CHAPTER ONE: THE BIOLOGY TEACHER

There it was again.

The crippling feeling of someone watching her.

Anxiety slowly built up inside her as she halted in her footsteps. She knew better when someone was staring at her, watching her every move.

The moment she stepped inside the school ground, shivers ran down her spine. With every step she took, those eyes centered on her. She slowly looked up. Her eyes wandered around her, trying to search for those eyes while being as discrete as possible. But as soon as her eyes rose, those eyes that had been haunting her for the past two years were gone.

Bravely, she looked around. She strangely felt a burst of confidence and determination to confront the person that has been making her life miserable for the past years. Her bright green eyes took in her surroundings carefully. She was intent on finding the person who had her fearing for her own life and put a stop to all this crazy things. She wanted to stop watching her back and finally live her life in content!

However, all sense of confidence that she was experiencing disappeared when she saw that there was no one else but her in the empty school ground. Considering that it was still so early in the morning, it was a given that there would be no one else in school but the teachers in duty. Dread slowly filled her entire being.

With a step full of fear and terror, she hurriedly made her way to the classroom because that was the only place she felt safe at;

all the while ignoring the fact that the moment she set off, those eyes were back on her.

. . . . . .

Everywhere she went, those eyes were on her. They never left.

Every single time, those eyes would always find their way to her.

She noticed that the day she transferred to Konoha High as a first year. She barely knew anyone there. Konoha was a fresh start for her. When she first arrive on the school grounds, she was self conscious. Everyone was staring at her, murmuring and whispering to each other. She assumed it was bound to happen since she was a transfer student after all. But it did not made her feel better but instead, made her feel small and timid. It was that exact moment when she first felt a stare on her that held so much intensity that even she was uncertain of.

But she shrugged it off, saying to herself that she was just paranoid.

If only she knew that those eyes would continue to haunt her for the next two years to come.

Time passes and she became insecure. She was uncertain. Scared.

Those eyes were harassing her, molesting her in every moment. They violated her and it disgusted her. Her privacy was nothing more than a hopeless wish.

She hated it.

There were times when she had had enough of it. A time where she was tired of it. A moment where she wanted to run away and never look back.

Those eyes made her insane. They took away her confidence, her spirits, her smile. They robbed her off her happiness.

"But, running away will do nothing."

Her friend had told her in her moment of weakness.

"I will be here for you. I'll protect you."

She relented after so much hesitation.

But she did not regret it. She did not regret her actions for staying instead of running away. In fact, it was the best decision she ever made.

Just like that, those two years went by.

She was now a senior. She made friends with people whom she will die for. Her friends, they were her smiles. She found her happiness. But nothing made her happier than when she fell in love with her friend, a boy who made her feel loved and cared for. A boy who made her feel safe and protected. He made her happy and forget about those haunting eyes. He and her friends all became her family.

No matter how much she wanted to run, no matter how desperate she was or will be, she will bear it. For the sake of her friends, not even those eyes will make her think otherwise.

. . . . . .

She let out a satisfied smile and stretched her arms like that of a cat. Although it took much longer than she had expected, she finally finished all her homework. She felt a sense of pride for not leaving even one question unanswered. Oddly enough, she felt accomplished.

She grinned smugly before her eyes flickered to the watch on her wrist, a gift she received from her dear boyfriend. Surprise reflected on her green irises when she saw the time and she snapped her head towards the window beside her seat in disbelief. Much to her horror, the sky was the color of orange mixed with a tint of red and the sun was almost setting. She had spent too much time in school. It was getting dark!

It was then when she finally noticed how quiet it was. She looked around, realizing that she was the only one left in the class. By this time, she was sure that she was the only one left in school. It was past six already. She frowned. She had a bad feeling about this. She swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed the terrified feelings down before composing herself.

"Don't think too much about it," she whispered to herself in assurance. She should have been more careful and mindful of the time! She forced herself not to be so pessimist.

She quickly packed her things. Her hands were trembling slightly in fear of what was to come. She knew that he will be here and she hoped that she would get over this smoothly. She sling her bag on her shoulder and speed-walked towards the door. Her heart was thumping around crazily and she swore that she will pass out in any second now.

Reaching the door, she gently slide it open and close it behind her carefully. Her footsteps echoed throughout the silenced hall as she made her way to the stairs to get to the first floor where the entrance was. Every ticking second made her nerves go haywire. She glanced around the open spaced. At this time, the hall looked creepier than they normally look like in the morning. That thought just made her even more terrified.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of her footsteps echoed the hallway. The noise was strangely giving her a sense of comfort. It distracted her of her thoughts of him. She let out a shaky breath. She can do this! The stairs were just around the corner.

She walked faster but just as she was about to reach the stairs, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she felt a crippling sensation of someone watching her. Her body shook in fear and the sound of her footsteps that once dominated the hallway died down. It was silent now except for the fast breathing of the now panicked girl.

She flinched when she felt the intensity in his stare. Her eyes grew wide and the fear inside her continued to build up. She turned her head around to look for him but much to her luck, only darkness greeted her.

The sun had already set and she could barely see anything in the now dark hallway. She continued to look around, helpless. All she could see was thin air but even if there was something, or someone, she won't have a clear view on them with all the darkness surrounding her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and struggled to keep her tears from falling.

"Calm down, don't panic." she chanted to herself. She slowly inched towards the stairs, her eyes wary. To say that she was utterly scared and terrified was an understatement.

"Sakura."

She gasped and stumbled on her feet. Her hands desperately held onto the handrail in attempt to stop herself from falling down the stairs. Her body sagged against the stairs as she looked around, wide-eyed. Someone called out to her... She shivered. The voice was deep and it was a voice that she was unfamiliar to. Dread filled her senses and her heart thumped crazily against her chest. She huddled herself closer against the wall, too afraid to even move. She tucked her chin under her knees.

Suddenly she heard a loud bang followed by a hollow and empty laugh.

"You're so beautiful," the voice cackled, "And you're mine. All mine."

Sakura flinched and looked around in fear.. But there was no one there. Panic aroused in her and she began to hyperventilate.

Suddenly, she saw movements at the end of the corridor where she had came from. Her breath caught in her throat and she was frozen in her spot.

"Please don't hurt me!" she pleaded, fear clear in her voice. She clasped her hands together and held it out in front of her. "Please, I beg you."

The sound of footsteps became clearer and quicker. Hearing this, Sakura cried harder.

"Please leave me alone!" she screamed in terror, tears streaming down her cheeks like waterfalls to which she paid no heed to. She began to crawl down the stairs but ended up stumbling down and hurting herself.

"Never." the voice echoed. By then, she was already a sobbing mess. She breathed out heavily and began panicking to herself.

"No, no, no!" she was hysteric. She was scared, petrified. It felt as if she was suffocating. Suddenly, she felt a firm grip on her arms. She paled and she screamed bloody murder.

"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME!"

She cried hard as if her life depended on it. She struggled against the grip on her arms, trying hard to escape from it. She heaved a sob and thrashed wildly in attempt to save herself.

"LET ME GO! DON'T T-"

"Sakura! Calm down! It's me, Kiba!"

Dark forest green eyes clashed with a pair of familiar coal black eyes. She stopped struggling when she saw that it was indeed Kiba holding her. Her heart sank in relief at seeing the familiar face of her boyfriend. Her lips quivered and she scrambled to pull the brunette into a hug. She sobbed on his shoulders, releasing all the emotions she had suppressed.

"Thank God it was you," she whispered shakily. She pulled him closer to her, her shaking hands did not go unnoticed by Kiba. Kiba rested his chin on her head, his arms circling her, giving her the comfort she desperately needs.

"Shhshh... don't cry, Saki," he cooed. He pulled her away from him and rested their foreheads against each other. He gently wiped the tears in her eyes before cupping her face gently, "It's okay, you're okay."

She shakily covered his hands with hers, her lips trembling as she closed her eyes.

"H-h-he was here," she choked on her words, her tears silently falling, "I h-h-heard him. I-I heard his voice. I'm scared, Kiba."

The brunette's face hardened. Myriad of emotions flickered in his dark eyes. He was angry. He was irritated of the fact that someone was bothering his girl. He was upset to see her being so scared for her life every waking moment. He was angry but he knew, that what Sakura needed now wasn't his wrath but his comfort.

"I got you," his voice soothed the scared girl. She nodded drowsily.

"I'm here. He won't hurt you," he whispered in her ears. He stroke her back, slowly calming the crying girl. Eventually her sobs calmed down to sniffles and hiccups. Sakura snuggled into his neck as her breathing finally slowed down.

"I'm scared," she whispered weakly, her eyes heavy from all the crying.

Kiba stared at her softly. He ran his fingers through her tangled hair before placing a chaste kiss on the crown of her head, "It's okay, you're okay,"

Sakura hummed and her eyelids finally closed shut. Her heartbeat calmed down. She had cried herself to sleep. Seeing her in this state pained him.

He carefully adjusted her position in his arms before slinging her bag over his shoulder. He lifted her in his arms effortlessly before walking down the rest of the stairs towards the entrance. When he reached the bottom, he paused on his steps and turned around.

As he turned around, he saw a shadow of someone watching them with intense red eyes.

Kiba gritted his teeth and glared at the man but he doubted the man could see his glare in the dark.

"Who the fuck are you?" he spitted the words out. His voice was spiteful but soft as to not wake the girl in his arms up.

As he said that, he noticed that the eyes became darker and Kiba swore the man just snarled at him. A brief moment of silence passed and just as he was about to spite the man even more, the man spoke.

"Someone whom you wished you never met," the voice sounded dark and sinister, sparking a small feeling of fear in Kiba but he pushed the feelings down. Before Kiba knew it, the man disappeared, leaving Kiba to his own thoughts.

. . . . . .

The man watched the pair intently as they exited the school. He fumed in anger. He didn't like the fact that the boy was being so close to his woman. He chuckled darkly, his eyes staring at the sleeping woman longingly. He smirked.

"It's about time I get back what really belongs to me."

. . . . . .

"Hey, you okay?" Ino asked in concern. Sakura was playing with her food rather than eating it which was strange to Ino considering the fact that Sakura never wastes food. Sakura was acting unusual today, Ino noticed. She was spacing off a lot and she barely spoke any words the whole day. Something must have happened to make her so stressed out. Ino wished that the girl would have open up to her and share some of her burdens with her.

Sakura looked up from her lunch and offered the blonde girl a small smile. "Yeah, I'm okay,"

Ino placed a hand under her chin and continued to stare at her best friend. "Did something happened?"

Sakura flinched. She stopped playing around with the beans and finally scoop some of the mash potatoes inside her mouth. She chewed slowly, avoiding eye contact from Ino.

"Nothing much?" she shrugged. She opened up to say something but was cut off by the sound of a bell ringing- signaling that lunch break was over. Ino sighed in disappointment.

The both cleaned up before they took the trays with them and left them to the lunch lady.

Ino stared at Sakura from the corner of her eyes and noticed that she was spacing off again.

"You..." she started off, "If you have somthing bothering you, you can always come to me, okay?" Ino said, clasping their hands together. Sakura gave her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Ino,"

. . . . . .

"So what are you doing tomorrow? Want to go to the movies with me?" Kiba asked, his arms lazily hanging around Sakura's shoulders. Sakura grinned up at him, her fingers playing with the hem of her school uniform as they walked back to class from lunch.

"Hmmm... let me think about it," she giggled.

"Oh yeah, Ino told me that you have competition next week! Why didn't you tell me?" she pouted. Kiba smiled. He was worried if yesterday's event would traumatized her but he was glad that she was the same as always. Though it did not escape his knowledge that her smile did not reach her eyes. He knew that it was bothering her but neither of them took the initiative to address yesterday's situation.

"Haruno-san?"

She froze in her track. The voice sounded eerily familiar to her but she couldn't quite place to whom it belong to. She turned around and was surprised to see the biology teacher smiling at her. Sasuke Uchiha-sensei. She blinked her eyes and tilted her head in confusion. She didn't have him as her biology teacher so it came to a surprise as to how he knew her name. Sakura stared at him warily.

"Yes?"

The teacher gave her a small smile and Sakura was rendered silence. As much as she hated to admit, he had the most gorgeous smile she had ever seen. Although Sakura had never spoken to the teacher before, she knew and heard a lot about him. Ino had once mention that the biology teacher, Sasuke Uchiha-sensei, was infamous for his good looks. A lot of girls were charmed by him, and now Sakura understood why. His smile was breathtaking.

Sakura recalled that Ino had also told her that Sasuke was a temporary teacher who started teaching at their school 2 years ago, around the same time she transferred here and his popularity skyrocketed instantly because of his looks. The fact that he was still in his early twenties was a bonus for the students too! There were also rumors saying that their biology teacher was actually the heir to some huge big-shot company but Sakura found that rumor to be a bit too far fetched.

Why would a millionaire throw everything away to work as a biology teacher? Sakura laughed when she first heard the rumor. It was absurd!

She was pulled back to reality by a lulling voice.

"Would you mind if you spare me a few seconds? I need your help for something," he laughed sheepishly. Sakura scrunched her forehead in curiosity but nodded nonetheless.

"Yeah, sure," she smiled at him. The biology teacher gave her an appreciative nod.

"Thanks, follow me to the lab,"

A second won't hurt, right?