🥀 t w o ; 🥀

Lunchtime rolled around really quickly and as Hinata was waiting for Ezra to walk out her class, she looked up just in time to see Naruto walk past her from out of the classroom. She caught a whiff of his scent. Cinnamon; he smelled like cinnamon. Ezra's squeal brought Hinata back to her concentration. She looked towards the door to see Ezra getting a piggyback ride from Lee. He turned towards Hinata and smiles.

"Greetings Hinata." He says to her. "I am giving Ezra a ride to the cafeteria since I knocked her down by accident. I think she sprained her ankle because of me. This is how I make up for it."

Hinata's gaze traveled up to Ezra, who's chin rested on the top of the boy's head. A evil smirk playing on her lips. Hinata let out a chuckle and turned to walk with the both of them towards the cafeteria.

"I don't think Kiba's gonna like this." Hinata says.

"Shall I take you to Kiba Ezra?" Lee says. "I don't want any trouble."

"Don't listen to her Lee." Ezra says shooting Hinata a glare. "She's just lying."

Entering the cafeteria, Lee put Ezra down and bidded them goodbye. The girls walked to the lunch line where they gathered their food then took their seats at a table.

"Hey guys!" A cheery voice greeted them. Ezra was the first to look up.

"Kauri, I thought you were eating lunch with Choji today?" Hinata asked watching as the redhead sit next to her. She pursed her lips into a smile.

"Eh, Choji went off campus with Shikamaru and Shino." Kauri says as she takes the top off her Vanilla pudding. "I didnt wanna tag along so, I said 'why not spend it with my girls' so here I am."

"Isn't that lovely." Ezra fake smiled before shoved some of her salad in her mouth and chewed slowly. "We were doing fine without you."

"Hm, still bitter I see." Kauri spoke calmly as she took a spoonful of pudding in her mouth. "Ya know Ezra, if you werent always trying to be so hard, you might actually find someone who likes you."

Ezra frowned. "I don't need anyone to like me." She says. "I wasn't put on this earth for that."

"Suit yourself." Kauri says with a shrug.

"My life is over!" Another voice bursts through their somewhat silent eating. A body flopped down next to Ezra, who didn't seem phased by it at all. Her two buns sitting perfectly atop her head making her look like an adorable little panda. Her thin lips pursed tightly together as her eyebrows stitched together in worry.

"What is it now Tenten?" Kauri says.

"I-I failed English and I don't think coach will let me play with season." She huffs crossing her arms. "She said if I failed one more class I'd be benched for the rest of the season. Scouting is coming soon and I can't afford to sit that out!"

"Well maybe if you actually pay attention instead of drooling over Lee then you'd actually get somewhere." Kauri says flatly as she began to eat her spaghetti.

Tenten groaned. "I don't drool over Lee." She says. "I just—"

"Drool over Lee." The three girls spoke in unison before chuckling. Tenten put her face in her hands.

"What am I gonna do?" She groaned.

"Look, if you're really serious, I'll help you." Ezra offers. "But you have to really be serious about this Tenten."

"I am I swear I am." Tenten nods quickly.

"Okay." Ezra nods. "Meet me in the library after school and we'll start with the homework. I'll go by Kakashi's class and pick up some extra credit work for you so we can pull your grade up."

Tenten let out a sigh of relief. "You're amazing Ezra."

"At least someone appreciates me." Ezra smirks looking at Hinata who smirked as well.

"Maybe she should be your best friend then." Hinata shoots.

"Ouch that actually hurts." Ezra laughed placing her hand on her chest.

The four girls talked amongst themselves for the remainder of their lunch period. Once the bell rang, they said their goodbyes and Ezra and Hinata headed to their last class together.

They walked inside. Very few students had made it to this class, but one in particular did; Naruto. He sat slouched over his desk, one arm across the table and the other supporting his head as he laid there. His eyes were somewhat closed, breathing steady. Hinata turned her head from him careful not to stare too long as she sat down in her assigned seat.

"I wonder if he's even gonna graduate outta highschool." Ezra whispers to Hinata. "All he does is sleep."

Hinata saw Naruro shift and his eyes darted in their direction. Hinata quickly tore her gaze away and looked down at her textbook.

"He heard you." She whispers.

Ezra shrugged. "Good, than maybe he would think someone cares about his life after highschool and get his shit together."

"My shit is already together." A raspy voice pierced through the air. Ezra's head shot his way as she glared at him.

"Oh really?"

"Ezra don't provoke him." Hinata furrows her eyebrows together.

"I'm not provoking him Hina," Ezra says. "I'm speaking for everyone whos tired of hearing him snoring all through class."

"Then change your classes." Naruto narrows his eyes.

"Why don't you just stop coming?" Ezra shoots back. "You're obviously not taking this serious so why even waste your time?"

"Ezra!" Hinata harshly whispers.

"If you weren't a girl I'd hit you." Naruto says through his teeth.

"Well let's pretend that I'm not for a few minutes." Ezra stood, before turning to advance through the rows to Naruto's seat. He raised up, sitting back in his seat and watched her as she advanced. Once she got to his table, she slammed her hand down on it and narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, nobody cares about your little attitude alright? Everyone else may be afraid of you, but I'm sure in the hell am not. You can yell and scream and glare at me in the halls all you want but at the end of the day, you dont scare me."

"I don't care about scaring you." He says. "Just mind your own business!"

"I would love to if I didn't have to listen to your obnoxious snoring all the time!"

The both of them growled at eachother holding an intense stare down.

"Ezra please come back to your seat!" Hinata says trying to get her friend to come back. Ezra blinked briefly before she straightened her posture and walked back to her seat to sit down. Once she sat, she looked back over at the blonde to see he went right back to laying on the desk.

—

"You didnt have to do that." Hinata says as they walk out of their class. Ezra pushed her thick curly hair into a bun at the top of her head.

"You're right, I didn't." Ezra says with a shrug. "But I did. He was trying to intimidate us through that stupid look on his face. I wasn't gonna stand for it. He's an asshole. That's all he'll ever be is an asshole."

Hinata sighs, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Still, what you said wasnt nice."

"Oh I'm sorry." Ezra then placed a hand on her chest in mock regret. Sarcasm heavy in her tone. "I'm not a nice person. At all."

Hinata pursed her lips together.

"Anyway, were you coming with us to the library or were you going to watch him practice again?" It wasnt a petty question, Ezra was genuinely curious.

Hinata stayed silent for a moment. If she went to the library, she could get her homework done and not have to worry about it when she got home. If she went to watch Naruto, she wouldn't have the freetime she would have if she'd went to the library and done homework.

"I-I'll go with you." She answers.

After retrieving the extra credit work from Kakashi, the two headed to the library where Tenten sat in the open. Her books scattered all over the table as she scribbles down her answers for her homework. Ezra slid the eztra credit work towards the girl as she sat down. Tenten looked up and smiled.

"Thank you." She whispered.

The girls worked together quietly for about an hour untill they were all finished. Grabbing their things, Ezra and Hinata said their goodbyes to Tenten before leaving the library.

——

That usual feeling Naruto got when he was at practice wasn't there today. He always felt as though someone was watching him but he could never find the direction it came from. Everytime he looked around, all he saw was his teammates and that stupid Sasuke.

"Hey." Karin grabbed his attention from his room door. He'd been lying in his bed, fingers laced behind his head and staring up at the ceiling. His eyes traveled over to her catching her gaze. She stood there, shoulder on the doorframe and arms crossed. "You hungry? Auntie made burgers and fries."

Naruto's stomach growled in response. He then raised up on his elbows and positioned himself to get off his bed. Karin made way for him to exit his room and together the both of them walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Naruto sat at the table quietly, watching as his father sorted through different pictures and trying to put them together.

"Honey put that away." His mother scolded as she placed his food on the table. She placed Naruto's food in front of him as well and scratched his scalp before kissing his temple. Once everyone had their food, they began earing. It was rather quiet today, unusual for the Uzumaki-Namikaze residence, but for Naruto it was what he needed. Quiet.

"How was school today you two?" Minato asked as he dipped his fries in ketchup. Naruto always thought that was weird. Why couldnt he just squirt the ketchup all over the fries and save himself that time it takes to double dip?

"It was okay." Karin replies. "Nothing special happened."

"I split the ball in practice today." Naruto says looking down at his half eaten burger and ketchup drenched fries. "I don't even know how I did it. Kiba caught it and when we all looked at it, it had a big split in the middle."

"Sometimes we don't know the limits of our own strength." Minato says with a small smile. "It's okay. That's nothing bad Naruto."

"Glad to hear you didn't fight anyone today." Kushina says almost sarcastically. Her eyes shooting her son an icy glare.

"Well—"

"Really?" Kushina's eyes lowered to that of a bored expression. Even her tone was bored.

"It wasnt a physical fight." Naruto argues. "We just had words."

Kushina sighed. "What am I going to do with you Naruto?" She says. "Hm? This fighting has to stop. You've gotta control thay temper of yours. I don't care if they're staring or lookin at you funny. I don't care if they say your father is gay and I'm a prostitute! Control yourself!"

Naruto looked down once more. "Sorry." Was all he said.

Once he finished eating, Naruto went back to his room and laid in his bed. He turned on his side and looked out his window towards the moon. He watched as it crept up the sky owning its righthful place. He situated himself into anmore comfortable position, taking a deep breath and letting sleep consume him.