Summary: Shikamru is the best skateboarder in Konoha. That is until a new girl moves to town. Now Shika-kun has some competition for being number one. ShikaTem, ShikaHina, SasuHina.

Better Than You Chapter 1: Good Days

"Kyaahh! There he is!" The hallways were filled with screaming girls as Nara Shikamaru made his presence known. He was the best skater the town of Konoha has ever seen, and everyone in school envied him for that.

"Chouji, can you distract these girls for me? I need to get to my locker, but all these troublesome fans are in the way," Shikamaru sighed as he turned towards the boy next to him. Akimichi Chouji is Shikamaru's best friend in the entire world. Nothing could ever come between those two.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru, I'm on it!" Chouji walks into the hallway to the right of him and sees Uchiha Sasuke, the second most popular boy in school. He is not a skater, but an actor, who takes his I'm-emo-because-I'm-so-misunderstood-by-everyone act way too seriously.

"Excuse me, Uchiha-san, but I need you to look at something in that hallway over there." Chouji points to the hallway that his friend is in.

"What is is?" questioned the Uchiha.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you to look at it."

"Fine." Sasuke walks into the hallway and is spotted by the girls surrounding Shikamaru. They stare at him for a moment. "Nani?"

"OH MY GOD, SASUKE-KUN, WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!" The girls totally forget about Shikamaru and run after Sasuke.

"DAMMIT, AKIMICHI, YOU LED ME TO THE FANGIRLS!!" Sasuke yelled at Chouji.

"I know," he grins then walks towards his friend.

"Good job, Chouji."

"Yeah, but sometimes I feel bad for Uchiha-san, but oh well, the girls are his problem now, not ours." They start walking towards their lockers, which are right next to each other.

"Girls are so troublesome."

"Tell me about it." The two hear rushing footsteps behind them. They turn around and see Hyuuga Hinata rushing towards them. Hinata is Shikamaru's other best friend, and he was also secretly crushing on her; not even Chouji knew that secret about him.

"Shika-kun, Chouji-kun! I have-" before she could finish what she was saying, little miss Hyuuga tripped over her own two feet. "Ahh!" She fell flat on her face.

"Hinata-chan are you alright?" Shikamaru asked as he kneeled down beside the fallen girl.

"Hehe, I'm fine. Thanks for asking Shika-kun," she said while smiling at him.

"I'm glad you're okay, Hinata-chan," he paused as he felt his face turning red. He quickly thought of something to divert his feelings. "But you're so troublesome, you know that?"

Hinata was easily hurt by his words. She did not like being called the person who always got in the way, even though she was. "The only thing not troublesome to you is skateboarding, isn't it?"

"Yeah, pretty much. That and Chouji, he is never annoying, except when he's eating."

"That's right!" The chubby boy grinned and put his arm around his friend. "Uh, Hinata-chan, why were you rushing anyway?"

"Well this morning, I was doing some research on the ANBU skate team, and the official website said that they were coming to Konoha recruiting only the best. Shika-kun, you are the best, this is your big break!"

"Really, when are they coming?" The lazy-ass boy for a moment lost all his laziness.

"Next weekend!"

"Hinata-chan your awesome!" Shikamaru hugged the pale-eyed girl. Hinata than saw the blond-haired boy that she has been crushing on since kindergarten, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Ah, Shika-kun, let go!" He releases her as told. Hinata then walks up to the dense one. "H-hello, N-naruto-kun."

"Oi, Hinata, do you know where Sakura-chan is?" Everytime Naruto mentions Sakura's name, Hinata has to fight back her tears.

"S-sorry, N-naruto-kun, I don't k-know."

Chouji nudges Shikamaru. "Hinata-chan is so weird. She is so shy towards everyone, but when around us, she's wild."

"Yeah, I feel bad for her though. She said that when she turns 13 her father will kick her out of the house, leaving her to fend for herself. The suckish thing is that her birthday is in three months."

"Poor girl, she's always smiling, I sometimes wonder how she really feels."

"Me too." Shikamaru feels the longing to just take Hinata and protect her from the cruel life that she has been living.

Chouji and Shikamaru and everyone else hear the doors of the school slam open. Standing there in the doorway were three people. A boy of the age of 13, who had crimson red hair. Another boy with markings on his face, and a blond girl who looked the oldest. "Hello new school!" the blond yells.

Shikamaru realized that he wanted to get to get to know this girl. He no longer felt the need to protect Hinata. The only thing he felt was the need to be with this girl.