Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: The scent of angst hangs in the air. Be prepared. This chapter was beta read by: -Kristine X3- and Lingy Q.

A shriek rang through the halls of the mental institution, causing heads to turn. Haruno Sakura threw the table over with her brute strength, as Ino leapt up from her place on the other side of it, scrambling away.

"Sakura, listen to me, you have to talk about this! Can't you see what this is doing to you?" Ino cried to her best friend, staring at her with pleading eyes. Sakura's ear shattering cries continued to no avail, resonating through the room.

"Sakura, I want to know what happened to Naruto and Sasuke!!" Ino attempted to take her hysterical friend by the shoulders, but she shook and convulsed, digging her fingers into her hair.

"Sakura, please! What happened?" Sakura's eyes snapped wide open and she seemed to see Ino for the first time. Her jade eyes gleamed vacant, flushed with tears. Arms shot out from her hair and onto Ino's throat, as Sakura pinned her against the wall, grinning madly.

"S-Sa… ku… ra…" Ino choked, clawing helplessly at Sakura's hands, eyes filled with fear. She was much stronger, though.

"Ashes, ashes… they all… fall… down…" Sakura laughed quietly, digging her thumbs deeper into Ino's throat.

At that moment, nurses burst into the room, and grabbed Sakura from behind. Ino fell to the ground wheezing and coughing, tears running down her face. Sakura screamed and struggled more, as the doctors and nurses forced her onto the bed and strapped her down. Her kicking and screaming continued, and she shook violently. Tears streamed down the sides of her face and soaked into the sheets underneath her.

"Please, no more blood! Please! Help me! Naruto, Sasuke… help me!" Sakura screeched, pushing against the straining straps.

"She's a case, alright. What on earth happened to this one?" A nurse asked the silver-haired man who was observing the scene.

Kakashi sighed, leaning on the wall. Seeing Sakura in such a state was draining. He turned to the nurse. "A lot of things… namely, high school."

Six months earlier, the bells of the clock tower a block from Nin High School chimed three.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called, flipping her pale pink hair flirtatiously. "We're going to be in the same group for the sports fest, isn't that great?" She leaned over his desk, strategically letting the v-neck of her shirt slide down. Sasuke didn't seem to notice the obvious display of cleavage, and he just nodded nonchalantly.

"Whatever." He leaned back, locking his fingers behind his head of dark hair, his glass-like black eyes darting distractedly around the room.

"Gah! How did I get in the same team as you! " The obnoxious voice could only belong to one student. Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto stormed across the room and Sakura rolled her eyes. Sasuke remained as unresponsive as ever.

"Hey, I'm talking to you pretty boy!" Naruto growled; irritation present in his blue eyes.

"Get your ass off my desk, idiot," Sasuke replied.

"Would you two lovebirds either shut up or get a room? They're announcing our teachers for the sports fest." Shikamaru snapped from his position in the back of the room, feet over his desk.

The students turned their attention to Mr. Iruka, their homeroom teacher, who was currently announcing their assignments. "Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura,"
he paused to glance down at his clipboard, "you three are with Mr. Kakashi."

"You mean that perverted guidance councilor who's always reading 'Make Out Paradise'?" Naruto groaned. "You have got to be kidding me."

Sakura promptly knocked him over the head. "Hey, he's actually cool… and he's sort of hot! And, just be thankful we have someone as good as Sasuke on our team." Sakura turned to bat her eyelashes shamelessly at Sasuke, who seemed more interested in the birds outside the window than in Sakura.

"On that note, you're all free to go." Iruka closed his binder and students rushed out of the classroom as quick as they could, struggling to escape the suffocating halls of their school.

Nin High School was one of those schools where nothing ever worked. There was always a problem somewhere or the other. There were a total of three working water fountains, four bathroom stalls with a functional lock, and you'd be lucky if you could get your locker open with one hand, and close it without kicking. The radiators blew cold air in the winter and hot air in the summer, and every room was a different temperature. And it was a school full of problematic students. The students were known for throwing crazy parties full of drugs and alcohol, shoplifting, carrying weapons, and even arson from time to time. And every now and then you'd come across an orphan or two because of that night of massacre six years ago.

At the center of it all was Uchiha Sasuke. He was the most wanted guy of the school, and even as a freshman he had upperclassmen swooning over him—both male and female. But he didn't talk much, wasn't particularly close to anyone, and always looked out the windows with a distant look in his eyes. All the teachers knew what happened six years ago, and some of the students did too, and those who did couldn't look him in the eye. Seeing horrible things changes people and warps them into something hardly human. Sasuke's constantly glazed over eyes reflected that with every look.

Even at that moment, Sasuke walked alone, passing by the laughing students as if they weren't there. He paused at the gates of the school and looked vacantly into the sidewalk.

"Sasuke, you go on to the elementary school now, okay?" An older boy who looked disturbingly similarly to Sasuke ruffled his hair.

"When will I be able to go to this school?" A younger Sasuke asked, staring in awe at the huge school.

"Well, you'll be in middle school next year. You'll get here soon enough. Don't be in a rush though; it's not as good as you seem to think," Sasuke's brother laughed. "Now go on, we'll be late. I'll pick you up after school."

"Kay!! See you then, Itachi!"

The figures faded from Sasuke's vision, and he kept walking, a chilling wind following him.

"Sakura, you're still here?" Kakashi asked, as he walked into the classroom to collect some notes Iruka left for him.

Sakura looked up. "Yeah, I'm working on this extra credit assignment…"

Kakashi walked to stand in front of her desk and raised his eyebrows. "Extra credit? You already have an A in every class."

Sakura shrugged. "I like extra credit. They're usually more interesting than our regular assignments… If you look over there, one of my other one's is on the bulletin boa—AH!" Sakura attempted to lean over her desk and point at the board, but of course the desk chair failed her and tipped over, sending her sliding over the desk and into Kakashi. The two of them fell to the ground, Sakura landing square on top of him, the desk chair clattering down at their toes.

"Ouch…" Sakura rested on her soft landing for a moment before realizing where she was, and attempting to untangle herself from her teacher. "Ah, s-sorry, the desk chairs always just tip over…" She blushed furiously. Kakashi grabbed her arm to prevent her from standing, making her blush deeper. "Uh… Mr. Kakashi…?"

Without changing his facial expression, he silently slid a fallen hairpin back into her hair before releasing her and sitting up. Sakura promptly jumped out of his lap and fixed her skirt, before offering the fallen teacher a hand.

"Um… s-sorry… I'm really clumsy sometimes."

Kakashi smiled and took her hand. "No problem." He stood up and the two of them were silent. He gave her an unreadable, but intense expression before walking out wordlessly, leaving Sakura blushing, her heart beating fast.

Hm. End first chapter. Recent discovery: Sasuke's name ends with UKE. Hahahaha.