High School, What a Drag (Naruto Fanfic)

Social Drags

 "What a coward."

Temari knew Kankuro's posture well enough to know the eldest of her two brothers had shoved his hands into his pockets without having to look. She also felt her lips twist down into a frown as she thought about the high school student they met on the train. "No, I'd say he's simply being tactical."

Kankuro let out a sigh. "If that guy actually had experience with Gaara in the past I would agree with you."

The eldest sibling simply kept walking with her hands in her pocket as she looked at the back of their youngest sibling. "I can't believe things went off without an incident. Now we need to get through the opening ceremony for the Freshman students." Temari felt her throat tighten. "No, first we need to get Gaara to the place the opening ceremony is being held, and we need to see what class he's going to be in as well." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kankuro turn away, and her head jerked towards the older of her two brothers. "Where are you going?"

The brown haired teen glared at her. "You never came to any of my opening ceremonies, and I've never come to yours."

"This is Gaara we're talking about." Temari took a deep breath.

"And I should care because?"

"Gaara's supposed to be class representative for the Freshman." The eldest of the siblings watched as Kankuro froze. "We talked about this the last couple of weeks, remember? We've got a bad enough reputation without our youngest sibling pulling some crazy stunt." She watched as the other teen's facial features quickly paled, and her teal eyes blinked a couple of times in confusion. "What?"

"Gaara's disappeared. I don't know where he got off to."

Temari let her lungs fill with air as her frustration grew. "So much for things going well."

...

"What a drag. I would have preferred an uneventful train ride as well as a slow walk." The fourteen year old continued to walk to the campus with his hands shoved into his pockets. Upon rounding the corner of one of the buildings Shikamaru stopped walking, and one hand went to rub the back of his neck. "What a drag. Seriously, what are you guys doing here?"

Flecks of potato chip dropped to the ground as Choji munched on his favorite treat. Flecks were also on his rather large cheeks. Naruto stood with his hands behind his head as he glared at Shikamaru. The grin on Kiba's face betrayed the fact he was up to something. "We came for your opening ceremony."

"You just came so you could skip class." Shikamaru folded his arms across his chest as one of his feet twisted slightly out.

"I came wanting to know what the cafeteria food is like. The school does have a cafeteria right? What ever high school I go to needs to have good food."

Kiba turned to look at the chubby teen. "I thought you'd stuff anything into that gullet of yours."

"Au contraire..." Choji shoved more food into his mouth. "Just because I'll eat anything doesn't mean I don't have a discerning taste for food."

"My high school needs to have cool uniforms." Naruto moved his arms so they now crossed his chest, and he continued to glare at Shikamaru. The high school student in turn glared back. "If it doesn't then I'll just wear my jumpsuit."

"I'm sure that will go over well." Shikamaru could feel his throat rumble slightly as his tone of voice switched to sarcasm.

Kiba glanced up at the sky. "I'm just not going to go to high school."

A silence fell over the small group, and finally Shikamaru spoke up. "Something bothering you Naruto?"

"Yeah. I should have just skipped class. Why am I even here? None of you guys even like me."

Shikamaru glared at the blond haired teen. "What a drag."

...

"Why am I doing this?"

Temari couldn't help but ignore the indignant tone Gaara used. "We found him before he caused any kind of trouble." She felt her entire body tense as she tried figuring out a way to explain things to her youngest brother without having some kind of trouble happen. "It's a social custom. The person with the highest grade for the freshman year gets picked as class representative, and they give a speech."

"Why though am I doing this?"

The eldest of the siblings felt her chest tighten, and her eyes widen at the response. "Because..."

"Temari told you it's a social custom moron."

"Why?"

Temari took a deep breath. "I don't know." Gaara's glare caused her to tense up even more. "I guess you could say it's because you're expected to be a leader because of your intelligence."

"That's stupid."

Kankuro reached out to grab the front of his younger siblings uniform. "Look you little twerp. You've got to do it because..."

"Do you want me to kill you?"

Temari took a deep breath. "Gaara, could you do it for me?"

Gaara stared for a few minutes. "Fine."

The eldest breathed a sigh of relief.