Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Or anything. I don't own anything.

Warning: Stalker-ism. More random. More funny (?). More yaoi.

Shikamaru sighed as he looked in distaste at the pair of dark blue swimming drunks he held in his hands. Sighing, he placed the folded piece of swimwear on the knee-height bench beside him and casually slipped his shirt over his head.

He had rather enjoyed his and Chouji's down time earlier that day. He hoped to make it a regular occurrence, as it was definitely not troublesome.

Lunch though, had been an entirely different story. Even though lunch technically started at 12:30, the two of them arrived closer to one, enabling them to move through the buffet line rather quickly. As he thought, Shikamaru had felt Neji's eyes on him almost the whole time since he first stepped into the building.

Getting frustrated by the other's actions and behavior, Shikamaru and Chouji ended up eating outside under a distant tree to avoid the persistent brunette that kept following them.

Other than that, Shikamaru supposed that lunch was nice. He was really growing fond of the other boy. It had been awhile since he had a real friend. Yeah, Takashi was cool and all, but he wasn't like Chouji. Chouji didn't mind lying down in the grass and watching clouds, talking about life. Takashi would rather play video games, or read porn.

Neatly folding up his shirt, Shikamaru placed it on the bench and toed off his shoes. Scooting them under the bench, he unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and quickly tugged those off as well. Folding them and putting his shirt on top of them, he continued to stack his clothes. He reached down really quick and pulled off his socks, and again, folded them and put them on the pile. Last but not least, he slipped out of his plain boxers and quickly got into the even more plain swimming trunks.

Double checking that his clothes were neat and not all over the place, Shikamaru sighed and slowly walked towards the door at the end of the locker room, noticing that the other boys who had swimming as well already left.

Shikamaru hadn't been too excited to see that he had swimming. Maybe he could claim to be narcoleptic and get out of it that way. At least it wasn't where everyone had the same hour class. There were only six other people who had swimming: Hinata, Sakura, Gaara, Shino, Naruto, and Sasuke. He wasn't too happy about the people, but at least he didn't have it with Neji.

Opening the door, Shikamaru was blasted with a wave of hot, steamy air that smelled strongly of chlorine. Inhaling deeply to get used to the potent smell, Shikamaru frowned and stepped into the humid room, hearing the door click shut behind him.

Everyone except for the two girls was already out and standing along the edge of the pool, probably waiting for whomever was supposed to be teaching the class. Walking over to stand next to Shino, Shikamaru stuck his hands in the pockets of his swim trunks. Why they put pockets in swimming shorts were beyond him, but he wasn't complaining.

Hearing a door slam open, followed by sounds of giggling, Shikamaru turned his head to look over and see Sakura prancing out of the doorway followed by an extremely red and embarrassed looking Hinata. Sakura was flaunting herself in a skimpy hot pink bikini, and Hinata was in a simple black one piece.

The two girls walked over to stand next to Shikamaru and Sakura turned to address the lazy teen. "So, what now? Can we get in?"

Shikamaru shrugged, not really sure of the answer himself. "I'm pretty sure if we could, we would be in already. This is troublesome."

Shikamaru could hear Naruto provoking Sasuke, yelling something about the Uchiha probably looking like a drowned rat when he got in the pool. Gaara was standing a few feet away from the pool, glaring at the slightly rippling water with immense distaste. Shino was simply standing at the edge of the pool, looking at the water with a blank look on his face. Shikamaru noted with some amusement that the teenager was still wearing his sunglasses.

Sakura looked at him like he was being an asshole after he answered her, and humphed before turning back to an extremely red Hinata to complain.

A few seconds later, one of the doors next to the boy's locker room swung open, slamming into the wall with a loud 'bang'. The sound echoed painfully around the room, and Shikamaru flinched somewhat along with the other teens.

Through the door walked two adults, one a tall male, and the other a slightly less tall, but very slender female. The man was in a pair of blue swimming trunks, and Shikamaru noted somewhat distastefully that he was also very buff. Naruto also noticed this and decided to point it out with a rude 'holy shit that guy is ripped.' He had long, spiky white hair, and peculiar red lines running down the length of his cheeks. Despite having a friendly air about him, Shikamaru raised an eyebrow when he saw an egotistical and slightly lecherous grin on the man's face.

The woman was not quite as tall as the man she was walking beside, but still rather tall for her age and gender. She was wearing a dark red bikini, though not as skimpy and revealing as Sakura's. She was very fit and in an excellent physical condition for her age, although Shikamaru noted unenthusiastically that her boobs practically defined the saying "larger than life". She had long, sandy blond hair, tied back in two low, thin ponytails. Rather than an egotistical and perverted look on her face, she had an annoyed frown.

Shikamaru deduced that these people were probably their teachers, although he didn't quite like the looks of them. They seemed a bit too troublesome to be normal instructors.

The white haired man came to stand at the short end of the pool to face them, crossing his arms and slowly scanning the small group. The woman came to stand slightly behind him, rolling her eyes at his obvious display of needed control.

"So," the man started, "you lot are the group today?"

Shikamaru sighed, Sakura yelled 'yes', Hinata blushed, Gaara hissed, Naruto shrieked happily, Sasuke 'hn'-ed, and Shino said…nothing.

The man nodded. "Good, good. Well, my name is Jiraiya, and this lovely lady behind me is Tsunade. We are the swimming instructors, and will be unless something weird happens. So deal with it."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the loud man. He was…off in some way, and Shikamaru couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Turning a little bit, Jiraiya pointed energetically at the two girls and grinned lecherously. "Now! If you two young ladies would please take off your swimsuits so I can-", Jiraiya was cut off as Tsunade growled and immediately punched him harshly in the back of the head, causing the man to fly into the pool. Everyone, including Shino and Gaara, flinched when the hard smack of flesh on water resonated throughout the room.

The blonde haired woman frowned and crossed her arms, scowling at the frothing water that marked where Jiraiya had been punched in. "Stupid pervert. If you weren't rich and didn't provide me with alcohol, I would have left you years ago."

Shikamaru sighed. Great, an old lecher and an alcoholic. What fun. Please note the sarcasm.

The blonde woman uncrossed her arms, a clipboard occupying one hand, and walked over to stand behind the row of teenagers. Shikamaru and the rest of them turned to face her, their backs to the pool.

Tsunade turned the clipboard right side up and scanned it. "Okay. I'm going to take role. Say 'here' when I call your name."

"Hinata Hyuuga."

"H-h-here."

"Gaara Sabaku."

The red-head didn't speak, opting to glare at the blonde lady instead. Shikamaru smirked slightly when she glared back.

Naruto Uzu-shit."

Naruto gave an indignant squawk of protest at his mispronounced name as Tsunade whipped a cell phone out of nowhere, jabbing out a number and holding the phone up to her ear.

Shikamaru could hear it ring faintly before someone picked up, though he wasn't able to hear what the person on the other line was saying. He could see that Tsunade looked really agitated and slightly pissed off.

"Oi, Iruka. Why didn't you tell me that Naruto was coming to camp this year?"

Oh yeah, she was angry. Shikamaru noted out of the corner of his eye that Jiraiya was now surfacing from the pool, only to try and hoist himself onto the slippery tile and fall back into the warm water.

"…"

"I have a right to know!"

"…"

"You do realize I'm not letting him get into the pool?"

Another indignant squawk from Naruto could be hear along with a smug chuckle from Sasuke.

"….."

"Last time I let him in my pool, he broke it! I had to use my alcohol money to fix the damn thing."

"…"

"I don't care if he was four at the time. That was MY money!"

"…"

"Screw Jiraiya."

"…"

"Screw you! If he breaks the pool this time, it's coming out of your bloody paycheck!"

And with that she hung up angrily and chucked the small piece of technology behind her at the metal bleachers. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Tsunade looked at the clip board again. "Okay Naruto, I swear to god if you break my pool…I'm cutting ramen out of your diet."

Shikamaru glanced over at the blonde teen to see that while normally tan, Naruto was extremely pale. His mouth was hanging open and he was staring in shock at the air in front of him, oblivious to the hand that Sasuke was waving in front of his face.

Seemingly content with her threat, Tsunade continued down the list. "Sakura Haruno."

Sakura giggled and waved at the woman. "Present."

"Shino Aburame."

"…I am here."

"Shikamaru Nara."

Shikamaru sighed and raised his hand. "This is troublesome."

Tsunade smirked. "Well, trust me; it's going to get a lot worse."

Shikamaru sighed again, deeper this time. "I know."

"Last and questionably least, Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke scowled and raised a hand. "Here."

"Good. Good. All seven of you are present. Now where is Jiraiya? Has he surfaced yet?"

As soon as she finished her sentence, Jiraiya floated back to the surface of the water, his wet hair sticking thickly to his face and he angrily pulled himself out of the water.

Tsunade smirked. "Ah, there you are. Now we can get started with class."

The soaked man sulkily walked over to stand next to the gloating Tsunade, creating small puddle of water with each step he took. "Yeah, yeah. You didn't have to punch me you know. It was only harmless fun."

Crossing her arms again, Tsunade glared at Jiraiya. "Don't even start, pervert. In any case," she addressed the small group of teens again, "since there are an odd number of you all, I'll take three people, and Jiraiya will take four. We will teach you the basics of swimming for about half an hour, and then the rest of the time is free swim."

Shikamaru sighed. This was going to be interesting.

--

After the instruction period, Shikamaru decided that it was extremely nice to just float around aimlessly in the pool.

Rather than 30 minutes of being taught how to swim, Jiraiya and Tsunade decided to cut it a bit short. Maybe it was because they were bored. Maybe it was because everyone already knew how to swim. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because Gaara refused to get into the water and had pulled a knife on Jiraiya when the man valiantly tried to pick the red-head up and throw him in. Or maybe it was because Hinata passed out so many times due to embarrassment that Tsunade was forced to swim with Hinata piggy-back style. Or maybe it was because Shino decided to go outside and knock down a bee-hive and bring it inside to demonstrate how much bees hate the water.

No, Shikamaru figured it was because everyone already knew how to swim.

Gaara was sitting angrily on the highest row of the metal bleachers, as far away from the water as he could get. Every once in awhile, when Jiraiya ventured too close to the teen, he looked over his shoulder and hissed.

Shino was mimicking Shikamaru, although sometimes he would swim a few yards and then proceed floating peacefully.

Sakura was now helping Hinata learn how to swim, seeing as how Tsunade had given up on the group and was now talking on her battered cell phone. Shikamaru heard the words "his tab" and "absinth" a few times, and decided not to say anything.

Naruto was having a one sided dunk fight with Sasuke. One-sided meaning that Naruto would try and sneak up on the other teen and dunk him, only to have Sasuke whip around and grab Naruto's head and hold it underwater until Tsunade yelled at him and chucked something at his head. Usually a shoe.

Shikamaru lazily steered himself to the other end of the pool to get a glance at the time. Sighing when he saw that they only had a few more minutes until they needed to get out and dry off, Shikamaru floated over to the side of the pool and slowly hoisted himself out of it. He might as well start getting dried off. Usually what happens is people wait until the last minute and then they have to rush around because they thought they had more time. Well, Shikamaru didn't like feeling rushed.

Walking wetly over to the door that he had come out of from the locker room, Shikamaru pulled open the heavy door and walked slowly into the cold room. He headed over to where he had folded up all of his clothing and grabbed his towel, throwing the towel over his head and starting to rub his hair dry.

Once he had gotten his hair dry enough to the point that it was dripping all over himself, Shikamaru yanked off his swim shorts and quickly toweled off the water and slipped on his boxers. He ringed out his trunks and stuffed them neatly into his temporary locker.

Drying off his legs, torso and arms, the lazy teen pulled on the rest of his clothing and then folded his towel and put that in his locker on top of his trunks. Shikamaru finished getting dressed by the time the other four boys were trudging into the room.

Shikamaru noted that Gaara moved around the small pools of water on the floor. Not hopping around them, he made it look like he was used to swaying around while he was walking. It looked kinda of creepy actually, like he was dancing in some way.

Shrugging, Shikamaru made his way over to the row of giant hair-driers on the wall across from the lockers. Hitting the button, he stood under the fast flow of hot air until he felt like his hair was dry enough before stepping out from underneath the machine. Walking back to his locker, Shikamaru picked up his hair band from the bench and tied up his hair.

Scanning the room, he noticed that Shino had managed to get dressed before him, even though the other teen had come in later than he had. Odd. Naruto was trying to use his wet towel to whip Sasuke, but the dark haired teen just grabbed the end of it, twisted it around Naruto's face and yanked it so that the blonde's head cracked into the top of the lockers.

Shikamaru flinched and Sasuke chuckled, although the blonde seemed unharmed. Gaara was in the process of slipping on a shirt over his head and Shikamaru noted with some concern that the teen was actually really skinny and pale. Some scars littered his torso and upper arms, and Shikamaru suspected that maybe the teen had been abused as a child.

Deciding not to meddle in other's affairs, especially with someone who liked to "kill things a lot", Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out the door at the other end of the locker room, making his way back to the dorm room.

Shikamaru pulled open the door to the dorms, holding it open for Shino who had apparently followed him out. Heading over to the stairs that would lead up to his room, he and Shino were stopped by Iruka who was sitting at his desk near the back of the lobby area.

"Ah, I guess it is four already. Time goes by really fast, eh?" The brown haired man chuckled and shuffled some loose papers around the top of his desk, trying to make some sense of the mess. "Well, why don't you two take a seat and wait for the others to get back here." He motioned towards some large recliner chairs to his left by a small un-lit fireplace.

Shikamaru sighed and walked over with Shino to take a seat. He slouched down on one of the chairs while Shino decided to stand to the side of the fire place.

They didn't have to wait long before a steady stream of teenagers made their way into the building, all of them being stopped by Iruka as they had earlier.

First Naruto and Sasuke tromped in, the two of them being directed over to the lounge area where Shikamaru and Shino were residing. Naruto flopped into a larger maroon recliner whereas Sasuke "hn"-ed and sat down on the brick area in front of the fire place. Gaara followed them in by a few seconds and immediately walked over to where everyone else was and leaned against a wall. Guess he figured it out.

A few minutes of semi-awkward silence later, Lee and Neji came walking through the door. This time Iruka was busy typing something on his computer so he just silently gestured with his head for them to go sit with everyone else. Lee bounced over and sat next to Sasuke on the hearth, poling the teen and asking him how his class was. Neji made his way over to the chair next to Shikamaru's and gracefully seated himself in the recliner, looking at Shikamaru out of the corner of his eye and smirking.

Kiba, Sai, and Chouji made up the last of the group, wandering in a few minutes later and being told by Iruka to take a seat for a few. Kiba walked over and sat on the arm rest of Naruto's chair, the two of them talking excitedly about their classes. Sai sat on the floor next to Naruto's chair and looked almost jealously at the brunette who was conversing with Naruto. Chouji smiled when he and Shikamaru's gazes met and the teen made his way over to the large chair, waving slightly at his friend.

Shikamaru saw that Neji was trying to catch his attention, so he turned and listened half-heartedly to Chouji telling him about the nature walk he went on. Though he was listening avidly when Chouji started telling him about the herd of deer they found. Shikamaru had always liked deer.

As soon as the chatter in the room was reaching extraordinarily high levels for a group of ten teenage boys, Iruka got up from his desk and made his way over to the group.

"Okay, can we please settle down? Hello? Can you all be quiet please?" The man's quiet and feeble attempts to get the group to shut up fell on deaf ears. So he changed his tactics.

Walking briskly back to his desk, Iruka scooped up a pile of small paperweights and began lobbing them at the teenagers. One of them nailed Naruto in the back of the head. One flew into the fireplace, shattering instantly on the brick wall. One was caught deftly by Shino, another one landed with a muted 'thump' on Shikamaru's chair next to his thigh. Another one smacked into the wall mere centimeters away from Gaara's head, earning Iruka a very murderous glare from the teen as the red-head leaned down and pocketed the paper weight. One of them smacked into Kiba's back, and Lee leaped into the air and caught the one being aimed at Chouji.

Effectively gaining everyone's attention, the brown haired instructor cleared his throat and addressed the group again. "Okay, now that hour classes are over, everyone has a two hour free period before dinner. You are free to go outside, go to the arcade, or hang out in your dorm rooms. Although I might not recommend going outside right now, it's supposed to rain soon. Though I do think that everyone should write a quick letter home to tell your family about your first real day at camp."

Smiling to himself, the man turned around and walked back to his desk, sitting down and continuing with whatever he had been working on prior.

Shikamaru decides that maybe a quick letter home sounded nice. Of course, all he was going to do was complain, but that's okay. Iuka didn't specify what type of letter it had to be. Voicing his intents to Chouji, his friend asked him if he wouldn't mind meeting up with him in the arcade when he was finished.

Deciding that going to the game room didn't sound too troublesome, Shikamaru got up and stretched before walking up the stairs to the dorm hall. Others went their separate ways, some leaving the building and a few people making their way up the stairs like Shikamaru had.

Walking into his room and shutting the door behind him, Shikamaru made his way over to the desk housing his temporary computer and opened a few drawers. Finding miscellaneous things such as pens, pencils and other office like materials, he happened across some basic postage items. Pulling out an envelope, a small sheet of stamps, and a blank piece of lined paper, Shikamaru quickly wrote out a letter to his mom.

Dear Mom,

It's Shikamaru. Why did you send me to this camp? This is so troublesome.

Love,

Shikamaru Nara

Yup, that was all that he was going to write. Folding up the paper, he carefully inserted it into the white envelope. Thankfully it wasn't the kind where you had to lick it to make it stick, it was one of those kinds where you peel off the piece of paper and fold it. He scrawled his address on the front of the envelope and walked downstairs.

Approaching Iruka's desk, he waited until the man was finished reading over some papers before addressing him. "Where do I put my letter home?"

Iruka looked at him blankly for a few seconds before he smiled and pointed to a small basket on the corner of his desk. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone to actually write home. Post comes later today, so I'll take it out for you."

Shikamaru nodded and turned around, walking out the front door and heading towards the main building.

--

As soon as Shikamaru left the room, Neji quietly walked downstairs to deposit his own letter home. Walking up to Iruka's desk, he quietly waited for the man to finish the phone call he was making. Mindlessly looking over the contents of the man's desk, he saw a medium sized wire basket on the corner of his desk with a couple of un-mailed letters in it. Neji motioned towards the basket with his letter and got a quick nod from Iruka.

Placing his letter in the bin, the teen noticed that the latest letter to be added to the pile was addressed to a Mrs. Nara. Remembering that Shikamaru's last name was Nara, Neji picked up the letter and scanned the address. Smirking to himself, the teen quickly memorized the address and placed the letter carefully back in the basket.

Turning and walking back upstairs, Neji walked back into his room and quickly made his way to his desk. He had another letter to write.

--

Shikamaru walked into the main building and took a left when he saw a door with the sign "Entertainment Room" on it. Opening the door, Shikamaru was greeted with a sight most teenagers would love. An extremely large room housing multiple gaming areas, from games with controllers to the kind of games one would find at an Arcade, like DDR. There were also four large flat screen TV in different places of the room, two or three couches surrounding each one. There were also two foosball tables, a pool table and a refrigerator that Shikamaru assumed was stocked with snacks.

Shikamaru noticed that probably every teenager in the camp was lounging about in the room. Naruto and Sasuke were battling it out on the DDR machine, the blonde screaming insults at the Uchiha as the other teen whooped Naruto's ass. Sakura and Ino were watching a fashion show on one of the multiple TV's, debating on what type of clothing would look best on a blushing Hinata, the girl sitting next to them uncomfortably on the couch.

Lee was cheering Naruto on at DDR, and Kiba was standing next to the spandex-clad teen with a bowl of popcorn and was laughing at the blond. Gaara had seated himself at one of the large arcade games and was shooting things on the screen with a plastic gun. Shikamaru noted that he was even shooting his own comrades' on the game, but he didn't suppose it mattered seeing as how the homicidal teen was winning regardless. Shino was sitting at an Xbox, playing some sort of Japanese looking game where he was a little kid running around and trying to catch bugs. Sai was sitting next to him, listening avidly as the usually quiet teen murmured random facts about whatever insect he had just caught. TenTen was standing next to Gaara, cheering and hollering at the teen as he successfully killed everyone in his sight on the screen.

After a few moments of observation, Shikamaru's line of vision landed on his chip-eating friend sitting on a couch and watching a gourmet cooking show on another one of the giant TVs.

Walking over to the couch, Shikamaru sat down next to his friend, noticing that Chouji had grabbed a family sized bag of chips from on of the cupboards next to the fridge.

"Do you mind if I go ahead and sleep?"

Chouji smiled slightly and nodded, not taking his eyes off the screen in front of him.

Shikamaru chuckled and moved to the couch to the left of the one he had been sitting on, stretching out on the plush piece of furniture and rolling on his side. "Definitely not troublesome," he said to his friend and he quickly drifted off to sleep, missing the smile playing across Chouji's lips. Now, back to the show.

--

Neji smirked to himself and quickly addressed the envelope to the address he had memorized from Shikamaru's letter home. He hadn't been able to believe his luck when he realized whose letter it was. Maybe getting in contact with the boy's mother would be beneficial.

Dear Mrs. Nara,

My name is Neji Hyuuga, and I am one of the teenagers attending the camp that your son, Shikamaru, is. I have found myself quite infatuated with your son, but he is very stubborn when it comes to interacting with me, deeming me "troublesome". Would you be able to help me with my situation?

Sincerely,

Neji Hyuuga

Walking out of his room and locking the door behind him, Neji made his way downstairs, making sure to drop the letter into the wire basket. Making his way out of the building, he walked to the main building and went to the Entertainment Room. As he thought, everyone was lounging and doing something inside the game filled room. His eyes were immediately drawn to a sleeping Shikamaru and he made his way over to the large couch.

Seeing as how the slumbering teen took up the majority of the couch space, Neji took a seat next to Chouji. Neji let his attention be absorbed by the cooking show for a few minutes before the large boy next to him unexpectedly spoke up.

"Y'know, he really doesn't like you."

Neji sighed, shifting his attention from the screen to the brown haired boy. "Yeah, I can tell."

Chouji frowned slightly and tapped his bottom lip thoughtfully with a chip. "Then why do you continue to pursue him? It's been what…not even two days since we got here? That was mighty fast if you ask me."

The long haired brunette tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "I don't see why I have to explain myself to you, or anyone for that matter."

Chouji shrugged. "You don't." The teen munched on the chip in his hand, still watching the cooking show on the TV.

A few minutes later, Neji opened his eyes half way and looked blankly at the wall above the TV. "Maybe I don't know myself."

Chouji tore his eyes away from the TV to give Neji all of his attention. "What do you mean." It wasn't a question.

Neji sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "Like you said, it's only been two days. Barely that. Why I am so intent on winning Shikamaru's favor is beyond me."

Chouji nodded. "My advice? You need to back off."

Neji's eyes shot to the other teen, but Chouji had already shifted his focus back to the show. Neji knew that the conversation was over and stood up, stretching his back before turning to look at the still sleeping Shikamaru.

Chouji was right. It wasn't even the end of the second day here, and Neji was chasing after Shikamaru like he had wanted the man for months. Neji had to admit though, that he was making quite the brilliant fool of himself. Usually if he chose to pursue someone, it wasn't so obvious, and it certainly wasn't after two days.

Neji pegged it to fate. That is what he always did, but this time more than usual. Yes, Neji thought to himself. The only reason why I am so drawn to the boy is because fate wants it to happen. The reason why I didn't act like this around others is because it wasn't meant to be.

Happy with his temporary fix of the situation, Neji spared one last glance at the slumbering figure before briskly walking out the room and back to the dorms.

--

Shikamaru blearily opened his eyes when he felt a hand firmly shaking his shoulder. Rolling over sluggishly, Shikamaru linked the sleep out of his eyes and focused on the face of his friend.

Stretching his arms above his head, Shikamaru lazily shifted to where he was sitting on the couch rather than laying on it. "Hey Chouji. What time is it?"

Chouji looked around the room until he spotted a digital clock mounted on the wall. "It's 5:53. It's practically dinner and everyone is heading out, I thought I might as well wake you up."

Shikamaru chuckled quietly. "How troublesome, I was enjoying my sleep."

Chouji smiled apologetically and shrugged. "C'mon Shika, I don't want to miss dinner."

Standing up, Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out of the room behind his friend, the two of them following a couple of stragglers to the cafeteria. As soon as the set foot into the room, they were hit by a wave of spice heavy air. Apparently, they were having tacos tonight.

Chouji and Shikamaru made their way to the end of the line and grabbed a plate. Chouji immediately began setting up at least four tacos for himself, where as Shikamaru grabbed a tortilla and began to fix himself a burrito. Once the two of them had piled on their toppings, they made their way to the table that Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba and Sai were at.

After a few minutes of everyone eating messily and talking with mouths full of food, they were joined by Lee, Shino, TenTen and Gaara. Lee and Naruto immediately set upon having an eating competition to see who could shove down four burritos the quickest.

Dinner was pretty uneventful actually. Shikamaru noticed that Naruto and Sasuke weren't partaking in their usual bickering, and he hadn't caught sight of Neji at all during the forty or so minutes he was in the cafeteria.

He and Chouji stood up and headed back towards the buffet line, although Shikamaru put his plate on the dirty dish stack and told Chouji that he was going to go take a nap in his room. After his friend acknowledged him, Shikamaru slowly walked back to the dorm room, noticing absentmindedly that Iruka wasn't at his desk like he normally was.

Shikamaru turned to head up the stairs when he was barreled into by a red-head. Looking up, Shikamaru noticed that he hadn't run into one of the teenagers, so he assumed that the man was an instructor.

The other was about six foot five, definitely on the tall side. He had shaggy red-blonde hair that went down to about his shoulder blades and it was secured back in a scruffy ponytail in the middle of the back of his head. The man had strange reddish eyes, but Shikamaru chalked that up to probably being contacts. He looked to be early twenties age-wise, and was wearing baggy beige cargo pants, converse, and a skin tight black tee-shirt.

The man chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry man, I wasn't looking where I was going."

Shikamaru shrugged. There wasn't much he could say, seeing as how it was the other's fault. "Troublesome."

The red-head extended a tan arm and grinned. Shikamaru noted that the man's teeth were really white, and the canines where a bit pointier than a normal persons.

Shikamaru took the other's hand and shook it.

The man grinned wider and chuckled. "The name's Kyuubi. I'm an instructor here, but I don't think ive seen you around."

Shikamaru nodded his confirmation. "Shikamaru Nara. No, I haven't seen you."

Kyuubi shrugged. "Well, in any case, I got pegged with Nutritional Wellness this year along with a few other classes here and there, so you'll probably have me soon."

Shikamaru looked at him blankly. He sure was talkative.

Kyuubi glanced at the black watch on his wrist and cringed when he read the time. "Crap, I gotta get going Shika, but I'll catch up with you later." And with that, the man sprinted out the door, taking a sharp left out of Shikamaru's vision.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome indeed." He started to walk up the stairs again, this time keeping a firm gaze at the top of the stairs in case another person decided to come charging down.

Reaching the top unharmed, Shikamaru entered his room and immediately headed for the bed. Climbing onto the comfortable mattress, he rolled onto his stomach and within minutes was asleep. That day had been extremely troublesome after all.

--

About an hour later, Shikamaru was woken up unceremoniously by Naruto charging into their room. Groaning, Shikamaru rolled over and glared half heartedly at the loud blonde who chuckled sheepishly back at him. "Sorry Shika, I didn't mean to be so loud."

Sighing, Shikamaru hefted himself up into a sitting position and kneaded his forehead with the palms of his hands. Scooting off the edge of the bed, the teen ignored Naruto's chatter and walked out the door, intent on going to the bathroom.

Mere feet away from the door leading to the bathroom shared by that floor, Shikamaru heard a door ahead of him open quickly. Looking up, Shikamaru's weary eyes were met with the sight of Neji walking towards him, looking like a man on a mission.

"Shikamaru."

The addressed teen sighed, again bringing up his hands to rub at his temples. "Yes, Neji?"

Neji tilted his head slightly and examined the other teen. He didn't look right. "Are you well?"

Shikamaru sighed again and grabbed hold of Neji's wrist before turning around and slowly walking back towards his room, dragging Neji behind him.

Opening the door, Shikamaru entered his room with Neji in tow and promptly asked Naruto to "leave or die". The blonde squeaked but left anyways, and Shikamaru were soon presented with an empty room. Neji's gaze traveled across the living space and noted how Shikamaru's "half" of the room was significantly cleaner than Naruto's.

The lazy teen moved slowly back over to his bed and leaned tiredly against the piece of furniture. "Look, Neji."

The long-haired teen returned his focus to Shikamaru. "Yes?"

"I would really appreciate it if you would stop being so troublesome."

Neji frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Shikamaru sighed again for the fourth time in the same amount of minutes. "I would like it if you would please stop hitting on me. That includes following me, trying to get my attention all the time, mean mugging anyone who looks at me, and definitely no more surprise attacks."

Neji looked at him blankly as he continued to talk.

"It is making me feel extremely uncomfortable, and I think that you should respect my choice in the fact that I have told you repeatedly that I would like you to back off. Will you please do that?"

Neji stared at him for a few seconds before closing his eyes and slowly nodding his head. "I will do as you wish and 'back off'. I did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable in any way, and I apologize. Sleep well, Shikamaru."

With that, Neji turned on his heel and walked out the door. Shikamaru yawned and smiled to himself. He had finally taken care of his Neji problem. Now for some sleep.

Crawling back up onto his still-warm bed, Shikamaru curled up under the covers, readying himself for another dreamless sleep. The only thought haunting him was how easily Neji complied with what he wanted.

A/N: I have graced you all by posting two chapters at one time! Not really… chapters three and four had originally been one chapter, but I decided they were too long and split them. Regardless, I hope you all like it. Reviews would be amazing, since feedback is really helpful. And motivating :) In any case, enjoy!

LMS