ShikaTema - Halloween Special

You're Him?

The lecture had started and she was late for the first time the entire semester. She ran toward the building her class was in, swinging the doors open and cursing her roommate, "Damn Ino, keeping me up late. I'm beyond exhausted."

She peeked her head into the entrance of her given lecture room to see her seat in the middle row was already taken, "Great.", she mumbled to herself. She puffed her bangs out of her view out of frustration and scanned the rest of the room.

There was a single spot open in the back-left corner.

She made her way along the back row, picking a seat next to the laziest kid in class who occupied the very last seat of the row, causing her to have to wedge in-between him and another random kid.

Temari glared down in displeasure at the sleeping figure who had the hood of his jacket on with his head down on the desk and headphones in, 'Why did he even come if he isn't going to listen to the lectures?', she thought.

She swiftly scooted the chair back so she could sit down, taking the chance to settle herself into her seat quickly with the commotion of the class while the teacher handed back their previous test.

She noted the mysterious figure next to her had a notebook out, but the current page was already filled. She looked around the class curiously then to the kid to her right whose page was completely blank. She looked at her watch, she was only 5 minutes late. She couldn't have missed that much already, especially if the teacher was just now handing back papers.

Maybe his notes were from a different class?

"Nara, Shikamaru", the professor presented.

The tired lump lethargically lifted his head to his left where the teacher hovered above him impatiently, and he groggily took the paper with a head nod as indication of gratitude.

Temari's eyes widened astonished, "It couldn't be.", she muttered as she instinctively leaned closer to the boy holding his test.

The boy took his right headphone out and eyed her uninterested.

She blinked a couple times out of shock, "You're Nara?", she asked in disbelief.

The boy sighed at the new interaction that was about to interrupt him from his nap, "Shikamaru, yes."

She looked at the test he held with red pen markings at the top that proudly displayed 100%. She frowned, sharply folding her test in half to disclose her results.

He couldn't help a tired chuckle, "What's the attitude for?", he noted, taking his other earbud out to let it hang loosely from the top of his sweatshirt.

She snapped her eyes back towards the voice that sounded un-expectantly normal. Not rude, not lazy, not stern, nor obnoxious, just a normal tone, like any regular person. She stared at him wide eyed, trying to comprehend the meaning of the man next to her, "My apologies. I didn't mean to seem rude. It's just, you're in two of my classes."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Is that a bad thing?", he asked, then tucked his own paper away in his notebook.

She stiffened and looked down at her own notebook, "Well, seeing that those are the only two classes I come second in percentage ranking. I'd say I'm a little unhappy about your presence."

"Temari... I'm guessing.", he said in an equal dissatisfaction.

She smirked and crossed her arms, "So, were on the same page of discontent then?"

He lightly laughed at the unspoken contest they had between the two of them, "My Econ rank is always fluctuating from first to second because of an 'unknown' competitor of mine."

"I'm not letting that rank go so easily. You already have me in this class.", she confronted playfully, "Speaking of, how?"

He blinked at her confused, "How?"

She brought a finger to her chin while she explained, "I never expected you to be Nara. You always have headphones in and constantly fall asleep in our classes. You sit in the back and never participate in any lectures. Yet, you're the one I'm competing with in each of my classes for the highest grade."

He leaned back in his chair leisurely and tugged at the wire of his earphones, "This gem, is the books to my classes on audio. I don't need to listen to the lectures because I listen to the book, which is what all my classes tests are off of."

Temari looked at him in surprise, "So, that full page of notes in front of you, is today's lesson?"

He nodded sluggishly, tossing one arm around the back of his chair.

She looked at him unbelievingly and furrowed her eyebrows frustrated, "I don't believe you... You're messing with me. You're too- too-"

"Lazy?"

Her eyes grew wide at his bluntness and she gave him a sheepish smile, "I was going for more of an indolent."

He scoffed, "Just because it's a bigger word, doesn't mean it's nicer."

She laughed, "Just because you have higher scores, doesn't mean you're smarter."

He looked at her surprised and then shook his head with a chuckle, "You are a troublesome woman."

She smiled happily with their little encounter of bantering, "Thank you."

Soon enough the lecture began and that was his que. Shikamaru's hood went up and his head met his crossed arms on the desk. Temari attentively tried to listen to the lecture, but couldn't straighten her mind to focus. She had so many questions for her rival.

If he truly was her rival, why did he go to lectures if he already knew all the information?

If he was constantly sleeping, how was he listening to the books?

How did he already have full pages of notes on the book? Unless he was already ahead of the lectures. Which brought her back to the first question, why did he even go to the lectures?

She peaked over to the silent sleeper to her left and slid his notebook closer to her, 'His handwriting is so neat', she determined, surprised that the lazy man wasn't a complete slob. She listened along to the lecture and checked his notebook occasionally to make sure he actually did have the same information.

He did. Of course. Exactly what she would expect from someone who got 100% on every test. But him? He was definitely not what she expected. She expected a well-dressed young man, alertly listening to their professors, taking furious notes of every single word spoken.

Not this, tired, lazy, laid back, sleeping man in sweatpants and a hoodie.

'Maybe he's like this because he puts so much effort into each class? He does ace every test for our subjects.', She tried to explain to herself. She could admit that all her courses tired her out as well.

It could be true that this man was actually Nara, Shikamaru.