As her four friends exited her car, Sakura locked her dark red Scion. Her best friend since she was little, Ino, was tugging on another childhood friend, Hinata, trying to get her to loosen up her jacket. Temari was giggling about something to Tenten and all girls formed into a pack while they walked to a group of troublesome boys. As Sakura tossed her car keys into her bag, she spotted her crush since 4th grade, Sasuke, ambushed with girls on one side, and a loud obnoxious Naruto on the other. Hinata spotted Naruto too, and she began to grow red and freeze into place. "I-I think I'll go find where my c-classes are girls. L-Later!" Hinata said, making an excuse to not get seen by her new boyfriend, but she was too late. "HIIIIIIINAAAAAATAAAAAA!" Naruto called out, arms open wide, running towards the shy female.
While Ino rushed into the lap of her boyfriend Shikamaru, Temari threw her bag over her shoulder, "Girls, since I'm a senior, I gotta go." She waved and walked off towards the gym area, where another senior stood waiting, and from the look of it, it was her brother Kankarou. Tenten also went off to greet her boyfriend, Neji, playing with his hair to catch his attention and kissing him when he looked at her. Sakura sighed, 'I'm single and my dream guy would never date me ever. Even in an alternate universe,' she decided to look at him again and took in his features. Dark, onyx eyes that shone light off but wouldn't let any emotion show, broad shoulders, tall figure, styled navy blue hair. Before she knew it, Sakura had walked over to Sasuke and began to stroke his bangs, throwing his fan girls into shocked hissy-fits.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed, looking at her. As soon as his eyes met hers, he knew there was nothing he could do about it. Sakura had zoned out, her eyes distant but a soft smile tugged on her lips. Sasuke felt a slight burning sensation on his cheeks as he held Sakura's hand, bringing her back to earth. "H-Huh?" Sakura gasped, snatching her hand out of the smirking male's. "Watch what you do and stop zoning out," he sighed as he stood up, towering over Sakura by a few inches. "Did you have a growth spurt?" she asked, looking up and down before meeting Sasuke's gaze, "I guess," he mumbled. Sakura knew Sasuke wouldn't have said anything if she didn't look him in the eyes, she never thought about it, but she wondered if he did it with only her. "Oh. Isn't Temari celebrating her 17th birthday soon?" He asked, still looking down at Sakura, taking in her emerald eyes, in Sasuke's mind, his world. Bringing up random topics just so their conversation wouldn't end. Sakura nodded, not wanting the conversation to end either but had been tugged away before she could say anything.
"She said she wasn't doing anything in the car, right Sakura?" Ino asked, butting into their conversation with slight jealousy due to the most popular guy giving her best friend full attention. "Y-Yeah." Sakura stated, stunned. "My parents opened up a new building in town to host private parties like this, do you want me to set up an appointment?" Sasuke asked as he pulled out his phone. "I can get my parents to decorate, you know, since we're that kind of company." Ino said competitively, but Sasuke just mumbled a "hn" representing his agreement. While Ino and Sasuke planned Temari's party, Sakura walked off to a lonely tree, sending a text to Temari telling her not to plan ANYTHING. She sat at the tree's trunk before a breeze blew over, throwing her hair in front of her face. Before she could even sort her hair out, a grunt was heard in front of her. "You're kind of in my spot, so don't mind if I sit in front of you," said a familiar slurred voice, recognized as the school's genius, Shikamaru. "Hey Shikamaru, how ar-" "You like Sasuke, don't you?" he asked, leaning in on his elbow, a smirk appearing on his face. Sakura's jaw dropped, not knowing what to say, she started to stutter and the only words that came out were gibberish. "W-What, I-I, You, Huh?" she finished off. Shikamaru dusted off his jeans and adjusted his forest green hoodie, "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it. Secret's safe with me." he said confidently and began walking away. "Where are you going?" Sakura and Ino called after him and he turned back just in time for the bell to ring. "Class," he yawned, turning back towards his first period.
Sakura got up from her seat with the help of a familiar hand. She let her hand float above it softly before wrapping her fingers around and pulling to stand up. "Thanks," she said as she looked up, meeting eyes with her pale-skinned prince, "Sasuke..." A strand of hair flew in front of her face and Sasuke held her hands down, he looked around before fixing the hair himself. "Did you even try to look good on the first day?" Sasuke teased, getting a flustered reaction out of Sakura. He walked away before she could call him names or kill him with her gibberish. He turned around to her with a shocking expression. His face was soft, looking at Sakura as if she were a new baby girl, his baby girl. Fixed on his lips, Sakura stared at him in awe, 'How could someone so cold and heart-wrecking become this so quickly?' she thought. "Try to get to class on time. I want to see you soon." he muttered. Sasuke's face turned blank as he turned around again and Sakura's instincts took over. She began to walk towards him and stretched her arm out, grabbing his right bicep, which flexed from shock. He turned his face to see the top of her head as her arm looped around his. He didn't want Sakura to get bothered by his fan girls, and he didn't want her to know he had a soft spot for her, so he wiggled out of her lock. "A-Ahh. Sorry." Sakura stuttered, tilting her head down to the ground. Sasuke stared as she hurriedly walked ahead of him to class. 'What was I thinking?' Both love-struck teenagers thought, regretting their recent decisions.
The day went by fairly fast for our heroine, but her usual routine was clouded by daydreams and thoughts of what had happened this morning. She stared out of the classroom window tapping her pen, watching leaves get blown off of trees and some couples, holding hands, laughing, and sneaking off campus. When she looked back inside at her classmates, she saw everyone doing exactly what they were known for, but Ino and Shikamaru caught her eye. This time, Ino was the one sleeping in class and Shikamaru wasn't trying to wake her up, he just stared. Sakura looked at Naruto and Hinata next, Hinata smiling while looking downwards, Naruto going on loudly about his summer trip. She took a glance at Sasuke who was massaging his neck, smirking at the volume his best friend could reach. She looked away before Sasuke could meet her gaze and began to watch Tenten and Neji. Tenten was leaning back in her chair, looking real tough but you could see from her facial expression that she was a girl at heart. Her eyes lit up as she looked back and forth from her best friend and boyfriend, the latter was trying to get her to sit like a normal girl.
Sakura chuckled to herself, then noticed how distant she actually was from the rest of the group. She was sitting on the opposite side of the classroom, only a few people such as Kiba, Chouji, Shino, and others sat in front or behind her. Without thinking, Sakura looked back to her raven-haired boy who was already staring at him. Her cheeks turned a light pink and she leaned on her elbow, determined to get Sasuke Uchiha to break. Sasuke did his signature move, locking his fingers and hiding a smirk while he watched her. Hair slipping and tumbling over her shoulders, the shine of her eyes, so much different from his which reflected everything. While they were lost in their contest, Naruto stopped talking and looked at Sakura, then at Sasuke. "Hey teme, why are you staring at Sakura?" he asked, only to get a "hn" from Sasuke. "TEME, DON'T 'HNNNN' ME!" He shouted, standing from his seat, causing Hinata to jump a bit.
"Naruto!" Sakura gasped, standing up, "W-What are you talking about?" she lied, she wouldn't want people to spread rumors and ruin Sasuke's cool reputation. "I was staring at her. So what?" He groaned, turning his head away from the class who were staring at the commotion. Ino had woken up grumpily from Naruto, but when she heard what Sasuke said, she whipped her head around at Sakura, slapping Shikamaru in the face with her ponytail and shot Sakura a 'GOOD JOB!' look. Shikamaru turned towards Sasuke and mumbled something only the two of them could hear, putting Naruto into another angry fit.
"Two minutes til the bell rings, start packing up." Kakashi-sensei groaned before once again getting lost in his dirty book. As the class sorted themselves back up, Sakura tried to regain her composure. 'What's up with Sasuke lately?' she thought. Before she had even put half of her things back in her bag, his hand grabbed a few of her items. "S-Sasuke!" Sakura said, embarrassed that she had thought about him and here he was, doing something unusual again. After he helped her pack and the bell rang, she got up quickly and pulled him back. "What?" he said a bit coldly. "We need to talk." Sakura said, determination shining through her face and a smirk forming on his. "Sure thing." He looked around the classroom before patting Sakura's head and walking off. As she watched him walk off, she slapped her forehead. 'What is this jerk doing? I'll find out soon enough...'
A few periods passed and Sakura hadn't seen Sasuke except for exchanged glances in the hallway. As she pushed open the cafeteria doors, she was greeted with loud chatter and filled lunch tables with even more lined up or outside eating, strictly Juniors and Seniors. Sakura lined up quickly near some Freshmen gossiping about her friends.
"Hey have you seen those Juniors? They're like the hottest ones here!"
"I know right, not even the Seniors compare to them. Who's the guy with the dark hair?"
"The one with the duck-butt hair?"
Sakura giggled, getting strange looks from the girls.
"Umm... Okay..? And yeah, he's suuuuper hot!"
"I know, I wouldn't mind getting in his pants."
'Urgh' Sakura groaned. She didn't feel as clean anymore. 'Dirty little freshmen.' She hurriedly swiped her ID and walked over to the glass doors that lit up half the cafeteria with the sunlight. Using her back to push it open, she glanced around the garden. Trees and rose bushes set up decoratively, stone tables covered by golden umbrellas, even a fountain and a pond filled with Koi sat in the middle of it all. She quickly spotted her friends at a table to the left and took a seat by Ino.
"Hey girl!" Ino cheerfully greeted Sakura with a hug, and looked at her best friend. Ino knew something was up, and she could only guess it had to do with Sasuke. "What's up, Haruno?" Ino asked as she tilted her head to the side, her bangs and ponytail sliding over, her blue eyes curiously taking in Sakura. 'Geez. Sakura's really grown! She's really pretty too.' Ino thought, as her eyes wandered down to Sakura's chest. 'Eh. Just not in the boob department.' She quickly glanced up as Sakura began to speak. "Um... Well, have you seen Sasuke?" She asked, causing everyone to look at her questionably. "Oh?" Ino giggled before giving Sakura a pout, "I haven't seen him. Why?" "I just wanted to talk to him a bit, that's all." Sakura said, matter-of-factly, before taking a bite of chicken from her salad.
The whole day went by and Sakura never saw Sasuke again. At the end of the day, she thought she saw his signature bird-butt spikes, but it wasn't him, it was just some creepy Sophomore who deserved to lose a tooth. Sakura began to walk towards her car, Ino had told Sakura she didn't need a ride home today because she was going home with Shikamaru. She remembered the wink and giggle Ino gave her and only hoped for the best for Shikamaru. Digging through her bag, she finally found her car keys and looked at a key chain that she had attached to it. She had forgotten about it all summer though it was the only one there. Sakura opened the locket to see a picture of her and Ino in 6th grade, she smiled with watery eyes as she took out that photo and revealed a secret photo of her and Sasuke in 7th grade. She laughed as a tear dropped down.
That day was so much fun. They had gone on a field trip to a zoo in another city and the girls were in the same group with Sasuke and a few others. Though Ino had liked Sasuke too and hesitated to taking a secret photo of Sakura and Sasuke, she submitted. While his back was turned, Sakura slid into the shot, doing a peace sign and smiling widely. Sasuke turned around and the camera quickly flashed, getting their picture. Ino gasped as Sakura rushed over to look at the picture. "What? What?" she giggled, but when she saw the picture, she knew. Sakura and Ino shot Sasuke a glance that kind of apologized, but they immediately ran off to swoon over how photogenic he was.
She stared at that picture for a long time before covering it again and shutting the locket. Holding her keys to her chest, she leaned her back against her car. She didn't have to worry about anyone seeing her cry because everyone had gone off their separate ways, home, work, wherever. She stared up at the clouds and the tears slid down, one after one, she really hated to admit it, but Sakura liked Sasuke again. This time, he wasn't as cold, but he was more of a flirt and that scared her, what if he played with her heart like he does with girls to get his way? Sakura sighed as she turned back around to her car door to unlock it.
"Sakura?"
She glanced up quickly, mouth covered as she saw Sasuke walking out of the corridors, his bag slung over one shoulder. She quickly got into the car and started it up. Sasuke tried to run over to stop her, but Sakura had already backed up out of the parking lot and was driving away. She turned on the radio as she tried to focus on driving but her mind kept flickering back to his face as she made her escape. It was another strange face. Sasuke wasn't Sasuke anymore and she didn't know how to act around him. He was showing her sides of him she never thought she'd see, and she didn't know whether to believe them.
As soon as Sakura had gone home, she rushed upstairs, avoiding her parents' questions and confused stares. She changed into a large t-shirt and plopped down on her bed. She had homework, but her head was too clouded to think about it. Unconsciously, she picked up her phone. Two new messages. One was from Ino, already complaining that Shikamaru had fallen asleep on her and her plan was a failure. The other text was from Sasuke.
- "I don't get why girls like you cry."
He wrote, Sakura scoffed, looking down to the next sentence.
- "I don't get why someone like you should cry. I'm sorry I didn't show up at lunch. Something happened. We really should talk though. Can you text me something back?"
Sakura stared at the text. 'Someone like me? He still wants to talk?' She blushed a little before typing in a little message.
- "I'm okay! Don't worry about our talk. See you tomorrow Sasuke!~ -^^-"
She smacked her forehead again after she had pressed send. 'Uwahh. I'm such an idiot. He's going to read that and probably get mad at me again or make fun of me for texting like a little girl.' In the middle of her inner conflict, her phone vibrated again.
- "Don't lie. Come to my house tmr."
She read the text over and over and eyed the address. 'Haaah?'