Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.

A/N:
I honestly don't know what happened here. This fic was originally something a little different, and it was also the first fic that I had wanted to write for Naruto. Let's just say it didn't happen back then, but I revisited it and...well, here it is! :)
I hope to be able to continue this fic :)

Leave a review if you'd like, and I hope you enjoy this :)

At the End of the Corridor

Chapter 1: The Board At the End of the Corridor

"I'm not a child anymore, damn it!"

Several heads turned in Sakura's direction as she slammed the house door shut, oblivious to the accusatory stares she was receiving. With her face reflecting murder, the pink-haired teen took long and purposeful strides towards her high school, Konoha Academy.

Sakura had never been the shy, bashful kind of person who'd keep all her raging feelings and thoughts to herself, very much unlike her friend, Hinata. In actuality, the violent girl was quite the opposite of 'shy'.

In actuality, describing the child as merely 'violent' had to be the understatement of the century.

Stupid Mom… Always bossing me around like a kid! For goodness' sake, I'm not five! I'm a sixteen-year-old perfectly capable of looking after myself! All she does is boss me around all day and acts like some big shot, telling me to do my work, finish my work, clean up my room, stop playing video games… What is her problem!

…At least I get to go to school. It'll provide a brief respite from my source of stress at home…

The fuming teen pondered over the irony of how school could be a respite while being another source of stress for her, when she halted before the school gates. As per normal, they were already locked, serving as a barrier between her and the school.

She was late. Again.

Heh. What's new?

Of course, such obstacles hardly proved to be much for someone as feisty and athletically-talented as her.

With alarming speed, Sakura clambered up the metal gates, swung a leg over the top and leapt off it. Her two feet hit the ground at the same time, practically flaunting her agility.

Sakura was already making a beeline for her classroom when the guards turned to check the school gates.

They swore they had seen someone enter.

The classroom door slid open with a loud bang.

The students had scarcely any reaction; this was a scene they'd seen a million times over, it was like a broken video player that repeated the scene over as many times as possible.

"Well if it isn't Forehead."

Snickers rang out throughout the classroom and Sakura walked in calmly, with utter disregard for their harsh mockery. She was used to it, anyhow.

They didn't know how it felt to be her.

Sakura had just rested herself on the chair in some corner of the classroom where she could be invisible when their teacher walked in.

Kakashi, looking somewhat like a junkie today what with his tired expression and 70% of his face covered, ambled into the classroom like he was totally on time.

The clock on the wall read 8.23 am. Totally.

Their homeroom teacher was late by an entire hour. As usual.

"Yo, class." The silver-haired man greeted without so much as even bothering to glance at the class. His eyes were riveted to some page of whatever book it was that he was holding in his hand. Eye-smiling, he continued heartily with a "Sorry about that, I got lost on the road of life again."

The students of class 2-7 ceased their chatter and decided to focus on what their teacher had to say. Kakashi usually didn't turn up for homeroom periods at all, unless he had to convey some important message from the principal, Tsunade, or something.

"This isn't actually very important," he began in a completely contradictory way, "but Principal Tsunade just wanted to let y'all know that there's some board or another somewhere at the end of the corridor." Kakashi paused to point in the direction that was opposite of the end of the corridor. "So feel free to put messages there or something."

And with that, he strolled out of the classroom without waiting for any sign of response from the class.

Well, truth be told, Kakashi knew he wasn't going to get any reaction. These were sixteen-year-olds he was talking about, and what were the chances of teenagers even showing the slightest bit of interest in something as terribly mundane as some random board in the school's most inconspicuous place?

Zilch, Kakashi told himself as the bell rang for Chemistry lessons.

Zilch, Sakura told herself as the bell rang for Chemistry lessons. There was a zilch chance that she wasn't going to mess around with that precious—okay fine, worthless—board when the golden opportunity had presented itself to her on a silver platter.

It's not like anyone is going to even care about this board, might as well entertain myself with it.

As much as Sakura wanted to pay attention in class, her mind was kind of busy doing little prances in imagineville and not focusing on whatever it was the teacher was rambling on and on about.

…Maybe prank someone? Yes! Now that sounds like a g—

"Sakura!"

She blinked once from her tiny corner at the back of the classroom and raised her hand. "Yes, teacher?"

"Your turn to answer the question." The Chemistry teacher tapped the whiteboard, which displayed a mind-numbingly difficult chemical equation. Sakura swore she could see the evil gleam in his eyes.

Sakura's eyes flitted to the board. The cogwheels in her brain turned rapidly, churning out the answer she required in mere seconds.

"Potassium," she answered confidently. Her eyes were trained on the teacher, as though challenging him to correct her answer.

Caught off guard entirely, the teacher checked the notes in his hands before stuttering out a surprised "C-correct."

Sakura rolled her eyes and sat herself down, drifting off to imagineville again. Teachers should really learn that Sakura couldn't be picked on when it came to answering questions—regardless of difficulty. The girl was, despite her rebellious attitude, quite the conscientious and studious child. She always read up on topics before her classes.

Tucking strands of her hair behind her ear, the girl fished out a new pack of post-its—pink, her favourite colour—from her bag and ripped one off to start writing.

Should she just write something to see if anyone would respond? Sakura decided this was the best course of action to take. If nobody was going to respond in the first place, then might as well not do anything.

So she lifted her black pen and scribbled down the first thought that came to her mind.

"I need help."

Sakura felt that the fact that this was the first thing that came to her mind reflected just how well her mental well-being was.

Well, who cares? It's all in the name of fun anyway.

And for the rest of lesson time, all she did was fantasize about her soon-to-be 'adventure' to the end of the corridor.

Once lessons were done for the day, Sakura sped off to her destination, making sure that she went by unseen by anyone else.

The board was everything Sakura had expected—plain, ugly and small.

So with flourish she whipped out her post-it and stuck it onto the board, the strong pink colour a stark contrast against the dull grey board.

And thus, Sakura spent the next week waiting for a reply.