01. Lab Partners
When we think back to the time when this occurred, we never would have thought that this would be the beginning of it all.
"Look at that," Naruto points out to his friends, "There you got those richies again." He sighs, he hated the rich kids. The school has a little staircase, where the rich girls are standing on. He and the guys are hanging at their usual spot; the benches across of the school, their back sight aimed at the river that flowed past it.
Shaking his head, Sasuke turns to look at him. "Something wrong with being rich?"
Naruto can almost slap himself. His best bud Sasuke is also a rich kid. "No, of course not!" He searches for words to speak. "I mean," he face-palmed, "you're different from them, okay? The part that you don't dress like you're in for a game of golf is already so much better. And-"
Sasuke chuckles which follows into a storm of laughter, which startles Naruto. "Dude, I was just playing with you, man." The others chuckle now too. Naruto looks confused and finally grins, grabbing the back of his head.
Naruto's view flickers back to the girls who are standing on the stairs. His eyes land on a certain midnight-blue haired girl. He groans, he had seen her jump out of her limo and running towards the girls on the stairs. Gritting his teeth, he keeps his eyes on this girl, this richie. Why is he even bothered by this particular girl? He is already spending way more thoughts about her, longer than he normally does with other girls. He scoffs, 'She's a richie, no one like richies. Except for other richies and wannabe richies.'
But the way she had climbed those steps… The swaying of her hips, the short skirt of the school uniform that went a little up and down, her hair that flowed down her back and swayed with her with every step she took. It was irritating him. Now she's standing still with her friends, and his eyes go up and down her figure, trying to find any faults or omissions, to finally have a reason to have a crack in her perfection. But unfortunately for him, he found none.
The sunrays jolt upon her as if she is a creature sent from heaven. It almost looked like she was too precious to let the sun beat upon her, making it bounce off right again. The rays made her hair shine like a sapphire. He hated it. She squints her eyes as she looks into the sun, its rays flowing on her face and bouncing off of it like sparkles.
She looks beautiful and the more he thought about her, the more Naruto's mind was getting foggier and irritating.
The sound of the school bell rings and the guys make an attempt to stand up and get into the school. However, Naruto could not let his eyes go off of the girl. His eyebrows furrow in annoyance and he grinds his teeth together, biting the inside of his cheek. He can't not believe that someone so simple, so significant, could shake him and his thoughts up like his. Not a simple girl, a simple richie. But it did, and that was his problem. She was significant, and she was a richie, but not just some richie. She was perfect.
She is walking in front of him, through the hallways. His eyes are plastered on her body and he can't let go. Again, the swaying of her hips do something to him, but he can't let it fall on a place in his mind. She's now talking to her friends. Then she suddenly stops moving, in front of the classroom, just to bid her goodbyes to the girls, almost making him bump into her.
"Sorry," he mutters from under his breath, taking a step backwards and walking around them, into the classroom he is supposed to be in. She looks up and sees that it was Naruto who had bumped into her. Naruto doesn't see it, but a faint touch of pink comes across her cheeks.
And before she can say anything to him, her friend speaks for her. "Weirdo," one huffs back. The girl has long blonde hair, into two big pigtails. Yes… Pigtails. Yamanaka Ino, as he can recall. The least bitch of them all. But still a rich-kid. Sakura has been talking a lot about her at home. He ignores her and takes a seat in one of the school benches. He takes another glance at them and saw her looking at him.
He scoffs and turns around to face Shikamaru and Chouji. "I'm so done with those girls. How can Sakura even hang with them? I don't understand."
"They're such a drag," Shikamaru comments and falls back to sleep.
"So, Naruto, how's Kurama been?" Chouji asks, changing the topic.
Naruto grunts in response. "Horrible. The thing just doesn't want to listen." A loud sigh comes from his mouth. "He acts like he wants to be with me, and then again not." He chuckles. "And I can't take him home yet. But I know he's in good hands at Hana's animal shelter. She takes good care of him."
"Hands off of my sister, you ass!" A loud voice is audible from the back-side of the classroom, making everyone stop with chatting to look at the two.
"Shut the fuck up, Kiba!" Naruto yells back, pointing his middle-finger up in the air. "As if I ever want to date her!"
"Now, now. If everyone wants to take their seats, we can start this lesson?" They look up and see that their history teacher, Yamato-sensei, has finally arrived. And luckily for him, everyone obeyed him for once.
The girl walks in, together with Sakura. He still can't lay a finger on the name of the girl.
Yamato-sensei looks at the duo coming in. "Ah good that you both are here, Sakura and Hinata. Take your seats, please," Yamato-sensei says and gives a smile away.
And then Naruto knows. Hinata. Hyuuga Hinata. How could he simply forget. Well, she was a shy girl, but she has been in his class for the whole year already. He's so stupid.
He watches her taking a seat. The seat two rows in front of him, three away. All her movement are like the one of a princess. Naruto's eyes are stuck on her back and he can't really keep his head in the lesson.
"-and Nagasaki?" Yamato-sensei's voice rings through the classroom. "Uzumaki!"
Naruto looks up, startled. "What?!" He looks Yamato-sensei in the eye. "Sorry, what was the question?" He likes Yamato-sensei and should not come on his hate list.
"When the bombing date of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was." The class turns around to look at the blonde.
"Forty-four?" The whole class laughs. Hinata giggles as well and Naruto feels, again somewhere in him, that he doesn't like it. "Not?"
"Forty-five, but nice try," Yamato-sensei says and continues to explain more about the World War II.
Naruto clenches his teeth. 'Damn, if this lesson is going to be any longer, I'm gonna lose it,' he thought, and sighed. He wanted to go home and visit Kurama as soon as possible.
He takes a swift glance at the Hyuuga girl and sees she's neatly and obedient writing every note down that Yamato-sensei says. He studies her more. She's wearing the usual school summer uniform, even though it is already closing to fall and the days are getting colder.
Then his thoughts go to the next lesson they are going to get. Biology. Biology with Kakashi-sensei. Naruto grunts. Don't get him wrong, he loved the man. But it was the topic. They're going to get new lab partners. That would mean that Sakura wouldn't be his lab partner anymore.
Sakura was like a sister to Naruto. When his parents died in a car-accident, the Harunos would gladly take care of him. So he has been living at Sakura's ever since. Naruto adored Sakura, and also had a little crush on her when he was entering the puberty circle. Sadly for Naruto, she did not like him like that. "More as a brother," had her answer been.
Friend-zoned forever.
Naruto's crush on Sakura was holding on for a few months after that, but then he discovered she was crushing big time on his best friend Sasuke, so it was quickly over. It was when he was fourteen. A little before that he also joined the punk world. Now, three years later, he isn't living with the Harunos anymore, but still visits very often. He has his own apartment now, already for a month or three, four. And, sadly, currently searching for a new job. The blonde has flesh tunnels in both of his ears, an eyebrow piercing through his let eyebrow, a tattoo of a basic whirlpool on the inside of his left wrist and his right arm is fully tattooed. He all got that when he still was living with Sakura and her parents, and god, mad that they were. And though that is against the school laws, Naruto just simply ignores it.
The bell rings and history class is over. Naruto sighs.
"So, Naruto," he looks up, Sakura is walking over to him, calling his name. "I guess last week was our last day as lab partners, huh?"
He nods. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Sakura," he says, exaggerating too much. Together they walk to the biology classroom. "Who else is going to help when I don't understand it?!" Now he's just whining.
"You can do perfectly on your own. If you really want to know, your grade is even better than mine, now!" Sakura exclaims. Naruto's face turns confused.
"It is?" Sakura nods. "You're not kidding, right?" Sakura shakes her head. "Awesome."
Hinata walks past the duo and Naruto takes a glimpse of her looking at the two of them through the corners of her eyes and he smirks.
"Hey, Hinata!" Sakura calls out to the girl and she turns around, making a slightly startled face.
"Y-Yes, Sakura?" she asks, shyly.
'Oh right, she stuttered,' Naruto thinks, 'It's kinda cute, though. Hah, hear me thinking like this.'
"I was questioning myself if you'd like to go out shopping with me, this afternoon after school?" Sakura asks her.
Hinata's face turns bright and nods two times, rather swiftly. "I'd l-love to!"
'It really is cute. I never thought I'd hear myself thinking like this about such a girl, beside from Sakura.'
"Then that's settled! I'm gonna ask Tenten and Ino as well!" Sakura says, excitedly and turns to Naruto. "Oh, and Naruto? Please don't tell my parents that I'm out shopping again? They're going to kill me."
He nods. "The usual joke, I see?" And the three of them enter the biology classroom.
Sakura claps her hands together. "You're amazing, you know that?"
Naruto closes his eyes, fists his hand and holds it in front of his heart, and pretends he swallows away some tears. "I know," he says and Sakura laughs. He opens one eye and sees that Hinata is suppressing a laugh as well.
Somewhere in his body, he feels a thing. But hell, what could he possibly know what it is.
"Yes, yes. Blah, blah, blah," Kakashi-sensei mumbles. "If you all want to take your seats, I'm going to assign you all to your new lab partners," he says with his all-time bored voice.
They all take their seats and Naruto is hoping for his dear life that he won't be a lab partner with Ino. That'd be his death. Crossing his fingers, he hopes for an awesome lab partner, like Sasuke. As long as it isn't Ino.
"Quiet you. Okay here I go," Kakashi-sensei says and takes a deep breath, preparing on the grunts and protests of his class. "Shikamaru and Shino, Kiba and Ino," Kakashi-sensei points his eyes at the class after hearing Kiba grunt, eyeing them to keep this silence otherwise he'll explode.
'Oh good Lord, at least not with Ino,' Naruto thinks.
"Sakura and Sasuke." Naruto eyes Sakura, who bolds her fist, making, and mouthing, a 'yes, finally' face.
Kakashi-sensei goes on a few more names, and then finally Naruto's name is being called. "Naruto and…" Kakashi-sensei turns a page, "and Hinata."
Naruto barely hears the name. At least he's not with a richie. Then he realizes what Kakashi-sensei said and Naruto's eyes grow. 'Wait, what?!' He eyes Sasuke and mouths him: "What to fucking do!?"