Gritty Stained Glass
Sakura is smiling, trying hard to keep it up as she restrains herself from yelling at the boy holding the camera. They wanted to have a picture with all of them in it, they begged her to step in and be a part of the props. But she's getting very sick of all this. She never wanted to take part in this picture in the first place. She just can't stand it anymore and she's going to snap any minute, because people are staring and the sun's way too hot. She doesn't want to take off the sweater because she stained her cream-colored tank top with blue ink today in art class and it's making her arms itchy.
Her socks are itchy too, and she wants to pull them off, along with the shoes that blister up her feet and run free and wild in the soccer field, play a game she's never played before in her life alongside the boys and the few girls who dare to play it. She wants to be free, like a cat or something stupid like that, but no. She's stuck in this stupid, itchy pink sweater that makes her want to puke, with her sweat-soaked hair that she dyed a week ago hanging in her foam-green eyes.
She's standing with a girl with long, natural platinum blonde hair and sky-blue eyes. And another girl with short black hair in a popular short cut style, who has pretty gray eyes. She's standing here and she doesn't want to be. She wants to scream at the poor boy with coffee-colored locks and dark brown eyes. He likes the girl with dark hair and he wants to get close to her. She'd pity him and the girl's ignorance of his feelings if she wasn't about to explode right now. But she holds it in, trying so hard to keep that ugly, plastered smile on her face and trying so hard to keep up her girly-girl image.
The one she'd worked so hard to achieve and mold into a perfect, pretty-in-pink shape. That was the color she dyed her hair, just to uphold that image. A light silvery pink. A nice color, just to make her prettier, to draw the attention away from her slightly oversized forehead, just to be accepted, just so that everybody would like her. That's all she ever wanted and that would all crumble at her searing, sweaty feet if she yelled at him now.
And finally the camera flashes and he hands them the picture. When it finally clears up, the sun has made her hair almost white, the glare smothering their faces almost blank, except for the blonde's grin and the raven's soft expression. All she can see on herself is that ugly smile, and she hates this picture so much. She feels hot because of her sweater and it's fifteen minutes until the buses get here to take them home. She wants to go home, shower, and cry while she listens to her iPod, filled with music she doesn't like and wonder why she did all of this to herself.
But instead, as she walks towards the shade, she unwittingly steps into the middle of the soccer game and somebody crashes into her. There's a yelp, the voice is deep and boyish, but it also has a feminine touch. She opens her eyes a few moments later to see a girl looming over her. She's wearing a skin-tight black T-shirt, khakis and there is an orange jacket tied around her waist, and she can't see what shoes she's wearing. Oh no, wait, blue flip flops.
The girl narrows her oceanic blue eyes, brushing her hair over her shoulder. It's blonde, but not like her friend's. This girl's hair is golden, reminds her of sunshine. Slightly spiky and wild, with a touch of wavy curls. Natural, pretty, looks soft and touchable. Tied into two waist length ponytails. The girl is tanned from long hours of romping outside. She has lines painted on her cheeks, they made her look…. Wild, feral. She decides she likes that. The girl snorts, a sneer souring her pretty features.
"Stupid preppies, always thinking they're so great, think they can crash into people whenever they want…." she growled, then sighed audibly. "And you were one of the pretty ones," she murmured, brushing a lock of silvery pink from out of her eyes, kneeling on the ground and straddling her lap slightly. She reached up her sun soaked hand, tipping her head back and inspecting her lips, before leaning down, as if to kiss her. She feels her cheeks heat up, but why she didn't stop the blonde she wasn't sure. She felt warm breath dance across her slightly open lips, coated with glittery strawberry lip gloss.
But then the girl pulls away, frowning at her. And standing. She followed, wanting to introduce herself suddenly, and for no reason. It might be good to introduce herself, in case this happened again, they'd have the chance to crash against each other in school hallways.
"Wait!" she calls, and the blonde turns to her, scowling.
"What now, preppy?"
"M-my name's Sakura. What's yours'?" she asks, hoping to get a response. She extends her hand, and the girl takes it, shaking it firmly, once.
"The name's Naruko, but call me Naru. Call me Naruko and I'll kill you," she says and Sakura feels nervous, but then be begins to laugh, and so does the blonde. But then Naru stops, eyeing her. "I was only half-kidding," she said in a cold, warning voice. Sakura gulps a bit and laughs nervously as Naru smirks evilly.
Then the buses interrupted them, pulling into the parking lot, and all the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth graders ran to them. Sakura was no exception, as she ran.
Though she wasn't so sure she wanted to leave Naru.
She shook the thought of staying out of her head.
She's crazy, Sakura told herself and put on a shaky smile. Yeah, crazy.
The next day Sakura stood up, glancing about. She grabbed a towel and stepped into her shower, letting the steamy water pour over the soft, slightly pale skin. Her fingers traveled over her body, leaving trails of watery suds, and she shampooed her hair, and conditioned it. The pink dye stayed, however, and Sakura wished it would go away. She didn't want to look all girly around Naru, like she had the previous afternoon.
Wait, why am I even thinking about her? Sakura thought, frowning at herself. I should really just concentrate on washing up. I can't look tired in front of all those people at school. The familiar thought had calmed her successfully, like she had thought it would. She took a washcloth and her sparkling shower gel, scrubbing the stuff over her skin until it was sore. Then she rinsed with the water, smoothing the foam off of her stomach and breasts with her hands.
She stepped out and dried off, going back into her own room and putting on panties and a bra. She picked at her clothes until she found a cute pair of red capris and a tight blue halter top. She pulled them on and began brushing her hair. She wondered if she should style it or not. She decided against it.
Naru would think I really am a pink-obsessed girly-girl.
Sakura froze.
"Stop. Thinking. About. Naru!" she ordered herself firmly. But the blonde stuck into her head, as if glued there. She scowled. "Super-glued is more like it," she murmured sourly, before going downstairs for breakfast. She had time for some cereal, she realized, pleased.
Maybe I should style my hair a little less, she thought. But that one didn't stick. So she ate the Pops she found it the cupboard. They were stale, and made her wrinkle her nose. Ugh, this cereal got completely wasted.
Sighing, Sakura downed the milk in her bowl before leaving it in the sink. She grabbed her backpack and strode outside to wait for the bus.
Sakura growled digging through her binder for a pen.
She couldn't find one. She sighed in misery, her face crumpling for a moment. She rarely forgot her pens! How could she forget one today?! She thunked her head against the table a couple of times until the teacher noticed.
"Miss Haruno, could you please be so kind as to not crack the desk as well as your skull?" he asked in a cool, smooth tone. A few of her female classmates squealed under their breaths and Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Yeah yeah," she muttered, still upset she couldn't find her pen.
"Oi, need one of these?" a playful voice asked from in front of her. Naru sat there, smirking coldly, and holding a pen right in front of her nose. Sakura made a grab for it, only to have it snatched out of her reach. The blonde grinned evilly at her. "Nuh uh, don't think so, sweetie. You gotta beg for it, first." Sakura gaped at the triumphant expression the other girl held. But it was her only choice if she didn't want to fail all of her classes for today.
"Please Naru?" she asked, remembering yesterday's warning to not call her Naruko. "Pretty please with a cherry and sprinkles and chocolate syrup on top?" she pleaded, hoping to get through to the other female, but Naru obviously had other plans.
"How about your naked body instead?" she asked. Sakura's mouth fell open at that. Was she really hearing this?!
"What?!" she screeched aloud. The teacher looked at her, with a very annoyed expression.
"Miss Haruno, please keep quiet."
Sakura spluttered, choking on her words for a minute before agreeing quietly. Then she glared at Naru, who's eyes were bright and happy.
"Alright, you've had your fun, now give me the pen!" she hissed angrily. Naru shook her head.
"Nope!"
Then she promptly turned away and ignored the girl she'd just humiliated. Sakura felt blood rush to her face in pure hatred.
I'll kill her for this.
Sakura sighed grumpily. She'd gotten in major trouble for not having a pen. At lunch she'd searched all over until she found a loan, and by that time she'd gotten in trouble enough to get detention on Saturday. A whole Saturday, and it was Naru's fault for not just giving her the stupid pen. She stormed onto the soccer field to wait for the buses. So did everyone else. They had about forty-five minutes to run around screaming on the field, and Sakura sure did want to scream.
But she didn't, because it would make her day worse.
And her day was bad enough as it is.
She sighed sadly, slumping against the fence that held her in here. Ino, her blonde friend, and Hinata, the raven, were talking excitedly to another girl called Tenten. Good, she didn't want to talk.
Unfortunately, the school chatterbox sauntered up to her and smiled down at her form, slumped on the ground like a subdued animal. Naru grinned at her, and Sakura wanted to punch her, to smack that mocking smile off of her face. And it was mocking, it reached her eyes, had spread all over her face. Naru wanted to screw up her day, get her in trouble and Sakura realized that. She wanted to break something, her jaw, a rib, anything to get revenge on that stupid girl.
Maybe it was because she'd crashed into Naru.
Maybe it was because she was the type of person Naru hated the most.
Sakura didn't know, but it sure as hell didn't explain why Naru slapped her just now.
Sakura knew the reason. They both had red cheeks. Both had one arm extended at the other's face. They'd hit each other, and now were angrily glaring each other down. Sakura wanted blood, and so did Naru. It was obvious. Sakura felt tingly and excited when a circle of people surrounded them as they rolled around on the grassy field. Punching, ripping, biting, scratching, anything to hurt the other.
"Alright break it up, break it up!" one of the soccer coaches, Anko, shouted, walking over and motioning for Neji Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha to tear them apart. Her brown eyes were furious as she stormed over to the two girls. "Naruko, I'm surprised you haven't learned yet," she said, obviously sickened. "And Sakura Haruno…. I really expected better from am girl like you," she told the pink-haired female. The disapproval was almost unbearable, and Sakura almost tore from Neji's grip to slap her, too. "You girls both know what happens after a fight."
Sakura groaned audibly, and Anko shot a glare at her.
Great, how am I supposed to tell mom I got suspended?
Sakura skipped dinner, she wasn't hungry, and her mom probably already knew about it. They'd most likely called her at work and told her. But Sakura did want something to settle her stomach. So she grabbed a Pepsi from the fridge and went up to her room. There, she pulled out her sketch diary and began to draw. It was a shapeless form at first, until it gained human shape. Then, it was Naru, her body being torn by giant nails, ugly pools of blood at her feet. Sakura gained a cool smile, calm and venomous.
The expression on the blonde's face was of horror, despair and pain. Sakura never knew she was so morbid, but she was proud of the drawing. She finished her soda and lay down. She was dozing, drifting between the worlds of awakening and dreams, when an angry voice shrieked into her ears and a door slammed shut.
"Sakura Haruno, you get down here right now!"
Sakura tried to hold herself against the tears. Two days, because the fight was minor. But what about all of her friends? They wouldn't take her back, she knew it. She'd be all alone, just like she was before, in middle school. Nobody would want to talk to her. She tried to hold back the flood gates as she climbed into the shower and made the water extremely cold, to soothe her nerves and cool the hot sweat on her face and between her legs.
After washing her hair and scrubbing at her skin, she dried off and dressed in a navy-blue sweater her mother had made for her a while ago. It was loosely knit, so you could see the black shirt underneath. She wore black cargo pants. And merely brushed her hair. Her mother was already at work, so she ate her stale Pops alone, not like she even wanted to see her mother.
She walked outside, the weather warm and sunny. But she felt cold inside. Nobody talked to her on the bus, or in the school building. She sat alone in the back row and sketched with her new pens, waiting for class to start. Footsteps tapped closer, louder until a figure loomed over her. She glanced up into the angry eyes of Naru and felt fear clench in her stomach.
Fear…. Or desire?
She shut her mind up for the moment, as it was not welcome to speak. It was true, Naru had haunted her dreams. Made her body feel weird in uncomfortable places. And she wanted to murder the girl for it, but she didn't want to be suspended again, so she tried to ignore the girl standing above her, watching her doodle on her notebook paper. And suddenly, Naru snatched her brand new pen out of her hand, stealing the cap from the edge of the desk.
"Hey, that's my pen!" she protested angrily. Naru narrowed her eyes.
"You owe me something for the way you got me in trouble," Naru snapped, and left no room for arguing. She stalked up to the front row and sat there, as far away from Sakura as possible. The girl felt sadness tighten her lungs.
Naru hated her.
Sakura put her head on her desk and let the tears loose.
The next day, Sakura put on similar clothes, and the same sweater. It had kept her warm, too warm, because it was still summer, but she wanted something old, and familiar and comforting. The sweater was perfect, so she wore it.
Naru ignored her the whole day, except for lunch time where she stalked angrily pashed, shoving the girl and making her spill her lunch all over herself and the floor.
Sakura left the room, going to the bathroom instead.
She cried for her sweater.
Her mother had cleaned it, but it still held the slight smell of cafeteria food in the fabric. It would be gone soon, though, her mother had told her. Sakura hoped.
After washing up, she put on a strapless lavender bra and lacy, coal-colored panties. She didn't know why she wanted to, though. She slipped on a cute, pale orange shirt. It was soft and if it was white, her skin tone should have soaked through. She also put on blue-jean capris and a pair of plain white sandals. She styled her hair into waves and clipped it back with tangerine-shaped clips. Then she put on tangerine lip gloss, liking the way it tasted.
She ignored the stares at school, on the bus. She sat in her usual place during classes, and at lunch time she hid out in the bathroom, like usual.
But this time Naru followed, her hand on her hip. She was wearing a dark blue T-shirt with Foxy written across it in sequined red letters. The blonde pinned her against the long mirror on the wall, one arm on either side of her. She leaned in close, so that her breath tickled Sakura's nose.
"You wanted to look pretty for me today. I don't like that gloomy-ass attitude of yours' anyway," she muttered. Sakura blushed, trying to push the other girl away. But Naru leaned down and licked the first layer of gloss from her lips. Sakura groaned in disgust. "Mm, I like that, it's… sweet. You picked it out, just for me to taste, huh?" she asked, smirking at Sakura, who shook her head negative. "Yeah, you did."
Deep down Sakura knew it was true.
She blushed.
Naru ground her hips into Sakura's, making the rosette moan slightly.
"Ohh, you like?"
"N-Naaaaruuuukoooooo……" she moaned aloud, gritting her teeth.
Naru smirked. "Uh uh uh, what did I say about that? Bad girl, hasn't been listening." Naru pushed off of Sakura walking towards the bathroom exit. "Later," was all she said before she was gone.
Sakura shook her head, clearing her mind.
She walked away, maybe to get some iced tea before lunch was over.
Author's Notes: Oh. My. God. This is the longest story I have ever written. I hope you enjoyed. Now review. Constructive criticism maybe?