Ｉｎｓｅｃｕｒｉｔｉｅｓ

Three

Naruto walked out the front school entrance, head high and hands deep into his baggy black slacks that made up the school uniform. As expected, everyone glared at him, whispers exchanged between one another as he passed by, unfazed by their hateful sneers. He used to care at some point. Now, the boy walked freely among them, ignoring what there was to be said about him because if anything, almost everything they said was true.

"Naruto!" A sweet voice called him over towards a group of four. That voice brought a cheeky grin to the boy's face as he faced them.

"Tenten." Naruto approached her. "Haven't seen you around lately, hope you're not mad at me, are you?" He asked, keeping his grin as he raised his hands and placed them behind his head. The small girl smiled, once again reminding Naruto of a panda with her two hair buns sitting atop her head.

"I heard your dad came by today."

"Really?" Naruto asked, sarcasm evident. "How come nobody told me? Huh, must be because no one really gives a shit." He shrugged.

"Don't be like that, Naruto. You know we're here for you." She smiled sweetly, the rest of the group looking away as to not meet Naruto in the eye.

Damn right you'll be there, Naruto thought, you'll be the one orchestrating the whole ordeal. "Thanks, Tenten, but I rather not rely on you to help me out. Not after that hot spoiled milk incident, right?" Naruto asked, pretending to be sad as he recalled the incident. "Aw, look at me, bringing up the good times, ey?"

Tenten's eyes seemed to gleam as they remembered the day though her facial expression showed that of pity and fake guilt. "You know I tried to stop them, Naruto." She lied. "I would never let a friend like you have to go through that."

Yeah, right, Naruto thought. "Anyways, little panda, I've got business to get to. See ya.'" Naruto grinned towards her and her friends who only glared at him before once again, looking away. As soon as Naruto made a turn to exit out of the school gates, he knew Tenten would erupt in laughter as she recalled the incident. No doubt she'd try something like that again; Naruto just had to be cautious because that's just how Tenten was: sneaky and unexpected.

Walking further down the road, Naruto crossed the street and walked a few more doors down into a shady smoke shop, entering to greet the least expected person to work there.

Shikamaru Nara, a known genius around the school who supposedly, after getting out of class early, went home to study. What no one ever knew though, was that the very same Shikamaru Nara worked at a smoke shop just a few yards away from school grounds. Whatever his reasons to work here were, Naruto didn't know but then again, he would see Shikamaru smoke a few cigs or two, so he supposed that was the reason why.

"Naruto, why am I not surprised?"

"Aren't you looking excited." Naruto greeted. "Tell me, Nara. Has anybody come to ask for me lately?" He leaned onto the counter, his hands digging into his pockets to pull out a pack of cigarettes.

Shikamaru sighed. "You know, just because this is a smoke shop, it doesn't mean you're allowed to smoke here."

Naruto shrugged, giving him a knowing smile. "No, but that doesn't stop you, either, huh?" Shikamaru shook his head in defeat. Amongst the people Naruto got along with, Shikamaru would definitely be one of them. He wasn't like everyone else in his class. Shikamaru never really cared if everyone hated Naruto because at the end of the day, Shikamaru hated everyone equally.

"You got someone waiting for you in the back." Shikamaru sighed, waving away at the cloud of smoke Naruto blew towards him.

"I'll be spending the night over again." Naruto pointed upstairs. "Tell Neji I'll be back later." Receiving a nod, Naruto thanked Shikamaru, leaving the lit cigarette for Shikamaru to take while he went out the back door to greet today's entertainment. "You!" He hissed upon setting eyes on a familiar long haired individual.