Stumble [Rewrite]

Monster

Sakura fumed silently in her seat, Sasuke to her right and Chouji to her left. The bell had rung ten minutes ago and she had just finished convincing Naruto to go home to rest a while, also assuring him that it wasn't even close to his fault that his friends had ended up with detention. He reluctantly did end up leaving while vowing to stay outside the Academy until their sensei let them leave.

He stood in front of them, her more so than the other two, and scowled down at them. Sasuke was glaring to the side at the door while Chouji scooted closer to Sakura with his hands gripping his pants and his eyes trained to the ground. Sakura kept her chin jutted out and meeting his irritate gaze with her stone cold one.

"You three had created a huge disruption today. And that's unacceptable," he said. "Sasuke, Chouji, you'll be staying her for another hour."

Not a word.

"And you, Sakura..." He placed his palms on the desktop and leaned forward. "For yelling at a teacher, showing blatant disrespect, and cussing, we'll be having a parent teacher conference tomorrow on Saturday," he concluded. Sakura shrugged.

"Cool," she replied with her eyes still locked on his. They had darkened a considerable amount and flashed with a promise of death. A shiver lazily curled up his spine as he coughed and produced a set of packets.

"Now I can't just let you sit here and do nothing. You'll be working on these practice problems the entire hour. You may leave at 4:15."

He passed out the work then sat on his desk to observe them keenly. Sakura stared at him for a moment longer before picking up her pencil and starting the work. Simple, as always. And it gave her enough time to think about her next set of plans

::

Naruto sat on the swing outside of the Academy, pushing himself back and forth as he looked at the door guiltily. Sakura didn't have to stand up for him like that. He knew she was one of the best friends he ever had, besides Mari-san, and much more protective than he ever thought she'd be. But... But she didn't have to stand up for him. Sasuke didn't. Chouji really didn't.

He felt even guiltier when he couldn't stop a warm feeling from pooling into his chest. It was nice to know that someone cared about him enough to stand against an authority. Naruto wilted.

Why did they have to care so much?

::

Shikamaru stepped into his house with an abnormally concentrated expression. His father was sitting at the dinner table with Chouza and Inoichi who were sharing a beer and probably talking about some stories about work. Shikaku noticed his son's entrance and waved him over.

"Welcome home. Chouji-kun's not with you?" he asked. His eyebrow raised when Shikamaru's face deepened in seriousness.

"He got detention," he said.

"Detention?" Inoichi exclaimed. "Chouji-kun? What did he do?"

Chouza leaned forward curiously. His son wasn't even close to being a troublemaker. Chouji was far too shy and self-conscious to speak up about anything, much less do something that would land him on the bad side of a teacher.

"He and two others defended Naruto. Sensei graded his test really hard and gave him an F when he shoulda gotta B."

Chouza blinked. He was aware that his son had become good friends with the boy, but he never imagined that they'd be good enough friends for Chouji to move from his comfort zone. "Who were the other two?"

"Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura? I think that's their names. I was sleepin' until Sakura yelled at him and said the f-word. Troublesome." Shikamaru stared at the orange in his hands, frowning when it reminded him of the boy who Chouji stood up for. "I dunno why the grown-ups hate Naruto so much. He's loud a lot, but he's not bad. He wouldn't do something wrong," he mumbled. He retreated to his room, not seeing the clan head's surprised faces.