Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update... I went on a vacation for a few weeks. (Oops! Should've mentioned that.) Anyhow, enjoy the first chapter! And thanks to those who reviewed. All of you are so kind!

I'm not very happy with this chapter - it kinda feels like a filler - but it was unfortunately necessary. Don't worry, the story will start gaining momentum soon :D (Oh, and so far everything feels very predictable, and I'm sure you guys will agree. I couldn't figure out how to add huge twists when I feel like I'm still in the introduction part of the story)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto ... or Kungfu Panda, for that matter.

Apparently I was lucky. Like, really really lucky. It had been three weeks since I joined the poker club and I had already won about a third of the games – not out of skill, or intelligence, or wit, but out of luck. In a way, it kind of made me feel good. I had never really been decent at anything before, so it was nice that I was starting to find my place in the poker club. The other group members were starting to warm up to me too, which was another exciting factor because I've never really had that many friends. I was one of those people that everyone loved to talk to but wasn't exactly considered at "friend" status.

Kiba didn't really approve of the club – he thought it was way too geeky – but I didn't really mind so much. And besides, I was beginning to catch on to the rules and strategies. I learned that a royal flush – otherwise known as a royal straight flush - was the hardest card combination to achieve. It was an absolute fluke that I was able to get it on my first try at poker, with a probability of less than .00005. Even though it was pretty much a miracle that I had a royal flush, it still motivated me to try my best at the game and aim for a similar feat.

I was so interested with it, in fact, that I begun to watch poker tournaments on the television. Neji approved of this (he figured that I hated listening to his lectures so it was good that I was at least paying attention to the stuff on TV). But in truth, I was mesmerized by the complexity of the game and the uniqueness of each player. Each person played so differently and their styles usually reflected their personalities.

It was crystal clear who the top champions were. The ones that stuck out the most to me were Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, Shikamaru Nara, and Sasuke Uchiha. Each of these champions had such unique methods of playing the game. Sakura, who was surprisingly sexy for a poker player, seemed to be the underdog. Nevertheless, she always pulled through with her patience and intimidating stare. Yes, it was quite intimidating. And by the way her joker-shaped tattoo hugged her upper arm, I could tell she bagged quite the punch.

Hinata, on the other hand, was deceivingly weak but actually quite proficient with the game. She was extremely intelligent and always knew the perfect times to be aggressive with her betting. Her greatest flaw, and ultimately the reason for her never gaining past fourth or fifth place, was her lack of a poker face. She couldn't bluff to save her life. As a result, she was usually only able to win money when she received decent cards or better. It turned out that Hinata was actually the cousin of Neji, which explained why Neji was so great at poker (whenever I didn't win out of luck, Neji won by a large margin… which was most of the time.) But I was honestly quite surprised that it wasn't Neji in her place with Hinata watching from the sidelines. Hinata just didn't seem to have the right attitude for poker. She was just… too much of a sweetheart. It wasn't the right personality for a gambler.

Shikamaru, in short, was a total genius. And with his permanent bored expression, I was certain that no one ever knew what he was thinking. But the guy was way too lazy to ever pursue any risks, which in turn caused him to place around third or fourth place every year.

But greatest of all was Sasuke Uchiha. Watching him gave me chills all the way down my spine. I wasn't sure if it was because of the demanding stares he sent to all of his opponents, or the way he arrogantly smirked whenever he succeeded in a bluff – which by the way, I have yet to see him fail. I also couldn't really tell if I admired or feared him, but quite honestly, I'm pretty sure it was a little bit of both. It really was no wonder that he was the undefeated champion for three years so far with the next tournament coming up in a few months. And he was only 21 years old! The stupid bastard was probably filthy rich.

Just thinking about all the things I could do with that much money made me groan.

But I had to ignore such depressing thoughts in order to prepare for the movies. Ino had actually invited me to go to the movies with her and the other poker club members! It had been so long since I hung out with anyone other than Kiba. I wasn't quite sure if I was thrilled with meeting up with Neji and Shino, though. Neji was so stuck-up, and Shino was just… eh. I wondered if he would persist in wearing those dark glasses even inside of the theatre. And geez, Lee had better not wear that damn jumpsuit. I did not want to be seen with that leprechaun!

Pulling on my black and orange t-shirt, I turned around and glanced at the mirror in the corner of my room. I was pretty tired from the long day at school (which lasted longer then usual because of poker club), so I wanted to make sure I looked presentable. In general I usually liked my appearance, except for the fact that I was kind of vertically challenged and I often got mistaken for a freshman or a sophomore. (Even though I was a junior! Whatever, I was convinced that the whole world was blind.) But despite that, I had unusually tan skin, a toned body due to the exercise equipment that Kiba had bought a few years back, really bright blue eyes, and golden-yellow hair. Ha! I was practically a model. Or at least, that's what I like to tell myself. But people often commented on how cute I was so I doubted I was far off the mark. I'd rather be known as sexy or handsome, but hey – it's a start!

"Oi, aren't you gonna be late?" Kiba was leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom, rolling his eyes at the fact that I was looking at myself in the mirror. (I was not checking myself out. I was just making sure I looked presentable! Geez.)

I scoffed and shoved past him, heading to the kitchen where my wallet was lying on the counter. "I'll be back around… midnight, probably. Later, Dog-breath."

I smiled in satisfaction when I heard a distant shout of, "Stop calling me that!"

The group was waiting outside of the movie theatre by the time I arrived. I was the last person to show up, but since Neji didn't give me a death glare, I figured they hadn't been waiting for too long.

Lee, who unfortunately was wearing his usual green getup, gave me an over-enthusiastic greeting. "HELLO my friend! Are you ready to see a movie on such a fine, youthful night?"

I scratched my head somewhat nervously and forced myself to smile. "Uh, yeah… What movie are we seeing anyways?"

Ino fake karate-chopped the air and grinned. "Kungfu Panda!"

The movie was fine with me but I was a little surprised that Neji and Shino would go for that. I pictured them watching something with blood and gore in it, or maybe a sophisticated movie like a documentary of some sort. Neji seemed to understand my unspoken question as he explained, "Ino hates horror movies, Shino won't watch comedies, and Lee wanted something 'youthful'."

Well, that explains it!

The theatre was surprisingly crowded for a school night. It took us a while to find five seats next to each other, but finally we spotted five open seats in the second to last row. I sat next to Ino, which I was glad for, because she was definitely my favorite of the group.

After only a few seconds of waiting for the movie to start, Ino seemed to get restless so she turned to me and asked, "Hey, wanna go get some popcorn?"

Yup. Ino was definitely my favorite.

We squeezed back toward the aisle of the theatre (the people we passed for the second time now glared at us in contempt) and headed toward the lobby.

"So… why'd you join the poker club anyways? You don't seem like the type to join. 'Specially since you don't have any experience with it or anything."

I was slightly surprised at the comment; I assumed that everyone knew of my punishment. "Oh, well I was caught forging a paper, and as punishment I was forced to join."

"Ha! Why am I not surprised?"

I crossed my arms and huffed. "Well geez, thanks for the lack of faith!"

Ino laughed abruptly before adding, much quieter, "I think Neji feels a little threatened by you, though."

I scoffed. "Yeah right!"

"No, seriously! Believe it or not, Neji's pretty much a pro-level. He just holds back a lot at the school. But with his skill, he'd probably be able to beat you one hundred percent of the time even with your damn luck. Well, unless you got another royal flush or something crazy like that."

That confused me further. Why, then, would Neji not participate in the tournament like his cousin Hinata? It would probably be much more exciting than enduring a boring routine at Konoha High. Voicing my thoughts out loud, Ino sighed and answered, "It's actually kinda tragic. Neji seems all cold and stuff, but he actually has a soft spot for his cousin. Very protective, ya know? Well anyway, Neji's uncle really wanted Hinata to take over the family owned business when she graduated high school, but Neji knew Hinata would hate that kind of life. She was too naïve and too much of a free spirit. So he dropped out of the national poker tournament after he got accepted into it, and Hinata took his place. And now it'll be Neji's job to take over the business..."

The information hit me like a slap in the face. "Holy crap! No wonder he has a stick shoved up his ass! It must suck to pass that up."

Ino shrugged and shook her head. "Eh, quite honestly, I don't really think Neji wanted to be in the tournament all that much. Even with people he cares for, like Hinata, he's usually kinda a jerk. He would never do something that he felt absolutely opposed to. And he's more business-y than Hinata anyway."

Before I could reply to her comment we reached the snack counter, so I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket and waited patiently for an employee to get our order.

A lanky, acne-covered man eventually shuffled over to the counter, and gave us a pathetic stare. In an awful nasal voice, he said, "How may I help you?"

Ino spoke before I could. "We'd like four cokes, one water, and two medium popcorns please - light on the butter. Also, a package of gummy bears and licorice." The guy turned around to get our order and Ino lightly tapped me on the shoulder, whispering, "Hey! If the guy messes up our order, you pay. If he figures it out, I'll pay!"

Never backing down to a bet, I grinned. "You're on!"

In the end, the employee forgot if we chose gummy bears or m&ms, so he had to ask us to repeat what we ordered. I insisted that this wasn't a mess up on the actual order, it was simply a repeat of information so that he wouldn't mess up our order. Ino didn't really buy into it but we ended up splitting the cost anyway.

To our dismay, the movie still hadn't started when we returned. How early did we arrive to the theatre, anyway? They hadn't even started the movie trailers yet. Those annoying picture advertisements were still flipping across the screen with some random elevator music playing in the background. I always doubted that anyone ever read those stupid advertisements. I mean really – even flashing through some random guy's facebook pictures across the screen would be more interesting than this!

The next slide had some cartoonized coins on all four corners of the screen. Wow, clipart. Very impressive. It was an advertisement for a local tournament or something. Reading closer, I realized it was a poker tournament. Wait, what?

I punched Ino in the arm to get her attention. She growled in annoyance but I ignored her, shouting, "Quick! Look at the screen! It's a poker tournament!"

But the advertisement soon left, and I wasn't even sure if she had even finished reading all of the information. Though, much to my confusion, Ino started to giggle. "Great job, Mr. Smarty-Pants! That's the tournament that our school participates in every year. Don't you ever listen to the announcements?"

…. No, I never did. But she didn't need to know that. "Well yeah but, does that mean that we'll be playing poker in the tournament? Like, even me?"

Overhearing our conversation, Neji leaned forward in his seat and spoke over Ino. "Don't get too excited. You may think you're great at the game, but you can't depend everything on luck. As president, I won't let you play and risk our standings until I deem you ready."

I stood up angrily and folded my arms. People around us were looking, but I didn't care. "What the hell is your problem? I'm a part of this club too you know!"

Ino yanked my arm so hard that I fell back into my seat. "Relax, relax. We have like a month left, which will be plenty enough time to explain to you the rules of the game and some strategy." Lowering her voice even more, Ino added, "And Neji would never be able to deny you the right to play in the tournament. With the right training and development of some actual technique, you could be unstoppable. 'Specially since you'll be the new guy that no one knows anything about."

I was still fuming, but there really was nothing else that could be said or done because the movie trailers were starting. I always hated missing those, and I assumed I would actually get kicked out of the theatre if I created any more disturbances to the people around me.

Trying to push out thoughts of poker and strangling Neji from my mind, I slid down further in my seat and focused my eyes on the screen.

I could hardly pay attention to any of my classes for the next few weeks. I was probably bordering on obsession with all of this poker stuff, but something about it kept me hooked. It was a strange to think about it that way, because the only other thing that I've ever been able to stay hooked on was ramen. And even then, it never interfered with any of my other daily activities. For whatever reason, this was somehow special.

I was slowly gaining more skill, which was both grueling and exciting at the same time. According to the others, I didn't really need a poker face because I was loud and arrogant with no matter what hand I was dealt. But really, if Sasuke could win a round of poker with a 2 and a 5, then who says that I shouldn't be confident with bad cards as well? Granted, Sasuke was a professional, but winning with a bad hand couldn't be that hard.

My biggest weakness seemed to be the fact that I took too many risks. Often I would have a good haul of chips, but then I would bet them all on a risky hand and lose everything. Nevertheless, it was just a game, and taking risks made it more fun! Every time I voiced this excuse in front of the others, Neji would get furious. Apparently I was "not allowed" to take these risks in competition because not only would I be risking my own success, but my teammates' success as well.

The tournament was coming up on the following weekend, so by now we were mostly just playing game after game after game. It was too late to discuss new strategy or technique because there was no way of mastering a new concept in only one week. Practice was pretty much the only thing left to do, and to gain more time for practicing, Neji was having the club meet every day to play poker. Our club hours were starting to stretch out as well – instead of meeting for the usual two hours, we were now meeting for three to four a day.

Dealing out cards was the skill I was struggling the most with. The order of the cards seemed so complex to me, and I couldn't understand why we couldn't just pass out cards to each person in whichever way we wanted to. Neji tried to explain to me that dealing regulations were created to prevent cheating, but I still didn't understand the concept very much.

Nevertheless, I was extremely excited for the upcoming poker tournament. I had never competed in anything before, and with my natural competitive personality, it suddenly felt like I had been deprived all this time. I couldn't remember being more excited for anything else before – even ramen!

In our current game of poker, it was Lee's turn to be dealer. He expertly shuffled the cards - forming a perfect bridge each time - and proceeded to flick out cards all over the table. In fact, he was throwing out cards so excitedly that one of my dealt cards whizzed past my ear and landed on the opposite side of the classroom. Too lazy to fetch the card, I pointed a finger at Ino. "Oi, pick it up!"

Ino responded with a rude hand gesture, but then turned back to Lee and said, "Hey, you threw it! You pick it up."

"My fellow teammates are counting on me!" Standing up abruptly, Lee thrust a fist into the air. "If I fail to return the card in two seconds, I will run around the classroom until our meeting is over!"

Ino smirked. "Two seconds seems like an awful long time; I bet ya can't do it in one!"

"Such a youthful challenge! I will do my best to return the card in one second!"

Catching on to the light banter, I threw in, "Psh, I could cross this classroom in half a second, and with my eyes closed!"

Lee's eyes begun to water as he answered, "I am so honored to receive such encouragement! If I cannot return in a half a second with my eyes closed then I –"

Neji slammed the table with both his fists, causing everyone in the room to fall silent and turn toward him (well, Shino was already silent, but that's beside the point). Neji never showed a loss of temper or anything different from his cool and calculated façade, so the display was quite a sight to see. His cloudy grey eyes narrowed dangerously as a vein pulsed furiously in his brow. In a deep, deadly voice, Neji spoke. "Leave if you want to play around like children. This is serious, and we cannot win with a team full of monkeys. Konoha High counts on the ten thousand dollar prize that we win every year, so this time will be no different, and we. will. win."

Everything in the room seemed to be eerily quiet, and no one could build the courage to look away from Neji's demanding stare. Even Kakashi at his desk seemed to peek his head out a little from his pornographic novel. Though I was semi-obsessed with the game of poker, it seemed to me that Neji was overreacting a little, and by the others' incredulous stares, they probably felt the same.

Neji finally broke the connection and began to gather all of the poker chips back into their shiny, black case. I guess we weren't playing the usual three hours today, after all. Neji collected all the cards on the table and flicked his gaze across the room at the neglected card on the floor and gave me a loaded stare, demanding that I pick it up.

Upon my return, Neji sighed and closed his eyes. "I have an announcement about the tournament." Everyone was still afraid to speak, so Neji continued, "This year's uniforms finally arrived. We are required to wear them for the tournament." Neji pulled out a box that I hadn't noticed before, and reached in, retrieving a black shirt that had the words 'Konoha High Poker Team' spelled down the side in fancy blue and white lettering. Extending from the words were silver spirals and swirls that extended across half of the shirt. On the back, in simple silver font, was the number '2010'. It was pretty cool looking and I was curious who designed it.

But before I could ask, Neji started to pass out the shirts. First to Ino, then Lee, and then Shino. The thought of Shino wearing something other than his usual heavy jacket made me want to laugh, but the atmosphere of the classroom was still tense so I refrained.

But then something occurred to me. Where was my shirt?

Voicing my thoughts out loud, Neji answered, "Every year we register around October for the tournament, which occurs at the end of January. Unfortunately, you joined us a little late – in December."

Ino gasped. "But you can't do this, Neji! Naruto has worked so hard!"

I furrowed my brow and said, slowly, "Thanks, Ino… But what are you guys talking about? It's just a T-Shirt! They're super awesome and everything, but I won't let that slow me down! Nothing can stop me!"

For the first time in awhile – or maybe the first time ever – Shino spoke. "Neji signed us up for only four members."

Neji glared once more and crossed his arms. "You can't play, Naruto. If you wish, you can watch our performance. The audience is probably where you belong, anyway."

It may have been silly that I was crushed about the newly discovered news. Still, I couldn't help but be devastated that the one thing that gave me so much enjoyment, for the first time since who-knows-when, failed and turned into an immense disappointment.

The thing that really cut to the core was the fact that I had found out a week earlier that several professionals would be attending the tournament as judges – including the well-famed Sasuke Uchiha. It was unheard of that professionals would actually attend a high school poker tournament. The event was unprecedented, and would likely never occur again. It was evident that I would no longer meet Uchiha and challenge him in the plan that I had been formulating for a while now…

Well, good riddance. I guess luck can only take you so far.

Eh, not the best cliff hanger in the world, but if I didn't cut it here the chapter would be really, reeeally long. Sorry guys!

Also, I know it is unrealistic that you can win poker simply by having luck. But it definitely is a large factor of winning, and besides, it's fiction. I feel like it makes the game a bit more interesting.

If anyone has any suggestions or constructive criticism, I'd love to hear!

Reviews are immensely appreciated. Check back soon for updates!

~ Guitaur-Strings