CHAPTER 1

Sakura closed her eyes, and expelled the cast of chatter flooding around her. It was like a hell hole. This time, she wished it could just freeze over for at least the remaining ten minutes of the class. Retreating from the sanctuary of her arms, she peeked her head from underneath them, and looked around the room. Textbooks, pens, pencils, and uncooperative teenagers infested the room. At this point, describing it as an ant farm would serve as an undeserving compliment. She sighed, and resumed her observation of the classroom. If Mr. Hatake had proven on numerous occasions that he clearly didn't give a shit, this was now an understatement. While the rest of the class was in havoc, the man who was being paid to control it – was reading a "novel". Oh, but of course, this was no normal novel. The man whom the students referred to as their English teacher did very little of the teaching part, and even less of the English. Mr. Hatake enjoyed pictures in his masterpieces, rarely words. In English; his porn. He was fully aware of the fact that the class knew about his preferred literature. However, this did not faze him. If not, he was more than willing to share it with the rest of the class. The only people this didn't disgust were the boys in the class. Either the ones who had never seen the female anatomy before without anything covering it – because clearly, they couldn't get any – or the boys who got it all the time. Mr. Hatake believed that since all of the students were already old enough to know these things – considering they were already physically in this state – that it would only be wise to further educate everyone about it - which clearly contradicted the role of him being an English teacher.

Before she could further humiliate her thoughts, she turned to look at the students whom she actually enjoyed paying attention to. Tanned skinned, blue eyed, and beautiful sun-kissed hair – there stood Naruto Uzumaki. It was unclear to Sakura why people didn't like him – or girls, to be more specific. Other then the fact that he was unnecessarily loud and a complete knucklehead, there was nothing unattractive about him. It seemed hard for people to look past his personality flaws, and into the ones that really mattered. However, at the moment, it would be a deep search for anybody. Currently, he stood at the chalkboard, smiling broadly with a small piece of chalk in his right hand, and preparing to launch his new attempt of "artistic ability". When he moved to reveal it, Naruto was faced with moans and groans of displeasure, and even the occasional paper airplane heaved in his direction. Of course, Naruto was unfazed. His determination to "never give up" landed him in an even harder effort to polish the drawing with his finishing touches, and even when the class criticized him even more when it was finished, he smiled and explained once again his ambitiousness to never give up. This determination landed him on the football team, when he was beat down. On the basketball team, when he was embarrassed on the court freshman year. And even on honour roll, when he worked day and night to prove the people wrong who doubted he was smart enough to know what two plus two was. Sakura smiled. She had always wished she could be like Naruto. Although he was her closest friend, she envied him.

The rest of her friends weren't in this particular class, so there was rarely anyone to communicate with who wasn't acting like a goof ball. Sadly, there was only one other person in her class who touched a bruised nerve. Sasuke Uchiha. One of the things Sakura wished she could clarify about him was that he was a jerk. However, this was without a doubt un-provable. There was a certain misconception about the Uchiha: he wasn't a jerk, he just acted like one. This became thoroughly clear to Sakura about a year ago when she and Sasuke had dated. Anyone who would hear about this would have clearly had a massive heart attack or brain cramp. However, this was true. Sasuke and Sakura were complete opposites – hence why the split. But this was no planned dating. Oh, no. It was Naruto's idea of a joke. They were not even remotely attracted to each other; since Sasuke believed Sakura was an over-emotional, picky, annoying know-it-all, and Sakura believed that Sasuke was an emotionless, cold-hearted, gay bastard. Of course, this touched a nerve with Sasuke – well, the gay part did – subconsciously causing him to announce that he could prove he was not gay. Hence: Naruto's idea of a joke. The thought of Sasuke and Sakura actually having to portray themselves in this matter for a week was disturbing as it was. What was even worse was acknowledging the fact that there was a part of her that liked it.

"Alright adolescents," announced Mr. Hatake, "Listening to you carry on about summer and heartthrobs is giving me a brain cramp. Enough." The entire class froze. This was a mouth full, coming from Mr. Hatake. The most he had ever said to the students were in the morning, when he tried to initiate another excuse for him being late, and when he handed out a textbook, pointed to a page and said "Read." Quietly, everyone began to take their seats, and resume their discussions in whispers. Sakura sighed and looked at the clock. One minute to two. She sighed again. Maybe if she just held her breath…

"Just go." Once again, the class stopped what they were doing at looked to their teacher. He was letting them go early? Realizing that this was a delicacy, the class got up and hurriedly made their way out of the class. It was useless asking questions.

"Sakura!" She sighed.

"Naruto, I'm literally less than a metre away from you. No need to yell. I have a headache." He smiled ruefully, and apologized.

"I can't help it. Me and Sasuke –"

"Sasuke and I." She corrected.

"Sasuke and I are going to the movies later tonight. Want to come?" She sighed again and looked in the direction of the said Uchiha. He stood at the door, impatiently staring at the floor. Clearly he was waiting for Naruto. Naruto wanted her to go for either two reasons: to pay for his food, or to tease her and Sasuke about the tenth grade. Either way, she would eventually have to bare both. "Alright. However, if I have to listen to you bicker about Sasuke and I, I will castrate you. Understood?" Naruto paled, and then nodded. Oh, he understood alright. Naruto had once witnessed a castration in first semester science, and had been traumatized since. This only fazed him for about half a second, though. He smiled, grabbed her hand, and led her toward the door where the bastard waited.

"Don't worry, bud. I'm not promising you. But I'll try. Try." The way Naruto stressed the word try made Sakura giggle, much to her dismay. Clearly he was afraid of what would happen if he made a promise to her he couldn't fulfill. Naruto let go of Sakura, and slapped his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He flinched violently, and shook it off.

"Hey Teme! Sakura's going to come with us." Sasuke opened his mouth, and then closed it. He rarely spoke, and when he did, it was the infamous hn.

He looked to Sakura, and narrowed his eyes. "Hn."

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other, and sighed. Typical. Sasuke turned on his heal, and walked out of the classroom. This was a signal to follow suite. Sakura smiled crookedly, and walked along with Naruto after Sasuke. There was rarely a time when the halls weren't crowded, so they all took the opportunity to get out quickly before it filled up too fast. Just as they made it outside, the bell rang. They all sighed in relief.

"Jeez, I don't get how so many kids can fit into one building," said Naruto. "It's like the damn apocalypse in there." He rubbed his hands over his face, and yawned. It had been a very long day. Sakura sat down on the bench in front of the school, and looked around. For some reason, her eyes could only focus on Sasuke. He sat on the bench in front of her, and was listening to his ipod with his eyes closed. For a boy, he was beautiful – almost too attractive. His features were too soft, his mouth and nose evenly proportioned. And when he smiled, it was a beautiful smile. She wished he would do it more often. The most intriguing thing about his features were his eyes. They were a soft, coal black – when he was content. When something upset him, they would harden violently. His hair was strange to her. She had known for a fact that he literally did nothing to it when he woke up, except do just that. Wake up, dress, and go to school. He never brushed his hair. It was a deep set raven colour, and would signal a dark blue when it came in contact with the sun. She hated the fact that he did nothing to make it neat or appropriate, and it was just that: neat and appropriate. He must have sensed her staring at him, because he opened his eyes and looked directly at her. She blushed, and looked down. Sasuke smirked and closed his eyes again. She knew why he smirked. He always smirked when he made her feel tingly, because he knew that he did.

She spoke to break her own tension. She directed her question to Naruto, who was currently sitting next to Sasuke, attempting to put something down the back of his shirt. "Uhm… what are we waiting for again?" Naruto dropped the item to the floor, and looked at Sakura. "Oh… well, I'm waiting for Hinata. I asked her if she wanted to come, too." He sat forward, and rested his elbows on his knees. "Ino says she's too busy – something about plastic sabotage?"

Sakura smiled. "She means a makeover."

Naruto blinked, and then frowned. "Well, how the hell am I supposed to know what girl talk is? Anyways, Kiba and Shino are at soccer, and… uhh…" He tapped his chin. "Oh, right! Choji and Shika said they had something else to do." Naruto smiled wide, and began to laugh. "I always knew they were gay for eachother."

Sakura paled. "Naruto… Shikamaru has a girlfriend. He can't be gay. And Choji… is just Choji."

Naruto rolled his eyes, and tapped Sasuke's shoulder. He grunted and turned away. Naruto sighed, got up, and sat next to Sakura. "Well, at least you're my bud." He smiled and hugged her shoulders. "Naruto, I'm not your bud. I'm your friend." He rolled his eyes again, and laughed. Suddenly, Naruto bolted upright and ran behind the bench. Sakura and Sasuke looked in his direction, and noticed a beat red Hinata being swung in the air by Naruto. Sakura laughed, and Sasuke shook his head. He could never truly understand why Naruto was so dunce; why he couldn't notice how much the poor girl really liked him. Even though Naruto and Hinata had been dating since the ninth grade, she still turned into a strawberry whenever she saw him. How Naruto had ended up liking her had been… interesting, to say the least. An unlikely collision between Naruto and Hinata had caused it - literally. When he was trying out for the football team, the ball had been thrown too far, and collided with Hinata. She was the school photographer, and an amazing one to add. This was how Naruto came across her existence: with a hand to pull her up, and an undying plea for forgiveness. And then, making it up to her with a date. Thus, the Naruto and Hinata duo.

He let her down, and smiled at her. "Sorry I didn't meet you at your class. We got let out early, and wanted to get out of there before the hurricane started." She smiled at him, and looked down.

"It's okay… I was fine. You don't have to meet me everyday, Naruto…" He smiled at her; the special smile he had that was only reserved for her, and bent down to kiss her. Watching Naruto kiss Hinata was such an adorable sight. She was so shy about public displays of affection – while Naruto, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of it. He was more than willing to make it as public as possible. Sakura guessed it was a sense of possession – to show that she was his to the world. She hesitantly kissed him back, and gasped when he pulled her closer. When he let go of her, she blinked, smiled at him, and walked over to Sakura. He smiled back. However, this was a smile that only Sakura could read. It was his sad smile. He only smiled like that when he pretended he was okay. It became clear to Sakura one day what the smile meant, when Naruto began to tear up over Hinata's rejecting him physically. It hurt him that she never wanted to kiss him without looking around to see if they were alone, was nervous to hold his hand, or even hug him. For a while, Naruto became suspicious of her, and asked her if there was someone else. This wounded Hinata beyond words, since she'd already let Naruto know on numerous occasions that she loved him. She explained to him that she wasn't used to a boy liking her to this extent, and it scared her. What she didn't realize was that her being afraid, was hurting Naruto, too. He wanted her to know that she didn't have to be afraid; that he was there for her, no matter what. However, this tiny cut in their relationship became a large open wound. And although it wasn't fresh, something kept picking at the scab, and reopening it. And now, Naruto was trying his hardest to start fresh. It was slowly beginning to drown him.

Sakura frowned, but decided that speaking to Naruto about it would only upset him. She turned her gaze to Hinata, and smiled, as hard as it was. She sat down next to Sakura, and smiled back.

"It's been a while, Hinata. Well, since we've really spoken, I mean." Hinata drew in a breath, and looked back at Naruto. He was speaking to some other students, and laughing. She looked down at her fingers, and began to play with them.

"Yeah… it really has. I've just been… busy." Sakura was about to speak, when Sasuke stood up, and called out to Naruto. "Dobe. C'mon. I have work to do."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, said a goodbye to the others he was speaking to, then ran back.

Sasuke looked at Sakura and Hinata, and nodded. This, of course, meant let's go, without the verbal part. Sakura sighed, got up, and reached for Hinata's hand. Hinata ignored her hand and stood up on her own. For a second, this bothered Sakura, until Hinata grabbed Sakura's elbow and linked their arms. They both giggled, and began to walk toward Sasuke's car. Currently, he was the only one with a vehicle, considering he had enough money to get one. Naruto had tried to convince him on numerous occasions to buy him one, but Sasuke would just stare at him, and explain to him that what he just said was not even worth him raising a finger to slap him. It was beyond ridiculous. In that case, Naruto would try to counter the attack by mentioning that Sasuke contradicted the term best friends if he wasn't kind enough to get him a car, preferably a Pickup truck. This must have been enough for Sasuke to realize it was okay to harass Naruto. This earned Naruto a heavy hand to the head and face.

They had all reached the car in unison, and Naruto was first to grab the front seat. Sasuke sighed and got into the drivers seat, and Hinata and Sakura took their places in the back. There had been many an argument as to why the girls had to sit in the back between Sasuke and Sakura – featuring Naruto's occasional unnecessary two cents. Sakura would argue that girls were more frail then men (but of course, not weak) and could easily be crushed in the back. Sasuke would simply remind her that this was his damn car, and if he said the girls sat in the back, that was how it was going to be. Naruto was usually cut off before he could speak, precisely due to the fact that everyone knew he would have a very stupid comment to make.

...

Sakura and Sasuke walked away quickly, with a slightly baffled Hinata following suite. All three were mortified, and quite frankly bewildered at Naruto's actions. It had been his idea to go to the mall. Once they arrived there, it was also his idea to go to the arcade, and consistently lie to the employees that the machines were eating his tokens, just so he could get more. And then, the grand slam: his genius idea of sneaking into the movies. Not only were they all dumb enough to go with him – just so he could shut up and stop badgering them on doing it – but they were caught. They wouldn't have been, if it weren't for Naruto. They succeeded in getting into the theatre, on one condition: Sasuke had to be bribed by Naruto to flirt with the girls at the ticket booth enough for them to let him in. Stupid, but it worked. What Naruto bribed Sasuke with, was to be unknown.

However, when they were all properly seated – excluding Naruto – he thought it would be a joke to throw popcorn at heads in the audience: which concluded in a loud screech, an angry Hulk-looking father, and a fist that, luckily, didn't connect with Naruto's face, but his stomach, and security escorting them out.

"Ah, c'mon guys! How was I supposed to know it was a four year-old! It was dark!"

Sakura sighed, and spun around. Swiftly, she raised her hand and slapped him in the head. Verbally, Naruto expressed his pain, and demanded an explanation as to why she harassed him. When he came to realize the death glare, he kindly re-asked the question.

"Answering such a ridiculous question isn't worth my time, Dobe. Kami, you're so damn reckless!"

Naruto slightly smirked. "Well, technically, you answered the question already. And you sound just like Sasuke! Well… for a second there, you did."

"Naruto," spoke Hinata, coming to his aid, "I don't think you should keep talking."

Almost too eagerly he took the advice, and fled with it back to the car. Sadly, Hinata was dragged with him.

Sasuke shook his head. "It'll be interesting to see what happens when we graduate." Sakura smiled and agreed, continuing to walk towards the car. There was a silence as they walked – a very awkward one. Sakura sighed to break the silence, and Sasuke coughed. "Uh… so, how's your mom?" Sakura mentally slapped herself in the head for asking such a stupid question. Sasuke shrugged. "Fine."

It would have been polite for him to ask her how her mother was doing as well. However, this was not in Sasuke vocabulary, nor his personality.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, and squinted his eyes. "Hear that?" Sakura looked into the direction he stared at, and noticed a clearly frustrated Naruto and pale Hinata, arguing in the middle of the parking lot. This wasn't good, especially since it was attracting a rather large crowd.

"I'm done, Hinata!" Naruto threw his hands in the air, and swatted. "I can't do this anymore! We never talk, and when we do, it's only because Sakura forces us to. We never kiss, because you're so God damn self-conscious and worried about what everyone thinks! I can't even hug you or hold your hand without you flinching away from me!"

Hinata grew paler, and stuttered. "Naruto, I-I'm-"

"No Hinata! I'm done!"

"Naruto, just lis-"

"I don't understand why I didn't see the signs earlier!"

"Naruto, please-"

"You know what?"

"Naruto!"

"I could do so much better than you!"

Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata sucked in a sharp breath, and flinched. Even the audience looked rather pale. This was the first time that any of them had heard Naruto blow up like that, especially on Hinata. Naruto began to breathe harshly, and looked toward Sakura. His eyes narrowed, and he pointed a finger at Sakura.

"You don't say a word. Just don't." In an instant, Naruto walked as quickly out of sight as he possibly could. Sasuke looked to Sakura. "Just leave him be, Sakura." Sakura sadly nodded, and looked towards Hinata. She stared into the direction of where Naruto had taken off, and stood with her feet planted to the floor. It was hard to tell what she was feeling at that moment. Her face was a puzzle of emotions. When Naruto walked off, she looked scared and hurt. However, when Sakura walked over to her to ask her if she was alright, her expression changed to confusion.

"I… don't get what happened. He just… went mad."

Sakura quirked a brow, and studied Hinata's expression more carefully. "So… it was random?"

Hinata walked toward a curb, and sat down. Sakura followed suite.

"Well," she began, "We were walking to the car and then he just, stopped. He had a weird look on his face, and I asked him what was wrong. I don't know if I asked him in the wrong voice or something, but he just lost it. He started to scream at me about telling him the truth, and the rest – well, you and Sasuke walked up on. I'm scared, Sakura. I love him… I do… I don't want him to hate me! I don't!" She dropped her face into her hands, and bawled. Sakura was baffled, and couldn't think of anything else to do, but put her arms around her for solace. Sakura looked up to Sasuke, but noticed he was gone. His car was still there. She figured he must have gone after Naruto. She also noticed there was no longer a crowd.

She turned her attention back to Hinata, and cupped her face with her hands. "Hinata, listen. He's upset, that's clear enough. We don't know why yet-"

"He made it pretty clear, Sakura." Hinata whispered.

Sakura blushed. "Oh, yeah, well… that. Okay, so we know what's bothering him. We still don't know why he… sporadically did it." Hinata smiled wryly and looked back up. She grew pale again. When Sakura looked up as well, her suspicion was confirmed. Sasuke and Naruto were walking back together, both seeming to be content – especially Naruto. Sasuke must have said something amusing, since Naruto had a wide smile on his face, and placed a manly smack on Sasuke's shoulder.

Sakura got up, and noticed a strong weight accompanying her arm. She looked over to Hinata, and noticed the death-grip she had on her shoulder. Sakura wasn't sure whether she should have pushed her arm away, or solaced her some more. Instead, she went with a wry smile, and said she'd be back in a moment.

Very cautiously, she walked back over to the two. "Hey."

Naruto's face went from a goofy smile, to a sigh. "I've got to go. I'll talk to you later."

Sakura opened her mouth, and then closed it. She knew not to say anything, but to just accept it. Instead, she nodded in understanding and gave a reassuring smile. He glanced in Hinata's direction for a moment, padded Sasuke's back, and began to walk.

Sasuke looked towards Hinata. "Sakura."

"Yeah?"

"Get her in the car."

...

"They what?"

"Ino, keep it down! The whole world doesn't need to know about thi-"

"Oh for God's sake, Sakura. Everyone is going to know."

"Well geez Ino, if they wanted everyone to know, they would by now."

"Tenten, if I wanted your two cents, I'd ask for it."

"Oh shut up-"

"Shh! She's coming."

…

"…Did she just walk right past us?"

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Ino, if you speak one more ti-"

"Lalalalalala-"

"Guys, STOP."

Both girls looked at Sakura. "She started it…"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did! I said that the whole world doesn't need to know, and then you said…"

Whenever Tenten and Ino had a disagreement, it became almost completely irrelevant to Sakura. She sighed, got up, and followed Hinata outside. As the two girls rambled in the background, Sakura strategically attempted to sneak up on Hinata as she sat on the grass.

"If you wanted to join me, all you had to do was ask, Sakura."

Sakura stared. "Well, that was an uber fail." The two girls laughed as Sakura flopped down next to Hinata. Without Sakura even having to ask, or Hinata having to explain, Sakura knew why Hinata avoided the table. Question upon question would be asked; generally ones that Hinata would not want to answer. However, she needed to be checked up on.

For up until the end of lunch, they both sat in silence, staring into nothing-ness. It seemed more appropriate and comfortable then having a blown out discussion about the break-up.

"I called him last night…"

Or not.

Sakura turned to her. "Oh? What happened?"

"He wouldn't answer."

Sakura frowned. "Hina… He just needs some time to think, that's all. You know how he is when he's… frustrated."

Hinata looked back down and sighed. "How much time does he need?" Sakura giggled, and rubbed Hinata's back. "Not much, girl. Don't you worry."

...

"She called me last night."

Sasuke dropped the basketball to the floor, and sat on it. "And?"

Naruto took a long, exasperated breath. "I didn't answer."

"Hn."

"Dude, you're not even going to ask me why?"

"You're going to tell me, anyway."

Naruto smiled, and sat on the ground next to Sasuke.

"I was doing a lot of… thinking."

Silence.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke. "Hn… continue."

"Well… I'm not sure if I… even want to be with her anymore."

Sasuke sat up, and tossed Naruto the ball. "Dobe. Shut the hell up, and play."

He stood up, and threw the ball back. "I'm serious."

Sasuke bounced the ball a couple of times, and thrust it back to Naruto. "You're talking shit, Naruto."

"No, I'm not." He shot at the net, and missed.

"Fuck, Naruto. Yes, you are." Sasuke caught the ball, and began dribbling. "What's the point of breaking up after all this time because you don't like the way she reacts to you?"

"Sasuke, it's not-"

"And why the fuck should it even matter?" He heaved the ball to Naruto.

"Because I-"

"You love her. That's it. That's all it should be."

Naruto stared down at the ball, and looked back up to Sasuke. "Jesus. Now that was a mouthful, bastard." He threw the ball back laughing, and dodged it when it was whipped back at him.

"Shut up."

Naruto smiled, and walked over to Sasuke. "Since when did you care so much about me and… Hinata?"

"I don't. I just don't want to hear about it anymore. Now let's play. I might get my period soon." He said with a smirk.

Naruto smiled, and grabbed the ball.

Sure you don't…