This is a SasuSaku fanfic that I started the day right after Valentines Day, but never got the chance to finish (and today I finished chapter 1). I hope everybody doesn't get bored reading it.
Please note: This does not happen in the Naruto world. The characters are set in a school-type kind of story, so I hope you all don't mind that!! X3
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Thief of Emotions
Chapter 1 - Fear
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Haruno Sakura, face in pillow, blindly thrust her arm out at the sidetable next to her bed in an attempt to somehow get her irritating alarm clock.
She finally slapped her alarm clock off, and then proceeded to make a mental note never to use an alarm clock again.
Sakura never did like using alarm clocks, and woke up on time most of the time anyways, but today "most of the time" did not fit her, she had to wake up on time today.
Today. Today was the day Sakura would be going to her first day of high school. Yes, she was 14-years old. Not too mature of an age, but when it's your first day in a place called high school, you just have to feel a little proud.
She didn't want to mess up and go to school late on this day. Of course not. Especially when Uchiha Sasuke would be there.
Uchiha Sasuke was an interesting student at their school. The one capable of good grades, but chose not to bother with them. He was a delinquent. One that lived through school without a care and just wanted to get the darn thing over with, but Sakura loved him, careless as he was.
If she wasn't attending a private school, she would've worn the best change of clothes in her closet, but, she did attend a private school, and that meant uniforms.
She sighed. Uniforms. Everyone wore the exact same thing, and everyday, too. The only thing you got to choose was what color you wanted your socks to be. How fun.
She combed her rosette hair, silently hoping that nobody would make fun of her hair this year. Every year, somebody would comment on her hair. Whether it was the primary students that called her Bubblegum-Head, or the seniors that would jokingly ask why she dyed all of her hair pink.
It was annoying, or even "troublesome", as her classmate Shikamaru would say. She was born with this odd color of hair. It was never her choice. If someone had asked her before she was born what color she wanted her hair to be, she would've chosen dark blue like Hinata's, or blond like her best friends Ino's, maybe even brunette like Tenten's.
But...pink. It stood out in the annual class photos like a sore thumb, and she hated it. She hated how whenever someone opened the school yearbook, everyone would spot her first just because her hair flashed like a pink siren of some sort.
Also, she hated her eye color. Green eyes in general were usually beautiful, but her shade of green was a dull jade. It was the color of murky fish water.
Wow. She was a "Bubblegum-Head" and her eyes represented a dirty fishtank. Wonderful.
Sakura sighed in exhasperation. Sasuke would never feel anything for someone like her. She grabbed a granola bar, her backpack, and opened the door leading to the outside world, "Mom, I'm leaving for school!!" she called.
"Have fun, Honey!!" she heard her mom's voice from somewhere in the house. She guessed it was the kitchen. "Have fun?" she repeated silently to herself, "Who could have fun at a place like that?".
She closed the door with a 'click', and sighed. She wanted to go...and she didn't want to go. Either way, she had to go. She straightened her backpack and walked off the verandah.
As she walked past her father's car she was reminded of when she was in grade JK all the way to grade 8, her father would always drive her to school, and on the way they would always joke and talk in the car.
No, her father hadn't passed away. This year, her parents decided that driving their freshman daughter to school each morning wouldn't help her grow up. Sakura didn't mind this, but she just didn't want her parents thinking that since she was in highschool now, she wasn't their little girl.
She sighed again. 'Look on the bright side, maybe you'll learn something' she thought, and then almost laughed.
Sakura was gifted. In all her years of school, she had not learned much because she had known most of what she was taught already. This was another reason why school was a pain for her. It was so boring, so monotone, so routine. Everything was the same everyday.
Making her way out of the neighborhood and onto the main sidewalk, she arrived at the bus stop. This was her first time going on the bus alone, but she wasn't nervous about
it. Well, she wasn't excited either.
She spotted some rough-looking teenage boys who looked like they were at least 2 years older than her. She found a place a bit far from them to wait for the 7 o'clock bus.
'Oh my gosh' she thought as she walked by them, 'They smell like alchohol...gross, I don't want to know where they were last night'. She tried to walk a bit faster. Was there such a thing as 3rd-hand drinking?
Suddenly she felt a cold hand grab her shoulder, she almost had a heart attack as the smell of liquor rose from the clammy hand.
She turned to face the owner of the hand. "Yes?" she asked, in an attempt to sound polite, but the anger in her voice was clear.
"Hey, wanna have some fun with us, girly?" one of the boys asked, smiling through some uncoordinated teeth that were almost yellow.
Sakura cringed at his breath. Yup, he was drunk. "Hey, don't be impolite" another one of the boys said behind him in a jokingly sick voice, "Look, she's wearing a school uniform, she's trying to be a good girl and she's going to school".
The boy that had put his hand on her shoulder pulled her closer to him, as she tried to pull back, and it didn't work. "Trying to resist? C'mon, I know I'm good-looking, so don't try to hide it" he said, smiling again.
"What's to hide?" Sakura asked to herself, secretly hoping one of these sickos wouldn't hear her.
"What did you say!?" the third boy bursted out. Okay, one of them heard.
Sakura glanced at the bystanders. There were businessmen, students from other schools, and old-aged seniors. None of them looked like they cared.
"Don't badmouth us, you bitch!!" the third boy shouted in anger. He moved past the two other boys, and stood in front of Sakura. Eek. He was taller than her by almost a foot.
He didn't hesitate.
SLAP
He caught her by surprise. She knew he was mad, but actually using violence? The sting was incredible. She didn't know how hard he had slapped her, but she tasted blood.
She heard the bus drive up and stop. She felt all the bystanders walk past her as she was forcefully pushed aside.
Suddenly she felt angry. Very angry. She didn't care about her reddened cheek, or her bleeding mouth, she wanted payback.
The boys snickered as they walked in the direction of the bus's doors. "Wait right there, you BASTARDS!!" she yelled, arm oustretched with an accusing finger pointed right at the three.
The third boy's face immediately twisted in anger, and he charged at her, "YOU BITCH!!", he shouted, with his fist clutched together, ready to deliver a flying punch.
In a flash, Sakura leaped into the air, and sent her foot flying into the drunkard's face, causing him to stagger back in stunned pain.
She walked closer to him in sheer confidence, "Leave me alone, or I'll kick you where it hurts" she warned with clenched teeth.
The boy hurriedly ran into the bus, calling for his buddies to wait for him.
She coolly strolled into the bus, eyes glued to the back of the bus. All the bystanders that had not bothered to even glance at her before were all now staring at her in awe.
She reached the back of the bus, and sat down with a tired sigh, setting her backpack down beside her.
She slouched in her position, engrossed in the after-effect of having a fight with a drunkard. She bounced back up when she noticed someone walking in down the aisle of the bus.
Uchiha Sasuke.
'Oh my gosh!! Sasuke uses this bus, too!? Did he see that fight!? Oh no, if he did, he'd probably think I was a violent she-bear or something...' she thought, lowering her head in both embarassment and shame, 'I just suddenly felt angry for some reason...'.
She raised her head high enough to see Sasuke look around for available seats. Seeing none, he walked until he arrived at the back of the bus, where he discovered a madly blushing Sakura trying to cover her face with her backpack, and it wasn't working.
"Can I sit here?" he asked, pointing to the empty space beside Sakura.
Sakura looked up, "Oh, oh, yeah, you can sit here" she answered, still clutching her backpack as if it held her life.
As he sat down and set his bookbag on his lap, she quickly turned her head away from him. 'Oh, I'm so embarassed!! If he saw me beat up that guy, he must hate me!! He must detest me, he must abhor me, he must-' her thoughts were interrupted.
"Hey", she turned her head around so fast that her hair flipped as it did in shampoo commercials and she felt a joint somewhere around her neck snap, "OW!!!" she shrieked in pain.
Everybody in the bus turned to stare at Sakura, and the bus driver even glanced at her through the rear-view mirror. Everyone gradually turned around again after they saw that nobody was cruelly murdered.
"Ugh, my neck..." Sakura groaned, rubbing her neck, and then she remembered that Sasuke was still there. She looked over at him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!! What is it?", she asked.
"You're that girl in my class. Sorry, I've never really noticed you. I'm Uchiha Sasuke" he introduced himself.
"Haruno Sakura" she replied. 'Of course you're Uchiha Sasuke, the whole school knows you, you don't need to waste your breath' she thought.
When Sasuke didn't reply and turned to look out the window, she knew the conversation was over. Sasuke wasn't much of a social person. She looked out her window, and clutched her backpack harder.
'If only I knew that I was going to meet Sasuke on the bus this morning, I would've combed my hair more carefully, I would've worn my better pair of shoes, I would've worn my perfume---oh, who am I kidding? Sasuke will never even give me a second thought, I'm not important in his eyes' she thought, sighing in hopelessness.
She sunk deeper into her seat as she stared out the window at the houses, trees and cars passing her by, 'Life is just a boring, normal old thing. Nothing special ever happens. Life is boring nothingness' Sakura thought, sighing.
"So you kicked him in the face", Sakura heard Sasuke's stoic voice. She turned her head and looked at him, he was still looking outside. Did he want a reply?
"Uh...um..yeah, I did" Sakura said hesitantly, 'Uh, yeah I did!? Lamest reply EVER!! Sakura, you fail at life!!' she mentally screamed at herself.
"I'm sorry, that was my fault" Sasuke said, still looking out the window. Sakura leaned forward to sneak a peek at his expression, and he was half-smiling.
"What?" Sakura figured she misheard him, since "I'm sorry, that was my fault" sounded a bit irrelevent to their conversation. If you could even call it a conversation.
He turned from the window to look at her with his half-smile. "I said 'I'm sorry, that was my fault'", Sasuke repeated.
Sakura said nothing, but her expression showed confusion and bewilderment. What he said wasn't getting through to her. What did that mean?
Sasuke read her face, and sighed exasperatedly, "You can keep a secret, can't you?", he asked, almost in a lazy tone, leaning back against the bus seat.
"HUH!?" Sakura bursted out and had an even more confused expression in her eyes. 'Is Sasuke gonna tell a secret!? Oh no!! I'm not ready for this!! He's gonna tell me something like who he likes, and I don't want to hear it!! I don't want to hear it!!!' Sakura thought.
"Oh, no, no...NO!" Sakura bursted out again, "No, I can't keep a secret. I'm not good with secrets. Don't tell me any secrets unless you want the whole school to know!!".
Flashback
"Sakura!! Hey, Sakuraaa!!" Ino whisper-shouted to Sakura at her locker, after a tiring gym class. Sakura turned around with a face that read "Huh?".
"Come here, billboard-brow!!" Ino whisper-shouted again in impatience, adding on Sakura's childhood nickname.
Sakura's face fell, and she walked over to Ino.
"How long have I been telling you not to call me that!? Since we were SIX!!" Sakura whisper-yelled along with Ino.
"Right, right, whateverrr!!" Ino whisper-yelled, in a hurry to get to the point, "Look, I have a HUGE secret".
Sakura smiled a bit. Nobody had ever shared a secret with her.
"Okay, okay, my secret is...that I'm really REALLY mad at Temari for stealing Shikamaru!!" Ino whisper-shouted with anger in her voice, her hands enclosed into tight fists as she growled at nobody.
"Oh yeah, those two are dating now, aren't they?" Sakura asked, smiling, quite oblivious to Ino's feelings.
"YEAH, and I HATE IT!! Just promise not to tell anyone, okay? I just needed to vent!!" Ino reasoned unreasonably.
"I won't tell!! Cross my heart, hope to die" Sakura said, hands at her hips, and then pointed her thumb at herself, "You can count on Saku-chan to keep your secret safe!!".
"Great, Sakura!! Thanks just soo much!! I'd stay to chat, but I've really gotta go to my biology class!! See ya!" Ino waved as she ran down the hallway with an armful of books.
Sakura sighed, 'My first secret', she giggled to herself and skipped happily to the changerooms to change from her gym uniform.
Her blind skipping caused her to bump into someone. A certain someone. In other words: Temari.
"Oh, I'm sorry!! That was my bad!! Are you okay?" Sakura apologetically exclaimed, standing up immediately and helping Temari up.
"I'm alright, it was my fault also", Temari replied as she laughed loosely.
When Temari got a good look at Sakura, she exclaimed "Oh, hey! You're that...GIRL! With the pink hair!!", pointing at her.
"Uh...yeah, that's me.." Sakura said flatly, 'I'm known as that girl with the pink hair, huh?' she thought.
"So you're in class 8! You must know Ino, right?" Temari asked.
"I do" Sakura said, 'I do!? What, am I getting married or something?' she thought.
"Oh good. Look, uh...is she alright with y'know...Shika-kun and I? 'Cause I know she's had a crush on Shika-kun for a while and it must've really hurt her when I started dating him, so is she okay?" Temari asked, concerned.
Sakura paused, and stared into space for a moment, "Uh...she's fine with it!! I mean like...it's not
like she hates you-" Sakura realized what she said, and tried to cover up, "...I mean uh---I-it's not like she's super mad that you stole Shikamaru from her or anything", she realized what she said again, and then hesitated.
"Uh...er...uh---um....!!" Sakura became overwhelmed by her own words. Temari's expression read "confused" all over it.
"I-I-I..." Sakura bowed swiftly and then turned and ran out of the changerooms, "...I'm sorry!! Everything is all my fault!!".
A few seconds later, Ino walked in, "Hey, what's up with Sakura?" she asked, pointing a thumb at the door.
"I honestly don't know" Temari said, putting on a concerned face. This was something the two agreed on.
End Flashback
"No really, don't tell me" Sakura said, clutching her backpack and waving a finger in front of Sasuke's face.
Sasuke stared at her for a while, and then finally said "Fine", and turned back to the window.
Sakura loosened up, sighing, and turned back to her window.
In a swift motion, Sasuke leaned in to her closely and whispered, "I can steal emotions".
Not even letting the words register in her mind, Sakura turned "I told you not to tell me!!", then she thought, 'Wait...his secret is...that he can steal emotions?'.
"Wait wait wait---" Sakura said, "What? You can steal emotions?". Sasuke made stupid jokes?
Sakura found this funny, and started giggling, covering her mouth with her hand in attempts to stop laughing. Sasuke stared at her with an irritated expression and waited for her to stop. After a while, Sakura calmed down "I'm sorry, but that was pretty funny, your jokes aren't funny, but the way you say them makes them funny".
Sasuke sighed exasperatedly, "At the bus stop, you felt a sudden burst of anger and courage, and picked a fight with those people, didn't you?" he asked.
Sakura's smiling face became shocked, "How do you know how I felt!?", she clutched her backpack harder.
"Didn't I tell you?" Sasuke asked, smiling just a tad, "I can steal emotions".
Sakura fell into a pit of realization. "Wait, so...WHAT HAPPENED!?" she asked, putting on a face that read "What the heck is going on!?".
"When you we being harassed by those guys, the bus came and a wave of people walked past you, and that time, I touched your hand and stole every drop of your fear. You didn't feel me touch you because there were too many people pushing against you" Sasuke explained to an amazed Sakura.
"Woah!! So the reason I kicked that guy in the face was because of you!?" Sakura asked in amazement.
Sasuke nodded knowledgably.
"Wooaahhh!!!" Sakura said in awe, "You don't just walk around carelessly stealing peoples' emotions, do you!?" she asked.
"No, I just figured you'd get in trouble if you hung with those people" Sasuke reasoned.
Sakura mentally screamed with joy 'He was concerned about me!! A lowly bubblegum-head like me!!' she thought.
"Okay, okay, I want some more proof, here" Sakura held out her hand to Sasuke, "Okay, steal my uh....exhaustion, or lethargy, or...y'know, whatever it's called. You get the idea".
Sasuke said nothing, but gently took her hand into his, and closed his eyes. Sakura blushed at this. Sasuke was holding her hand!
Then she felt the energy in her build up, 'Whoa, what the...' she thought, and without thinking, whipped her hand out of Sasuke's grasp.
Sasuke opened his eyes to look at why Sakura had taken her hand back. Then he knew. He had taken so much exhaustion from her that she was now wildly energetic.
Sakura pressed her face against the window, "We're HEEEEERRRREEE!!!!!!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, her face glued to the window, leaning over Sasuke's lap, making him wonder why she wasn't looking at the window on her side.
"Our stop is just a short walk from the school" Sasuke said, as Sakura flung herself away from the window. "Then LET'S GO!! What're you waiting for!?" she grabbed his hand and jetted down the aisle of the bus.
As the bus driver pressed the button that opened the doors, Sakura flung her and Sasuke out of the bus and into the air. Her foot made contact with the ground and she picked up speed, racing down the streets of Tokyo with a Sasuke in her hand dangling behind her.
Sasuke gripped her hand harder and shut his eyes. In a moment, he drained away all her hyperactiveness. All of it.
He felt Sakura slow down considerably, and then suddenly drop to the ground---then he heard snoring. He chuckled, and gently picked her up bridal style, walking casually in the direction of the school.
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Please don't expect any frequent updating. I'm going through exams right now, and updates will probably occur during my summer vacation :).
Ciao for now,
Ku