For Sakurai Haruno, it was a perfectly normal day at the academy. He had arrived just in time to see his childhood friend Ino gush over that Sasuke guy and take his seat right next to him. He really didn't get it. Sure Sasuke was a great ninja, better than him at any rate, and was tall, dark (Mysterious and Pale actually), and he could understand how someone could find Sasuke attractive. But Ino was Hot with a capital H, she could have any boy in the class if she wanted - A list of which Sakurai was sitting at the top of as commander and chief of the friend zone.

Still, it might be weird kissing someone that was basically his sister. He hadn't even asked Ino out in… what was it now six months? With a sigh, he leaned forward onto the desk resting his head against it. "Guess I'm over her?"

The Uchiha grunted, eyes still locked on the outside world

It was a bit weird realizing it. But there it was, he a teenage boy on the throngs of puberty was now completely without romantic interest. Which meant it was time to as Kiba put it, find a new prospect.

This was followed by a realization that the girls in his class just weren't his type. Most of them were Sasuke-fangirls which wasn't the biggest turn off in the world. But a large chunk of them were just so…. Not his type. Like they were nothing more than background characters. It was bad when the queen of wallflowers stood out more than most of his class.

Hinata wasn't bad per say, but she came with a lot of baggage. Just going to the Hyuuga mansion to pick her up was enough to drive any boy away.

Yep, looks like he'd just have to wait and find some nice civilian girl to fall in love with. A lot like his father did. After all, there was no one worth dating in his class except for Ino and at the rate she was going she'd be off the radar eventually. Apparently, Sasuke nodded at her the other day.

Whatever the hell that meant.

Yep, there were absolutely no interesting girls in his class.

"Sakurai!" A beam of sunshine and positive energy burst into the room with the same accuracy and annoyance as the first rays of the sun to piece his curtains and wake him up on the days he got to sleep in. She was short, had a raspy voice, a complete lack of tact and feminine grace, and she wasn't cute at all. In addition to that, she had no concept of personal space, volume, and for some ungodly reason out of all the boys in their class she chose Sakurai to be the one she had the biggest crush on. "Good Morning!"

Sakurai tried to ignore the living sunshine that called itself Naruto Uzumaki but again that was like trying to ignore the sun on a Saturday morning when it was shining right in his face. And of course Naruto sat right next to him looking as pleased as could be.

"How are you today?" Naruto reached over and hugged him around the waist, burying her head into his shoulder, getting her nasty hair grease all over his shirt. Another reason that made Naruto undateable. She had the worst hygiene, she always felt sticky and her hair always felt like it was covered in sweat.

She looked up at him with her only redeeming feature. Those blue eyes that could make the sky green with envy held an ocean's worth of emotion behind them. "Oh come on Sakurai, the too cool for this attitude doesn't suit you, unlike that prick Sasuke."

Said prick gave another annoyed grunt right behind them. "Shut up loser."

It was odd, out of all the girls in the class the only one that could get any of the Uchiha's precious attention (Negative) was Naruto. And they fucking hated each other. "Shut up Loser."

Their hatred was what had caused Sakurai to start sitting next to Sasuke. In hopes that it would Keep Naruto away. Might as well have tried to get the sun to set by putting the moon in the sky. It only caused him a daily headache.

"You got something to say Prick? Cause I'll fight you right here right now bastard!" Another flaw. Naruto had a habit of being very vocal with a poor understanding of when she should back down. Or when to stay down for that matter. When they were younger every time she spared and got her ass kicked she wouldn't surrender. It'd be admirable if she wasn't so annoying about it.

Still, the only way to get Naruto to shut up was to actually talk to her. More specifically she hung off of his every word. Hopefully, their sensei wouldn't catch this and make him tutor Naruto. He could barely keep up with his own training outside of class, there was no time for him to make Naruto into less of an idiot. No matter how much better the world would be for it.

"I'm fine Naruto," he forced a smile, pressing an arm against her shoulder to pry the girl off of him. It was like removing a band-aid. The girl could not take a hint. He was not interested in her. "But do you remember our talk about personal space?"

"Oh right!" She chirped, arms snapping to her side and a cheerful expression on her face. She hummed back and forth the slightest bit of pink staining her cheeks. "I'm sorry Sakurai, I keep forgetting you get embarrassed easily."

It sounded like she was trying to whisper. Which meant that she wasn't shouting for once.

"It's really cute, one of the many reasons why I love you." There it was again, the damn blonde threw that word around like it was as light as the air used to breathe it. Another problem, Naruto thought that everything he did was cute in some way or another. From telling her to piss off, to blushing. Didn't matter it was cute. "So what are you having for lunch today?"

By that, she meant what was she going to mooch off of him for lunch today. He fed her once on their first day of the academy. And like a stray cat, she kept coming back for more. It wasn't even about being nice, he just didn't want to take the extra effort to throw away the food he wasn't going to eat.

Come to think of it, that act of kindness might be what caused her to fall in love with him. Great.

"Did you forget your lunch again?" Less forget more couldn't afford it. Why did he have to front the cost of Naruto's bottomless gut? No really where did that girl keep it all. She could probably eat her weight in ramen a day and not change in the slightest.

Naruto giggled a noise that grated his nerves like a maniacal laugh. Naruto pulled out two, not one but two, bento boxes from somewhere and sat them on the table. "I actually brought you a bento box."

"Did you buy it?"

"No, I made it by hand."

That was worse. He did not trust this dirty little girl touching his food in the slightest. Besides he had his own. Wait where was that? It wasn't with his stuff. Crap he left it at home didn't he. Yep, it was sitting right there on the countertop. This is what happens when he has a zit the size of Sasuke's ego on smack dab in the middle of his forehead.

This was the first time a girl had brought him a Bento. Something that always had a soft spot in his heart. There was something so classic about the gesture that sent a tingle down his spine. One that changed to dread when he realized it was Naruto of all people offering him a bento. Oh well, Food poisoning wasn't that bad of a way to die. "Let me see what you made."

"Oh ho ho? Curious are you? well, behold!" Naruto opened up the bento with a flourish. It wasn't as horrendous as he would have thought. It looked edible but not mouth watering so. Most importantly nothing was spoiled and it smelled fantastic. Plus there were some of his favorites in there. "Only the best for my Sakurai."

"We're not dating."

"I know." She smiled way to easily, but it lacked the usual intensity it normally did. For starters, it didn't look like she was trying to show off every single one of her teeth. "But that doesn't mean I can't give you a bento right?"

She had kicked puppy dog look down to a T.

"Fine," He groaned out, turning his attention to Iruka as their teacher entered the room. "I'll eat your Bento if you want."

From behind he heard Sasuke give his usual annoyed grunt, finally tearing his attention away from the window.

Naruto could reach a level of happy achievable by few whenever he did something she liked. It was also when she was the most peaceful. But she still squirmed like a worm, wiggling back and forth causing her ridiculous twin tails to wave back and forth as she hummed a happy tune. If she was anybody but Naruto it would be unbearably cute. But on Naruto it's cuteness was severely diminished.

Still made her heartwarmingly cute.

XXXX

Sakurai stared at the Bento box in front of him. It still smelled good. But the presentation was lacking. Weren't girls that liked boys supposed to put like girly hearty stuff in the bento? Or atleast his face. He'd totally eat his own face if a cute girl made it. Probably not if Naruto made it.

Why was he about to eat this again? Oh right. He was hungry and it was food.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Think about what I haven't eaten it yet."

"About your face!" Naruto scooted closer to him so that her hips touched his own, her head resting on his shoulder. She pointed at the bento with a dirty fingernail. "See, in the rice, these two peas are your eyes, the pink stuff (What's it called?) is your lips and hair. And that giant field of rice is your forehead."

He really should have seen that coming.

The Uchiha from behind them snorted. Which was the closest thing he ever gave to a laugh? Why was he here again?

"Was this whole thing a set up to make a joke about my giant forehead?" He got enough of that from Ino.

She snapped back to her own sitting position eating a piece of rice with her fingers. "Noooo, okay maybe a little bit. But besides, I think your forehead is cute! If you weren't so tall I'd try to kiss it."

"I'm not tall you're just short."

"Hey, now you're being mean! I'm not short I just haven't grown yet! Just you wait one day I'll be a super tall and hot babe that you'll want to make your wife. Just think about it Sakurai, I'm going to be the hottest and bestest Hokage ever."

Sasuke choked on his food.

"Pfft, if what if I want to be the Hokage and I want to marry a short civilian girl that can cook."

"Hey! I can cook! Just give my Bento a taste!" As usual, she ignored any mention of him ever being interested in anybody else. There was no way in hell that he was going to Marry Naruto. She just wasn't his type.

"Fine." He pinched a bit of the food that wasn't shaped like his face, once again cursing how Naruto could forget chopsticks. It was good. Really could actually. "Not bad Naruto, You sure you didn't have help with this?"

"Well, Ayame has been teaching me how to cook better but I made it by myself! Do you like it? I can make one for you." She paused counting on her fingers. "Uhh Twice a week!"

Right. No parents meant that Naruto was frequently dirt poor. Great now he felt guilty eating Naruto's food. "Don't worry about it Naruto, you shouldn't spend your money on me."

"But I wanna!"

"Look, every once in awhile is okay, but really, you should save what you can."

"Yay! Thank you, Sakurai! I promise you won't regret this! Now I can carry out my plan of getting you addicted to my cooking so you'll have no choice but to date me!"

"I take it back never do this again."

The Uchiha choked.

AN: Something I wrote while waiting for my beta. This is made to be a short set of drabbles about a male Sakura and a Female Naruto as Naruto tries to get Sakurai to fall in love with her. While Sakurai tries to not do that. Something that becomes much harder to do as time goes on.