh?"

"I thought you liked the Hyuga, but you let some lazy slacker get away with kissing her with nothing but a few warning words and a mild beat down."

Kisame sighed, but soon his lips pulled into a smirk. It was true; he had a crush on the shy girl. There was something rather nice about the way she stuttered and blushed, and her over polite way of speaking. He turned to look back out the window, past the potted trees in the school courtyard, and over the low hedge, at the blushing girl with a firm-pleading grip on a pineapple haired young man.

"I can bitch and moan about it all I want, but the thing is- "

He turned back to the blond, and smiled.

"She made her choice."

---

"Nara-san!"

He halted, and plunged his hands deep into his pockets. Slowly he turned,

"-Kun"

He hadn't meant to sound so angry, and the hurt and confused look on her face only made him feel guilt. She was panting from the brief run chasing after him. She bit her lip as she looked up into his face.

"Call me Shikamaru-kun, or just Shikamaru." He gritted out, he turned to leave, but he felt something grab hold of his wrist. He chewed the inside of his cheek, silent for a few moments before murmuring a disgruntled "Let go."

He didn't turn to look but he could only picture the Hyuga shaking her head vigorously. He gritted his teeth, troublesome.

"Hyuga sa-"

"Shikamaru…"

He tensed as she whispered his name; he coughed into his free hand. He hadn't expected it to sound so nice coming from her mouth.

" I- I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. I didn't mean to k-k-"

"Kiss?" He offered, rolling his eyes even though she wouldn't be able to see.

She looked down and blushed, her hands still firmly wrapped around his arm.

"It was my first."

She let go of his hand, pulling her own hands up and pressing her forefingers together.

"It didn't go- exactly as I thought it should have… or with the person who I thought it would have been- but…"

Shikamaru turned around, watching as she fidgeted nervously under his gaze.

"It was- nice- with you, and… I wouldn't mind doing it again- with you."

"-Please."

She looked up confused, except Shikamaru was no longer a safe arm's distance away. A smirk played across his face, combined with his lazy drawl it was absolutely dangerous.

"Tch, troublesome, say please this time."

He pulled her towards his chest, supporting the back of her head and her lower back with his hands. Hinata flushed a very bright red that could rival any award winning tomato, but managed to squeak out a soft, breathy -"Please?"

Years of his mother's nagging to treat women well, the polite gentlemanly Shikamaru had to comply. After all, she did ask nicely.