"Slicing, Dicing, ad Falling in Love"
By Uchiha-Griffin
Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto!
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"Bye, Sakura-Chan! See you tomorrow!" Ino called out, waving to her friend from across the schoolyard. Sakura smiled and waved back to her. "Bye!" She began walking for the modern Tokyo high school's front gate. Her uniform skirt swished with each step… this school had a sailor-style uniform, the kind Sakura had always wanted.
Money was not easy for her family, but this was the one school she had always dreamed of. She was the youngest daughter under five brothers of Mr. and Mrs. Haruno. Her parents loved her dearly and wanted only the best education for their medic-aspired daughter.
But Sakura had never felt she truly fit in among all the richer kids at her school. When she went over to her friend's homes, she witnessed the large, luxurious places they lived in. Her family barely kept up with their two-story home in the suburbs, a plain dwelling of black and white…
All of this had left Sakura quite bitter, even though on the outside she seemed to be an optimistic girl. Inwardly, she hated them… all those people who looked down on her just because she didn't have a lot of money. Ino was the only one she could trust….And the person she disliked most in this life was the most popular, richest, probably the most arrogant man in the world, Uchiha Sasuke.
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"Sasuke-teme!" an annoying voice rang out. Sasuke groaned as he turned to see Naruto running toward him. "Geez, Naruto. Keep it down, willya?" he muttered. "Sorry, teme! I just had something important to tell you!!" "Well? What is it, get on with it!"
Naruto smiled. "You know that girl in our class, Sakura?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He'd only seen the back of her head twice… her hair was pink. "Not really. Why?" Naruto grinned stupidly and answered, "Well, tomorrow I'm thinking of asking her to go out for ramen with me! Dattebayo!"
"Is that so?" was all he had to say to get Naruto going on how beautiful and amazing Sakura was. They walked the streets of Tokyo to their neighboring homes, Sasuke silently listening to Naruto's chatter the whole way. Amidst the blathering, Sasuke suddenly spotted a swish of navy-blue uniform skirt and a glimpse of long pink hair. Wasn't that…?
"Yeah, that's great, Naruto." Sasuke said, patting his friend on the back. "But Sasuke-teme, are you really okay with me going out with her?…" Sasuke twitched. "Why would I care? See you tomorrow, Naruto, I have something to do before I go home." Naruto looked confused but nodded anyway. "Sure, seeya."
Naruto turned left as Sasuke turned right at the intersection. Sasuke looked around for the pink hair of Sakura, but couldn't see it anywhere. "Dammit, I lost her…" he pouted. He noticed a nearby restaurant with paper lanterns hanging outside. He sighed. "Might as well eat while I'm all the way downtown…"
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Sakura tied her hair back in a ponytail. She was at her after-school job, a priority if she wanted to stay at Seika High. Her family needed money, so she worked lots of after school jobs, all on different days, and on weekends too. She was a sushi chef Mondays and Wednesdays, Apprenticed at the hospital on Tuesdays and Thursdays, was a cashier at the market on Fridays, and sold adorable everythings at Sanrio on weekends.
She had four bosses, four uniforms, four different kinds of people to befriend, all on top of four hours of homework. She signed and tied on her apron, walking out to behind the sushi bar. A regular customer as well as her good friend waved at her. "Hey, Kiba-kun!" She said cheerfully. "The regular?"
He nodded. "Definitely." She began to make his Ebi Negiri and Spicy Tuna roll, noting the chime of the entry bell. She turned to say welcome to the customer, but her sweet, welcoming spirit flew away when she saw it was Uchiha Sasuke coming through the door. "W-welcome!" She gave a fake smile, holding back a nearly-visible sneer.
He looked surprised to see her but said monotonously, "Hn." and sat down at the sushi bar. Sakura handed Kiba his plate with a slight bow of the head. "Idakimasu!" Kiba called out, snapping apart his chopsticks. Sakura smiled at his ever-cheerful attitude and turned to Sasuke.
"What do you want." The question sounded more like a statement. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, then glanced at the menu. "Spicy Surimi roll." he replied. She nodded sharply, then rolled her eyes after turning her back on him. Kiba looked at her inquisitively and she gave him a "don't worry about it" look.
She started on Sasuke's sushi. While he looked away, she added an extra-big glom of wasabi inside, her inner self cackling evilly. She handed him his food with a genuine smile. "Enjoy!" She called out pleasantly. "Idakimasu." he said, and looked suspicious as he took a bite. Sakura waited for his head to explode but it never came.
He finished off the whole tray of sushi in a few minutes. "Arigotou." he said with a slight bow toward Sakura. She handed him his bill. "How was the sushi?" she asked, over-anxious. "It was very good…" he said, then smirked, turning around. He looked back at her over his shoulder. "Could've been spicier, though." He turned and began walking again.
"T-this guy!!! He's a demon!!" he inner self screamed. "Thank you, come again!" She called sarcastically after him. He held up a hand in a dismissive gesture, paid his bill, and walked out the door. Sakura stared after him, interested. "Y'know… he's not so bad-looking." she murmured.
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The second Sasuke left the front door of the restaurant, he sprinted for the nearest convenience store and bought a quart of milk, downing the whole thing as soon as he'd paid. "Good frickin' lord… that woman was trying to kill me!" he gasped for breath. The store clerk, and one of his friends. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at him.
"What ARE you mumbling about, Sasuke?" he asked, sounding bored. "My worst enemy just made me sushi and I had a wasabi OD." he said, searching for last drops of milk from the carton. Shikamaru blinked and then laughed. "Wow, dude. Sucks for you."
Sasuke twitched. "Hey, she must have put a pound of wasabi in there! It was spicier than your mom's stir fry!" Shikamaru looked impressed. "And you actually lived. Very nice." Sasuke sighed at walked behind the counter of the store. Shikamaru's parents owned the place, and let him work there on days he had nothing better to do.
He sat down in on a stool that was actually for Shikamaru, sighing. Shika raised an eyebrow and sat on the counter. "Something on your mind?" he asked, curious. "Yeah. You know the girl who just tried to kill me with wasabi? Well, Naruto is asking her out tomorrow." "And?" "And… I think she's cute too."
Shika looked weirded out. "You dig the chicks that try to kill you?" "No, no! She's pretty, and when she looks at anyone but me, she's really genuine and kind. What I did to make her hate me, I have no idea." Sasuke explained, looking exasperated. Shikamaru pulled out a cloth and shined the counter. "Well I don't know what to tell you Sasuke. Maybe you should just ask her."
"You can't just go up to someone and ask them why they hate you!"
"I did it. I asked Temari why she hated me and it turned out she liked me but didn't really know how to express it. We're together now, aren't we?"
"Well, yeah… but Shika, Temari is a bit of a special case."
"Just because she's a WWE Diva competitor is no reason to pull out the 'special case' excuse."
"Yeah… sure."
"Anyways. Sasuke, just ask her. It's better then playing stupid guessing games that will drive you both crazy."
Sasuke nodded. "Fine, I'll ask her tomorrow after school."
Shika looked satisfied. "You better report back to me right afterwards."
I'm stupid for Posting more Chapter-fics when I should just be working on LVS. Oh well… only if I get ten reviews will new chapters appear.
Ja ne!
Griffin