'The Melancholy Crow'
By: GaaraFox
Start: 9/15/07
Last Edit: 10/04/08
The wide open sky glared russet while the creamy black atmosphere suffocated the people that dare walk through it. A tall thin woman with ashen skin and scintillating green eyes scowled at an army in the distance. Gently tugging at the reigns, she guided her bleach white horse back towards her own armada. A flash of light tore through the heaven's; a sign to begin, she thought.
"We did not come this far to back down now," She began, carefully picking the right words. "this is our time to show our people the power we hold! We either die in regret, or die knowing what we fought for was what we wanted; what was right!" A roar of thunder; a sure sign of impatience from the Gods. "It's now, or never." She spoke in a much softer voice now, her fellow soldiers nodding their heads. "Now, who's with me!" The howls and echoes of all the men and women out on that field, formed as one. A tight rope wrapped around their trust; their love; their hope; their family. . . .
A brown haired man trotted towards the woman, a hopeful grin plastered upon his face. Centaur, she thought.
"Queen, should we send the first wave of dra-"
"Ino, you know I hate it when you read over my shoulders."
"I know, I just thought it'd make you stop reading, how else am I going to make you listen?" I sighed, admitting defeat in the most pathetic way possible. I set the colored bookmark I made myself inside, and placed the thick volume to the corner of my desk. "Ok, so anyways, like I was saying, there are rumors going around." She stopped and bit her lip with a playful smile playing on her lips.
I sighed irritably. "What kind of rumors?" I groaned.
"Well, they say there's going to be a new student!" Ino squealed. "Isn't that exciting!" She giggled, and even that made the corners of my mouth twitch a little.
"Honestly Ino, it's not a big deal." But, oh contraire. It was. Our school, Yunging High, is awfully small, only containing around seven hundred students. So it's pretty easy to know everyone's business, and it's somewhat exhilarating when a new student comes in, especially this time of year; winter.
I closed my eyes, smiling in my own thoughts while Ino rambled on. Winter, I thought with an internal sigh. The most beautiful time of year; old movies such as Frosty the Snowman, good old Rudolph (and not the cartoon, the stick figure type Rudolph that's hard to make), stories about Santa and his hard working elves. Everything was old fashioned and brought back memories from the eyes of my three year old past. Snow forts and snowballs, sleds and thick coats. 'Hmm. . . .' Somewhere within myself, I could feel that this Christmas was going to be the best at Yunging High, especially since this year was our Senior year.
"Sakura, are you even listening to me?"
"Of course." I smiled, pulling myself back into reality. A pair of sky blue marbles stared back, puzzled, but were soon engulfed in joy.
"Good, you better." We both giggled.
"Alright, quiet down now," Kurenai began the class. "if you haven't started your journal yet, I suggest you do. You have fifteen minutes." She went to the laptop set up in the middle of the room and began a timer. The laptop's contents were visible on a whiteboard hung at the front of the room.
I glanced at the fine chalk writings on one side of the classroom, If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be? I thought as I read the script. I scowled. What sort of question is that?
Closing my eyes, I thought for a minute.
. . . .anything in the world. . . .
That's not possible, is it? To just have anything in the world? You can't just wish for it, you had to earn it. My mind spun with questions and obvious statements that I didn't even realized Mrs. Tsunade walk in.
"Class, if I could have your attention for one moment, please." I forced my eyes open, fighting the urge for sleep, and held my attention on her. "It seems you have a new classmate joining you, please come in and introduce yourself."
A tall, lean boy glided past Mrs. Tsunade and presented himself at the front of the classroom. He had spiky atramendous hair and dark murky eyes. Both of his hands rested on a long strap the went over his left shoulder, and a bag came to rest against his right leg. There was an acerbic façade placed in front of us, enough to make me run and cry to my mother.
I read him as if he were an open book, using his details as symbols to form a biography about him. 'Dark, handsome. . . .definitely a heartbreaker. . . .looks like he might be into football, if not, he'll end up best friends with Gaara.' I guess you could call this a hobby. People are so easy to decipher, it's actually quite sad. 'He looks like he's into the whorish girls, the ones with the short skirts and tight shirts. His hobbies would include picking on freshmen, stealing, and ignoring every futile attempt a "non-pretty girl" would make in order to date him.'
I scuffed, placing my head on my desk, taking an immediate disliking. Unfortunately, Ino didn't.
I turned my head to look at her, eyes winking, giggling, cheeks vermillion. All the obvious signs that she had a crush. I smiled, but that soon faded as I glanced at all the other girls in the classroom. 'Competition. . . .poor Ino. . . .'
Ino was pretty, sure, and she was beautiful, but she wasn't the only girl with good looks. Nina, Samantha, Christine, Janelle. . . .all of these girls would surely be after Mr. Hot Stuff.
"Sasuke Uchiha." I heard him mumble from the front of the classroom. He ran his fingers through his hair; the girls swooned. "I was transferred from F.H.S." Mrs. Tsunade left after Sasuke walked in, so now Mrs. Kurenai and himself stood alone at the front of the room.
"And could you tell the students where that's at?"
I could've sworn I saw him glare at her, but I brushed it off as my imagination. "F.H.S. stands for Finland High School, but it's not in Finland. It's actually in Florida and the name Finland came from the founder Ozworth Finland."
"Hmm," Our teacher thought for a minute, "interesting. Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself?"
He shrugged. "I was born in Sydney, Australia, but soon moved after my third birthday to the U.S. because of my father's business. I have an older brother named Itachi who's already graduated." He paused for a moment, scanning his classmates perhaps, and then I think I saw him sigh with a hint of irritation. "My favorite hobbies are skateboarding, surfing, and drawing. I listen to all types of music, metal one of my favorites, as well as Trance." He looked at Mrs. Kurenai. "That's about it. . ."
"Right, so, what was your name again? Uchiha, right?" He nodded. "Ok then, sit over there, next to Mr. Uzumaki. Naruto, raise your hand." I stifled a snort that was making it's way through my nose and throat. Wow, Sasuke sitting next to Naruto? What sort of cruel fate was that?
The dumb blonde eagerly waved both of his hands in the air as if he were directing a plane to land in this room. The look on Uchiha's face was unbearably funny. He sauntered down the isle with an irked expression playing on his face, and made his way to the back, taking a seat next to Naruto.
"Alrighty then," She clapped her hands together. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you anymore time to work on your journal, anyone willing to share?" Nina quickly waved her hand in the air, I groaned. "Yes, Nina, please share."
"Ok, well, if I could wish for anything, I'd wish for all the money in the world! Because," She pointed her finger, probably thinking what she was about to say was going to be smart. "with all the money in the world, you can practically get anything else in the world!"
"Ooh, nice one Nina." Christine blew a kiss (some weird ritual these girls do) and Nina pursed her lips and fluttered her eyes like the "Miss Priss" she was.
"Hmm. . ." Our teacher thought for a moment. "That's good for you, but what about everyone else?"
Nina thought about this, or at least I think she was thinking. "I don't know, I never really thought about that. . . ." She paused. "I don't think it matters. . . .right Christine?"
"Definitely!" Christine pursed her lips as well - accentuating the cheap lip gloss - and began nodding her head.
I raised an eyebrow while thinking, 'Who would want to be Nina's servant?'
"Right. . . ." Kurenai slowly nodded. "Anyone else? Yes, there in the back, Hinata."
Ah, Hinata. The kind, shy girl of the school. She's extremely smart and cute, but she also has an obvious crush on a certain blonde. Her hobbies include studying, jogging, volunteering at the town's animal shelter, and making all A's on every paper she touches.
She seems like a nice girl, but I don't think we'd ever be best friends. She just seems so quiet and fragile. I guess you could call her a lone wolf since she doesn't really talk to anyone. Except for her cousin Neji, who's captain of the Hockey team. I think the only time I really spoke to her, was the day after my first absence (bad milk in the morning) and I needed the journal from the day before.
"World peace." She quietly answered while pushing her fingers together. I heard someone from the back snort, and turned to see Nina rolling her eyes. I shot a glare at her, she caught it and threw it right back.
"Very good Hinata. Alright, Janelle?"
"Yeah, if I could wish for anything in the world, I'd wish to be a model, because then, everyone will know who I really am." She smiled, feeling triumphant.
I sighed, placing my head on my desk and closing my eyes. Mrs. Kurenai asked a few other girls and boys what their wishes were, until she finally found me dozing off.
"Sakura, since you're so enthusiastic this morning," Her sarcasm stung. "then how about you share yours?"
I felt my face go white for a minute, and glanced at my paper. The only thing on it was the actual question, but no answer. "Umm. . . ." I thought for a minute. All eyes were on me and I could feel them piercing through the back of my skull. "If I could wish for anything in the world. . . ." I started, hoping something reasonable and realistic would come to mind.
Suddenly, the color flushed back into my body, and I smiled. "If I could wish for anything in the world, I wouldn't wish for anything at all."
"That's stupid!" Nina complained. "Mrs., I believe you should take points off of Sakura's because she doesn't know how to write!" The sudden urge to slap Nina escaped through my body and let out a dark aura that I knew she could feel. She hesitated for a moment before sticking her tongue out and mumbling, "Freak."
Mrs. Kurenai gave me a look, and this was the first time I couldn't read it. "And why is that?" She asked, completely ignoring a certain someone.
"Well, that'd just be too easy. I wouldn't feel like I've earned it or fought for it like every other human in the world." I paused, thinking of more to say. "It's not possible, just to wish for something and it comes true. You have to set up smaller goals before you can reach your destination. Most things people have said today aren't realistic," I shot a glance at Nina. "nor are they possible. I mean, a few, maybe, but not all." I was hoping it would sound like something Abraham Lincoln would write, but unfortunately, it didn't. They knew the point I was trying to get across, so hopefully I could just leave them at that.
Mrs. Kurenai opened her mouth to say something, but instead of words forming, there was a loud bell echoing through the halls. Kids excitedly picked up their books and ran out the door before our teacher could say another word.
"Have a nice. . . .lunch. . . ." I heard her chuckle.
"Come on Sakura, I'm starving, let's go!"
I giggled - quickly throwing my backpack onto my back when everything was in there - and ran with Ino to the cafeteria. "So what are you doing this weekend?" I asked, trying to start a conversation while standing in the mile long lunch line.
She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, nothing really."
"You can come over if you want to." I suggested; and that's how it always was. One weekend I went to her house, the other weekend she went to mine. It's a lame tradition, sure, but a tradition none the less.
"Sasuke! Will you go out with me?" I heard Samantha scream as she ran over to Sasuke and Naruto, who were sitting at a table far off in the corner of the lunch room. At first, I was surprised to see Naruto and Sasuke sitting together, but perhaps Naruto offered to show him around?
I shrugged the thought off, and Ino and I watched as Samantha was the first girl to get rejected. I felt a slight pinch of guilt and pity for her. He didn't even look at her, he just bluntly stated 'no', while resting his lips and chin against folded hands, propped up by his elbows.
"Isn't he cute?" Ino praised, sighing in ecstasy.
"Sure." I shrugged, focusing on an annoying cuticle on my thumb.
The journey to the front of the line was both tiring, boring, and heartbreaking. Almost every girl in the school (besides the ones who didn't have first lunch) tried asking Mr. Sasuke Uchiha out. I shook my head in disappointment, "Will those girls ever learn?"
Ino giggled. "Learn what?" She directed her focus away from Sasuke and towards me.
"Those girls," I began, "I don't think they realize what type of pain they're going to end up putting themselves through." 'Besides the apparent pain of rejection.'
"What are you talking about?" Ino pondered. I opened my mouth to explain but she cut me off. "Sakura, sometimes you can be so cliché." I frowned. "You know what you need?" Finally we made our way to the food, picking up a tray and sliding it along the cylinder bars. "A boyfriend." She smiled mischievously.
"Ino. . ." I sighed; that godforsaken word brought up a heart wrenching memory. "I don't need a boyfriend. . ."
"Oh, come on! It's been, like, what? Four years since you've last had a boyfriend? I think it's time you start dating again."
"I just can't, it doesn't feel right. . .and besides, the next guy I date I want to make sure that we fall in love and stay that way."
"Sakura, you were fourteen! Everyone has their first love; you didn't honestly expect you and John to stay together forever, did you?"
"Well. . ." Her statements and questions lured me into my depressing past. Memories like tsunami's crashed on the shores of my mind and engulfed my thoughts. Suffocating them, so I could only think about one person.
"Hey, where should we sit?" Ino pulled me up from drowning in the abyss, and I actually hadn't noticed that we already paid for our food. So I scanned the cafeteria, and unconsciously, I began walking towards a table.
"Ino!" A girl called from across the room. We sat our things down at a table and looked around to find Nina waving towards Ino.
"You have got to be kidding me." I mumbled.
"That's strange, they never talk to me." Ino grinned, and began walking in Nina's direction. "I'm going to go see what she wants.
"No, you can't be serious!"
She turned around and rolled her eyes at me. "Sakura, it'll only take a minute."
"But-" I began to whine, but my futile attempts didn't pay off; Ino was on her way to talk to Nina and there was nothing I could do about it.
Alright, so I finished with a few spelling/grammar errors in this first chapter that's been bugging me for over a year, and I fixed up a few repeating words (one of my pet peeves).
I'll edit the next few chapters a little bit as well, and sometime soon, I'm going to finish Chapter 4 (so yes, it's already started). (:
