Peer Counseling is Too Troublesome

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, since it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I am obviously not him. 

Warning: Foul language yet again. Also poor writing in general cause it's been more than a hot second (more like a hot year) since I've updated this fic. May or may not be some writing gaps for similar reasons. Thank you for your patience.

Shikamaru rocked back and forth on his feet, while Sakura and Ino next to him were silently playing that one 10,000 Feet Up in the Alps hand game. They were currently waiting outside of Shizune's office, since as the Konoha High secretary, she handled all meetings within the main office. And they needed to make an appointment (he was starting to get sick of the word) with Tsunade in order to receive whatever other punishments the school decided they needed to suffer after the last fiasco. Although Asuma-sensei had had them suspended from the peer counseling program and other extracurriculars, apparently the entire staff soon found out, and it now became an issue that needed to be talked out with the principal. Shikamaru groaned in defeat; for once, could things not become troublesome?

"Come in!" Shizune called from her office. Apparently she was done talking on the phone after what felt like 25 minutes. Ino moved to open the door, and they all walked in silently and sat down in old musty chairs that must have been there for the past 13 years (also, why did the offices on campus always seem to have enough chairs to accommodate everyone?).

Shizune didn't look up from her desk, instead opting to type something up on her computer. Shikamaru found himself staring at the nametag on her desk in boredom. Just like every other staff at Konoha High, for some reason, Shizune was known to the students by her first name. However, Shizune was a special case, because her last name was a mystery. The biggest rumor that went around was that Shizune was actually Tsunade's niece, but that didn't settle anything because Tsunade's last name was Senju, and Shikamaru knew some seniors that claimed that Shizune's last name was Kato. Made zero sense, but hey, it's not his problem so who cares?

Sakura and Ino shifted in their seats uncomfortably. "Umm, Shizune? When is-" Sakura started. 

Suddenly the door on the side slammed open. It was Tsunade, in all her glory. "You three." Tsunade gestured into her office with her head. "Hurry up, I got shit to do."

As the three of them stood up and walked into her office, Shikamaru could've sworn that he heard Shizune mutter something about a drinking party and a guy named Dan(?), but as he stepped, in the door slammed shut again. Weird.

Tsunade was in her office chair almost immediately, slowly swinging back in forth while chugging her coffee mug. Or what he assumed was coffee, since he couldn't actually see what she was drinking. (There had been an incident where Naruto tried to get away with hiding alcohol in his water bottle but Iruka had caught him because: a) Naruto had thought rubbing alcohol was drinkable apparently, so the strong smell that the bottle gave off every time he opened the cap caught everyone's attention; b) Naruto was already horrible at being sneaky but the absolutely horrendous face he made every time his tongue touched the ethanol was impossible to ignore. Shikamaru sometimes wondered how Naruto even survived this long to be honest.)

"So," Tsunade started. Oh no. "You guys managed to get yourselves in trouble." She set her mug down. Shikamaru peeked into the mug. Looked like normal coffee, but could still be Irish coffee. You can never be too sure. 

"And in a peer counseling program? As the counselors???" A vein popped out of Tsunade's forehead but her face remained uncharacteristically placid. The contrast in her tone and her face was starting to stress him out. 

"Needless to say, I am very disappointed in all three of you."

Sakura hung her head low and Ino nervously looked everywhere but at Tsunade. "I apologize for our behavior, Tsunade-sama, but-," Sakura started.