Melody (Konoha School Of Arts)

22. To cheat or not to cheat

Can we take a moment to discuss about how cool Gaara looks in the picture above?❤😻😘.

***

Shikamaru found himself at the fourth house on Kaguya Avenue as early as eleven in the morning. Turns out that the Sabaku house was closer to the Nara household than he thought. It was funny how he had never ran into any of the Sabaku siblings before but then he was mostly indoors sleeping so it made sense.

Wait. This meant that he would be seeing Temari more often...what a drag, why was he thinking about that troublesome woman now? Shikamaru rang the bell at the gate of the Sabaku house. It was a huge bungalow with clay walls and a few ornamental palms and cacti decorating it. Beautiful architecture.

"Who is it?" Gaara's sudden voice from the intercom was startling enough to make him jump. What was he, a phantom?!

"What a drag, it's Shikamaru." Shikamaru provided after calming his heart down. He could feel Gaara's baffled stare (it was just his usual blank stare, really) from the intercom and he rolled his eyes. Well he would if it wasn't a bother to actually roll it physically. "My mum forced me here, okay?"

Of course Nara freaking Yoshino did! Why else would he be the first to arrive at a joint study session with snacks for everyone? Why else would he be awake at freaking ELEVEN in the morning?! His mother was such a bother. Troublesome witch. He would never marry somebody like her.

"Makes sense." Gaara said after moments of baffled silence. So the guy was capable of bafflement. Enlightening.

The gate opened automatically for Shikamaru and he entered the house. The compound was nice. It was as if they were trying to incorporate all the things they couldn't normally access in the desert into one compound with all the plants and fountains there. It was way better than his house because it had lots of good spots to sleep and watch clouds. His house had drab interlock floors.

Shikamaru was at the front door when he started hearing what sounded like Kankuro's annoyed voice and Temari's sneaky laughter. "Damn you Temari, give it back!" "Hehehe, I haven't seen these shorts before!"

Sounds of running feet got louder until the door suddenly barged open and Shikamaru was met with the most beautiful sight ever. He already figured that Temari was the type to walk around at home in her underwear only but this...this was overload! That purple lingerie set was...

"They're called nipples, not eyes." Temari's deadpan voice lifted his lazy gaze up, and he smirked.

"You're so vulgar." He chuckled. His smile was however wiped out when the temperature suddenly increased in the house. The source of the spike in atmospheric heat turned out to be from the glares Kankuro and Gaara were giving him for staring at their sister for more than 0.5 seconds. He broke into cold sweats immediately.

"Put your clothes on, Temari!" Kankuro commanded as he removed his shirt and threw it at his twin. Now he was left in a speedo (because Temari took his shorts, hence the reason for their scurrying around).

One by one all of the classmates arrived at Gaara's house for the study session. It was easy to gather because they had their parents' approvals and were under teachers' supervision. It was fun studying together weeks before exam, and beneficial too. It prepared one for the unknown.

Unfortunately...

...there were times when the brain decided to take a random dive to the stomach and get digested. Those days were usually during exam periods. Virtually every student has experienced a stage in their exams where they clearly know the solution but the answers seem like they're hiding.