Born Geniuses (ShikaSaku)

[RemoteD]

Summary: The smartest girl in school is assigned to tutor the laziest boy. They soon gain a relationship of unexpected friendship. After discovering secrets of one another, is there a possibility he?s smarter than her? (ShikaSaku)

Author's note: Yes, I know what you?re thinking. It?s a ShikaSaku fic. You're probably thinking, "What the hell?" Don't be a stereotype. I like oddball couples, so there.

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Born Geniuses

By RemoteD

Edited by:

Roa Aoife

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Chapter One

The sun shone its golden rays of light giving the comfort of warmth to a figure lying on the ground below. It was just a regular boy, not interested in anything particular. The clothes he wore seemed lighter than its usual appearance, due to the illumination. It was not very stylish, but good enough to wear to a school for everyday use. He had on the usual Konoha Preparatory Academy requirements, though worn in his own personal style. He wore the dark green high jacket, and by the breast area was a small pocket, bearing the Konoha symbol, embroidered with light green thread. He left the collar area open, letting his white shirt underneath show a bit. Plus, his dark green pants, and black school shoes.

Calmly, he watched the white cumulous clouds pass, blocking the sunlight from his eyes with one of his hands, pointing sideways. The sky was so vivid and looked as though an artist just painted it. Not one object disturbed this sight. The nature around him gave it more of an aura. He yawned a bit; the scenery was singing him a lullaby. Closing his eyes, he saw red of the sun's brightness. Tensed a bit by this blindness of color, he tried to point his head in a different direction. All he wanted was a nap, just a nap. But it was not to last as he felt a troubling sensation.

'Shit!' he thought to himself, not being able to escape in time. The presence had caught him.

"Shikamaru, how come you're not in school?!" yelled out his sensei, dressed in business suit attire. He simply lifted him by the collar and waited for his student?s explanation.

"How come you're not at school, Asuma Sensei?" Shikamaru backfired, not on purpose; that was all he could think to say. He shoved himself away, making his sensei release him. Then something came to his attention out of the corner of his eye. The object that was in his sensei's hand, a light puff of smoke was streaming out of it. To cut teaching, to smoke cigarettes on school grounds was against regulations. Asuma quickly dropped it and placed his shoe on it, pushing it hard sideways, back and forth.

"You better not tell any one!? Asuma commanded, as if he had power over Shikamaru. He had a hard time looking for a teacher to cover his class, giving the excuse that he had to use the bathroom.

"...Why should I care? It?s too troublesome.? No one would believe him anyway. His sensei was corny and was disguised as the most respected teacher in school. He hated corny people, especially girls with oversized breasts...

Shikamaru's tied up hair flew a bit amongst the wind. Shoving his hands in his pants pockets he made his way down the hill, approaching a three-story building. Asuma followed, and on the way he made a slightly dumb comment.

"Shikamaru, earrings are against school regulations." He pointed at the small gold hoops that were worn on Shikamaru's ears.

"...Whatever..." He took them off casually, doing as he was told avoid trouble and placed them in his jacket pocket for safekeeping. He couldn't help saying something stupid back, though.

"Cigarettes are also against school regulations..."

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The small classroom was brightly lit. Shikamaru's head lay on his desktop, eyes closed, in the back of the room. Once he was in class, Asuma started a lecture on how the Tokugawas had the Japanese isolated from foreign trade. It didn?t take long for Shikamaru to plainly give up and take a nap. ?What's the point of listening when you can't understand it?? Or using his favorite motto, "You can't pay attention when you're bored." Well, at least he wasn't alone. Naruto in the front row was also catching a few winks.

The school day would come to an end after Asuma's boring lecture. Shikamaru figured when he got home, he would take a dive in his bed. It wasn?t that he was lazy, just carefree. His somnolent eyes adjusted a bit, focusing to the front of class.

'What a bunch of losers,' he thought. In his own opinion, school was supposed to teach how to create ideas. All of his classmates just wasted their time listening. Was it really fact? The lecture were just words spoken from the ideas of books and hotshot people. Why couldn't his classmates make their own ideas and come to their own conclusions? Everyone was lame. But the one person that that really pissed him off was Haruno Sakura. She sat right in front of him. Her personality was animated with happiness. Who could be that damn happy? She always sucked up to teachers, never revealing her true self. Everything had to be perfect for her. Her middy white blouse and dark green-checkered pleated skirt always had to be clean and pressed. And instead of wearing her sash around her neck, she used it as a headband saying, "It's original." Bah... Then again, why should he care? All girls were weird anyway.

"Class, can one of you answer this question. How did the Tokugawa shogunate bring peace and sturdiness to Japan?" Asuma asked, carrying a ruler stick closely observing his students. He paced back and forth behind his desk, while chewing the tip of a toothpick. The hand that shot up first was, as expected, Sakura. Always the same people answering the questions everyday. But this day, Asuma wanted to see things differently. He scanned each student that was known as the outcast of the school?s educational standards. He thought effortlessly of unexpected victims. The goof balls of the class: Naruto... Chojii... Kiba... and there was Shikamaru... He smiled a bit; he had found his target. The sluggish student with bad posture looked at him dopily.

"Shikamaru, do you know the answer?" The slouched student said nothing.

"Shikamaru..." Asuma walked down the straight aisle of desks to his pupil. Their eyes locked. Asuma?s ruled tapped lightly on the desk. Shikamaru just stared back; he wasn't going to allow a crummy teacher scare him. The class was silent. He sighed and crossed his arms against his chest. All this attention was making him a little awkward. Sakura turned around from her seat, and rested her hand on the headboard of the chair. She raised her other hand up, straight in the air. She seemed to be bouncing a little up and down, eager to answer the question. Asuma suspired, annoyed of the girls waving hand in front of his face. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, disgusted with the girl. ?What a sycophant,? he thought, yawning.

?Well, Shikamaru...? The quiet, rebellious student glowered, still refusing to answer. Then he smiled meagerly. His sensei thought it was inevitable for him. Asuma didn?t want an answer, but a confession. Asuma wanted him to admit that he didn?t know. No, Shikamaru was not going to let Asuma have fun in this game. Sakura still waved her hand around, hoping that her sensei would finally call on her. Her mindless classmate propped his head against the seat headboard, saying something unexpected.

"I would like to answer your question.... but I can't since we just ran out of time." The bell took it calming tone, and released students? anxieties. Asuma grunted displeasingly, raising his hand dismissing the students.

"Shikamaru you just stay where you are." Asuma slapped the ruler on Shikamaru?s hand that was ready to support itself to get up from the desk.

"Why? It?s my life now, you have no control with me,? he said, rubbing gently the stinging skin of his slapped hand. If it was another lecture on trying to be the best he could be, then screw it. Once the pain was gone, he rested his chin on the cold desk's surface. He was prepared for another life speech; it would flow out of his ears in no time.

"Did you forget already? You have after school tutorial workshop, starting today.? He smiled seeing the sight of the shocked face.

?Crap....that...? He dropped his forehead on the desk, hoping it would be enough to knock him out cold.

?Ah, you did forget. Let's review. Your grades are unacceptable to the school. You?re lucky your father spent a pretty penny on it, or you would be kicked out. Since your test scores are a part of the schools record, it made us the second leading school this year. Even Naruto had a higher passing grade than you. He at least took the time to bubble in answers in the scantron. You are passing that the next standard?s test. We?re going to force you to learn.? Shikamaru heard all of this, staring straight at the darkness of metal. Keeping silent, he heard an approaching vibration of trouble. His back stiffened with the upcoming news. ?We?ll have your brain actually think with your tutor. And if you don?t pass, look in the bright side. You will be taking your sleep time at night, at cram school. Your father agreed to this contract. Now, don?t complain and be a lazy ass about the problem. The school was very lucky to have the brightest student volunteer her time to tutor you.?

?My god, not her.? Yes, it was her, Haruno Sakura. He could hear her presence reentering the room. He bit his lower lip hoping his sixth sense was wrong.

?I?m back Asuma sensei!? Shikamaru?s heart collapsed with the greatest punishment he ever had. He could hear her laughter and the girlish squeals she used to charm his sightless sensei. The voices grew quieter and Asuma whispered into her ear. Shikamaru grew curious and raised his head up. A bright-lit face popped out, resting her chin his desk, crouching her body on the white tiled wall.

"Shikamaru! You should straighten up your posture or you'll regret it when you're older!" She stared at him with her wide emerald eyes sententious. Her scent made him nauseated with the smell of lavender. She slowly got up from her position and walked away. Shikamaru took the advantage to grab the air that wasn?t contaminated quickly into his nostrils, and suddenly notice the Asuma was nowhere to be seen. Asuma left him alone with her...

A scraping noise was made, the metal legs of another desk was rubbing on the floor surface. Sakura pushed it forward facing Shikamaru?s desk. The sound irritated him, and he placed his hands over his ears to avoid its squeakiness. She could have had the decency to pick it up, instead of scratching the freshly tarnished floor. When the desks touched, she took her seat, and rummaged through her brown book bag. After a few minutes she took out a couple of loose-leaf paper and two black fine pointed pens. She then focused her eyes on Shikamaru and that once happy visage turned ugly.

?Shikamaru you?d better not dose off on me, or I?ll kick your ass. My mother made me volunteer, and if I fail, it will ruin my reputation!? Her eyes flickered with flames; she had other things to do. However, after constant arguments with her mother, she had given in.

?What took you so long to change your cheap act?? Owing that she was always flip sided; being nice to the people who were corny as her, or treating people like scum who she thought were below her. Evidently, it was predicting that she had a strong dislike for him. Apparently, she was still mad at him for ditching her at the relay race last spring, due to their opponents? high ranked status on speed and stamina.

?Asuma-sensei was still in the room you moron.? She stuck out her tongue at him, and then shoved a piece a paper in front of his resting head.

"What's this for?" he asked, dumbfounded on what do. He examined it, looking for something on it.

"Idiot...? She rolled a pen down his direction. "We're going first work on your vocabulary. Start writing."

He stopped the pen and held it in a writing position. He had no choice, either this or cram school.

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Authors Notes:

Cram school- School after school, usually at night for junior high and high school Japanese students take to improve their ability to learn, and to study for the high school exit exam.

Well, how did I get the idea? My interest of the couple grew along when I compared their personalities. Sakura was always known to be smartest. Shikamaru was the lazy boy, underestimated due to that laziness. But in fact, he was a pure born genius. And I liked how Sakura had a dislike for him, when he ditched Naruto and her when searching for Gaara and Sasuke. In battle, they both have amazing charka control. On the other side, Shikamaru uses his brain to get out of messes. While Sakura...you know.... Their likeness and differences somehow match each other, and I instantly fell in love for the rare couple. Remember there is no such thing as impossible.

Thank you, Roa Aoife for being my beta reader!

[MuffyTaj]

I really like it! I can't wait to see where you take it.

[csmlee]

ShikaSaku? It'll be interesting to see how things can work out for them, seeing as one is a lazy genius while the other is a goody-goody two shoe who works hard to become smart.

And I like how Sakura doesn't seem to hide her true self in front of Shikamaru (probably due to her sense of superiority over him). Can't wait till she finds out how smart Shika-kun truly is!