Genre In Order of Amount: Romance, Humor, Drama, Hurt/Comfort

SLIGHT Tradegy

Chapter 1

Do You Have A Map? Because I Just Got Lost In Your Eyes.

Sakura listened carefully to the clopping of expensive high heels, and bowed her head deeper into her book. She didn't want to be doing something wrong just in case Aruka happened to pass by her room in a bad mood. Last night had been a terrible beating, and Sakura was continuously reminded by the bright red patch on her hand that still screamed in pain after having the reason for the clopping's heel dug deep into the sensitive flesh of the back of it.

Aruka was Sakura's sister-made-guardian after their parents had died 8 years ago in a car accident when driving home. She was cruel, mean, and a violent girl only 2 years older than Sakura herself. Both sister's despised each other greatly, that one thing was definitely for sure.

Sakura rubbed her hand gently as she continued to read, when Aruka strutted over to her, "Are you done yet?" She asked, tapping her heel as she looked down at the paper in front of the book Sakura had propped up on the table.

"I finished it an hour ago...I'm just studying ahead." Sakura replied, making sure to remove her eyes away from the words and to make eye-contact with her sister.

Sakura had been home schooled for as long as she could remember. Well, technically, it had been her own choice to do so since Aruka refused to teach her anything especially since she had dropped out of high school during sophomore year. Even though it was tough to go back and forth to the library to pick up her own books, it did have its advantages. For example, if she were to go to school as a junior at the age of 16, she would be able to answer questions only answered by college graduates. She didn't complain though, actually, Sakura enjoyed studying and learning new challenging things. After all, it was the only thing she had for entertainment due to the fact that Aruka NEVER gave her anything.

No Christmas presents, birthday presents, heck, even anything relatively thought of as a 'gift'. If Sakura was to ever want something she had to earn it by taking part-time jobs. She didn't manage to save much, since Aruka always took 90% of whatever she earned.

"Did you buy those?" Sakura asked, pointing to the expensive high heels. Aruka smiled and turned her foot side to side to examine it.

"Yes, I actually bought them yesterday, do you like them?" Sakura inwardly sighed in relief at the smile on Aruka's face. That was always a sign that she had found someone new to please her.

Only last night, had Aruka broken up with her 98th boyfriend (Thus resulting to the beating that Sakura had to sit through). It had lasted a little longer than all the others, due to the fact that the guy had been stinking rich. Aruka made sure to never consider herself as a slut, even though she dumped the guy after they had sex and after they had taken her "so-called" virginity. This was Aruka's way to feel better about herself, and a way she got money since she didn't have much of a job. (Really, can YOU live off a week's salary from McDonald's?)

"So...," Sakura started off, placing her pencil down, "Who's the new guy?"

Aruka looked away from her feet to look at her, evaluating, "Well...He's the same age as me, he refers to himself as an artist, and he is SO sexy." She stared out the window next to her and mumbled quietly to herself, "And hopefully his package is sexy too."

Sakura had to stop herself from groaning out in disgust and instead just nodded, turning back to her work. "Oh yeah," Aruka began, turning back to the studying girl a large scowl now replacing the smile, "He's going to come over tomorrow, so if you do anything to interfere with my date, you won't be eating anything for a week!"

Sakura nodded her head numbly, knowing that she wasn't lying and kept her eyes on her work as her sister walked out of the room. When the door shut behind her, Sakura relaxed and stared out her open window into the night quietly as she rested her head on her hand.

I wonder what number 99 will be like...

Sakura knew that Aruka never had a preferred taste in men, and dated so many types that it confused Sakura as to how she was able to keep up with all of them. Sakura couldn't remember any of their names and just called them by their number which usually confused them greatly.

"I wonder if 99 will be nice..." She wondered aloud, blinking her eyes rapidly so as not to fall asleep. "He can't be any worse than 98..." She muttered, thinking back to the days where she had to clean the constant piles of beer cans that littered the hallways of the condo and having to ignore the drunk sexual comments targeted towards her.

She shook her head, "Need to get back to work..." She struggled to focus her tired blurry vision on the small print in front of her.

"If 3a+13c*abc=29bc+a then...what...does..."

Sakura slowly blinked her eyes awake and squinted at the light that shone through her window, quickly snapping into focus as she quickly sat up straight. "I...fell...asleep..." She frowned, irritated at herself for missing such precious alone time she had had with her book. She yawned, and stretched before standing up to walk to her dresser and brush through her exotic pink hair. When she was satisfied that it was presentable, she stepped down the stairs slowly and quietly, so as not to grab the attention of the two voices chatting away in the room next to her.

She paused at the last step and stared at the open area that shown to the living room, and the large leap it would take for her to pass by it without being seen and be able to slip into the kitchen.

She did NOT want to be seen by her sister and have to go through the usual meeting with her new boyfriend. It annoyed her to no end, no matter how curious she was to find out what their personality was like.

Shifting foot to foot she speculated the distance yet again, and took a deep breath to ready herself for the run. She took a deep breath to ready herself-

"Sakura come in here!" Aruka called from the room causing Sakura to release her breath and grunt before entering the room with a scowl.

"Coming..." She mumbled unenthusiastically as she made her way across the room and stood in front of the couch. Aruka turned away from the man she was facing to look at Sakura with a large cheesy fake smile.

"There you are silly! I've been waiting for you to wake up so I could introduce you two!" Aruka turned her head to look at the man again, "Deidara, this is Sakura. Sakura, this is Deidara."

Both looked at each other for the first time at that exact moment. Sakura had to admit the guy was fairly good-looking what with blond hair and blue eyes and was definitely on top of all the other guys Aruka had dated in the looks department.

After a few moments Sakura finally raised an eyebrow as he continued to stare at her, "Um...Nice to meet you..."

Aruka glanced back and forth between them, feeling slightly uncomfortable with the atmosphere. "I'll...uh...Go make myself some breakfast..." She said while standing up and walking out of the room.

Sakura stared at the hallway where Aruka had turned and then slowly turned her attention back to the blond. He continued to stare at her with a speculative look on his face as he moved to rest his head on his hand while his elbow rested on his knee.

Sakura fidgeted, "Uh...Is there something wrong?"

He just blinked and let out a, "Hmmm..." before a smile slowly made its way. "Are you two really related, yeah?" He asked, finally speaking. She acknowledged the low baritone tone to his voice and nodded her head in response. "Hey Sakura, did you know just how pretty you are, yeah?"

'So it's the flirty playboy type this time...' Sakura thought to herself, rolling her eyes. "Uh, yeah, sure, whatever."

He smirked to himself, "You don't seem to like me very much...Why is that, yeah?"

She sighed, "If you really want to know why I don't like you 99, is because you're a fucking manwhore." She crossed her arms as her frown grew.

"Sakura!" Aruka shouted, standing in the doorway and looking at her little sister angrily. "Why would you say something like that!?"

99 just laughed loudly and waved his hand dismissively, "No, it's fine, it's fine. Aruka you have a very cute sister, yeah." He smirked wider at Sakura, "I hope we get to know each other better at some point, pinky." He turned to Aruka. "I think it's about time we left, yeah."

Aruka glanced one last time at Sakura before nodding her head and placing her hand on the arm 99 offered her as they walked out the door and left Sakura to collapse onto the couch.

Where did that guy come off thinking he could just go ahead and call her cute? She was pissed off that was clear as she glared at the coffee table in front of her.

'C'mon don't let it get to you, he'll eventually turn out to be just like all the other guys...' She thought to herself, trying to calm herself down as she closed her eyes.

After a few moments of darkness Sakura sat up awake realizing she had fallen asleep yet again, and checked the clock on the wall nearby to see it was now 3:00 PM. She groaned uncomfortably from the stiffness in her neck after having slept sitting up with her head rested behind her.

"Hey, you finally awake?" A voice asked making Sakura blink her eyes wide to see Aruka looking down at her blankly.

Sakura yawned and forced a small smile, "Oh, welcome back. How was your date-" A sharp slap echoed through the empty halls of the house before Aruka pulled her hand back and continued to stare blankly.

"Let that be a warning." She muttered, turning on her foot as she left the room.

Sakura placed her hand on her numb cheek softly and watched Aruka's back as she turned to walk up the stairs.

A slap was nothing compared to other punishments she had received, so she pushed any hard feelings away. However, the REASON for the slap drew her to a blank in her head. Had it been because she had called 99 a manwhore?

No, she had called previous boyfriends worse and she hadn't done anything.

Had it been because she had had a bad date? She nodded her head, accepting that conclusion finding it common that Aruka took her frustrations out on her.

'Wonder what happened...' She thought, wondering but not really caring as she stood to walk into the kitchen and grab a snack.

After settling with a piece of toast, she grabbed her coat and ran outside.

Sakura worked at a local coffee shop nearby for money to pay for the books she saved up to buy. With an employment of only 2 people Sakura worked alongside the other coffee girl, Ino. She and Ino got along greatly and had been great friends ever since they started to work alongside each other. The shop never had many customers, so that always left them to talk about regular things to each other.

Sakura rushed through the doorway, practically throwing her coat onto the coat hanger beside the door.

"You're late!" Ino accused, tapping her manicured nails against the counter.

"Yeah, yeah sorry, I fell asleep." Sakura grinned sheepishly as she took her uniform green apron off the hook beside the cash register.

"MmHmm...That's what they all say." Said Ino, resting her head on her hand. "So...," She started, staring at the bright red patch on Sakura's cheek. "What happened this time?"

After a couple weeks of working with Ino she had started to notice the frequent scars and bruises that appeared on Sakura's face, arms, and legs. She was the only one who knew of Aruka's beatings and was the only one Sakura confided in.

"I actually don't know this time, I think it was because she had a bad date." Sakura mumbled, struggling to tie the loose ends on the back of her apron.

"What number is it now? Guy 5,092?" She asked as she walked behind Sakura to help her tie it.

Sakura laughed, "No Ino, it's guy number 99."

"Whatever, they're all whore bags." She huffed. "There you go." She said, stepping away from the tied apron.

"Thanks."

"You know if I had the time to go to your house I'd fucking claw your bitch of a sister's eyes out, right?" Sakura laughed again as Ino made a hand motion of what it would look like when she did the act. "So anyway, what's number 4,007 like?"

"It's number 99...And, well, as much as I hate to admit it...The guy is pretty hot.." Sakura mumbled awkwardly.

"Ooh! Do tell!"

"Not much to tell, except that he's a total playboy." She frowned, thinking back to the cocky smirk on the guys face.

"Why do you think that?"

"He HAS to be one, he called me cute." She rolled her eyes the same way she did when he had told her.

Ino let out a small squeal , "Maybe he likes you!"

Sakura sighed, "Oh please Ino, he's most likely just trying to get on my good side..."

"But-" Ino stopped herself and turned when the doorbell chimed signaling a customer. Both girls turned with a big smile.

"Welcome, how may we help you?"

"Well, what a small world we seem to live in, yeah." Sakura froze stiff at the familiar baritone voice, and raised her head only to conclude her fears.

99 smirked, "You seem happy to see me."

Ino tugged on Sakura's shirt to whisper in her ear, "You know that hottie!?"

"Unfortunately..." She grumbled, glaring at him. She pushed Ino aside as he sat down in front of the counter, "What do you want?"

The smirk continued to stay plastered on his face, "Now is that any way to treat a customer, yeah?"

She clenched her fists and forced a smile, "How may I help you, sir?"

"Mmm...Aruka told me you go to the library a lot, can I borrow your library card?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Um...Why?"

"Cause I wanted to check you out."

Ino let out a low whistle, "Daaaamn...That was a good one!" She said to him, impressed.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Whatever...Listen, if you're not going to buy anything can you just go?"

"Alright, alright," He said, standing up grinning, "I was going to get a cup of coffee, but I can tell when I'm not wanted...See you later, cutie, yeah!"

Ino turned to Sakura when the door shut behind him, "He's gorgeous AND funny!"

"Sure, whatever you say Ino..." Sakura muttered, rolling her eyes for the 5th time that day.

Me: Okay! Okay! I know I've been gone for almost a month and this is all I have to give you...But, I've been procrastinating!

Ino: (looks both ways) Wait...I'M helping this time!?!

Me: Yup!

Ino: NOOO! WHY!?!

Me: (huffs) Why you guys seem to not enjoy my presence is beyond me...Anyway! I will be making the title of each chapter some kind of pick-up line that suits it!

Ino: (Still whining)

Me: Going back to the story! I'd like to know you're guy's thoughts on the pick-up line Deidara had just used!

Ino: Why me...

Me: So, Please Read and Review!