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Chapter One: The Plan

"Hey, Sakura!" He hissed "Sakura! Hey! Hey!" He leaned down and whispered into her ear, "Turn around, Sakura! Sakura! Sakura! Sakuuuuuurrrraaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" He knew he was being incessantly annoying, he just didn't care.

"What?" she snaps at him, turning around from her seat.

"Wanna go out with me tonight?"

She gave him a disgusted glare, "No."

Kakashi threw them a lazy glance from the front of the classroom, "Is there something you would like to share with us, Uzumaki? Haruno?"

Sakura blushed furiously, "No, sorry Kakashi-sensei."

"Naruto?"

"Hmph." Naruto leaned back on his chair with a pout and Kakashi continued to teach the class about modern literature. Was it just him, or did every thing in the books he told them about imply some sort of sex scene or symbol? Kakashi continued to talk about the waves of the ocean representing some sort of passionate love whilst Naruto continued to stare at Sakura.

She had rejected him again. He'd only been asking her for the last five years! Naruto slumped in his chair. She was far too fixated on Sasuke to ever notice him as something other than an annoying nuisance!

He leaned forward again but she turned to him sharply and gave him such a glare he slunk straight back to his seat.

God, she was angry.

Sasuke glanced back at him from the row in front and gave him a smirk, Better luck next time, dobe? Or not," he mouthed. Naruto clenched his fists.

The bastard.

Sasuke smirked wider and leant across and placed his arm around Sakura's shoulders. The girl gasped and glanced at him. Sasuke gave her a look before making eye contact with Naruto and smirking again. Naruto clenched his teeth together and stood up, "SASUKE, YOU BASTA-"

"Class is over," Kakashi said, interrupting him with a bored sounding voice, "Luckily for you, Naruto, or I'd have to give you a detention. Try to keep calm over lunch, please."

The rest of his classmates began to get up, Naruto glared as Sakura walked out of the classroom, Sasuke following her. Stupid prick. He was only doing it to annoy him, he knew.

"N…N…Naruto-kun!" came a voice to his left. He glanced at the girl – Hinata Hyuuga. She was kind of weird, didn't speak much and when she did she stuttered, and she was so shy she only had a small handful of friends.

"Naruto-kun…um…class has finished n-now, you're allowed to…to leave." He blinked at her and glanced around. Sure enough they were the only ones in the classroom. He put his hand behind his head. That's what he got for thinking too much. An awkward silence fell between them. He looked at her. She was playing with her fingers again – something she only did when she felt self-conscious. Damn. He better say something to lighten the mood.

"Thanks Hinata! We better get out of here before someone comes in and thinks we're up to something!"

The girl went from pale pink to beetroot red in a matter of seconds. He winced. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say. Luckily, she seemed to be able to prevent herself from fainting. Instead she nodded sharply, ducking her head so she didn't meet his eyes.

She was so weird.

He heard his stomach rumble – okay, time to eat. He grabbed his books and jumped over the desks to the front of the classroom, giving her a quick wave before exiting and finding himself in the corridor.

He saw Sakura laughing animatedly, her friend Ino laughing as well, walking towards the cafeteria. He caught her eye and smiled, but it fell when he saw the look of anger that she greeted him with in return. She looked behind him kept on walking straight past him, ignoring him completely.

Oh, burn.

He walked along dejectedly, heading for his locker. He put in his combination and yanked it open, shoving his books inside and grabbing his cup of instant ramen. He was glad he bad brought it today, God knows he needed it after that.

"Oi, Naruto." A lazy voice said.

Naruto slammed his locker shut, "Hey Shikamaru."

His friend raised an eyebrow, "What's up?" .

"I asked Sakura out again." He muttered in reply. They began to walk towards the food hall. Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes, "Did you ask her in class again?"

"Yeah…"

He shook his head lazily, scratching his ear, "Maybe you need a different method."

"Like what?"

Shikamaru shrugged and didn't reply. Naruto blew out of his mouth. He should have known Shikamaru wasn't going to give him anymore then that. The boy never was one for talking when it was most important. Crossing the court to the cafeteria they fell into silence. As they reached the door and were about to head their different ways (Shikamaru had taken to sitting with Temari and her friends, now they were going out) Shikamaru grabbed his shoulder and muttered into his ear, "Temari hates it when I talk to other girls."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at him as he sauntered off. Why the hell had he told him that about Temari? He didn't give a damn about that, he just wanted to know how to get Sakura to notice him!

He walked down to his usual table. He glowered at Sasuke – the guy was his best friend, but he damn well hated him some times. He deliberately put his arm around Sakura's shoulders to get him jealous! Of course, he's not very surprised. Sasuke always does that kind of thing. The more he flirts with other girls, the more jealous the others get and the more they…want…him…

Naruto stopped in his tracks.

Jealous…

Of course! He just needs to get Sakura jealous, then she'll definitely want to go out with him!

He walked over to the cafeteria staff and paid the dollar it cost for them to heat up water for his instant ramen. While he waited, he thought of all the girls he could use so that Sakura would finally date him.

Temari was going out with Shikamaru, so that was a definite no. Tenten was way too tomboyish for him, Karin…he didn't even want to think about asking her. Ino was just as bad as Karin, and besides, he heard she was going out with Chouji...great. There had to be someone left he was forgetting...

As he walked away (ramen in hand) he passed Hinata's table. She glanced at him then looked down again, blushing. Kiba gave him a nod and Shino muttered something under his breath.

Naruto blinked.

Hinata? He'd forgotten her! He paused. She was a girl – very important – and she wasn't taken, she wasn't tomboyish and (as far as he could tell) she wasn't a Sasuke fan-girl. She wasn't completely repulsive, though her eyes were a little odd, and even though she was weird and quiet, he was sure he could put up with it for the month or two he needed to make Sakura jealous.

He continued to stare at her, slowing breaking into a grin, she was the perfect for his plan.

"Oi, dobe, are you coming to sit down or not?!" Called Sasuke from Naruto's usual table. He looked slightly annoyed at him. Naruto shrugged it off, turning back to the small group of three. He just had to ask Hinata out, and everything would fall into place!

Well, no time like the present!

"Hey, Hinata?" he asked. She looked up from her meal and met his eyes with hers, "Do you want to go out tonight?"

Kiba snorted on his milk and Shino choked on something he just swallowed. They looked up at him, he couldn't tell Shino's expression but Kiba's was a definate, 'What the HELL?!'

He glanced to the left and saw Sakura looking at them with a raised eyebrow, looking very surprised. The entire cafeteria was silent. Wow, he'd certainly made a scene. He'd just asked her out, it wasn't as if they had been secretly pining for each otehr and he had just realised his feelings! He looked at the girl in front of him, who was blushing red again and playing with her fingers. She looked like she was going to pass out.

He bit his lip. Maybe he should have done this more tactfully? The last thing he needed was for her to faint on him!

"H…hai, Naruto-kun, I would like that v-very much…" she replied in a voice that was barely auditable. Still, it was better than nothing. Naruto gave her a grin, "Great, see you tonight! Six!"

He turned away and walked towards his table, giving Sakura a glance. She was staring at him with her mouth open. He smirked. It was all coming together.


AN: Yo. A new story! And god, it's one big love triangle hectagon thing. Naruhina, Sasuhina, Sasusaku, Narusaku (don't worry, it won't last), Kibahina...possibly. AND lots of other side pairings, like ShikaTema, InoChou, NejiTen, Sai...everyone xD! and possibly KakaIru, because I haven't complicated the plot enough for myself already xD!

It's not a SaiHina story like I promised, but I was thinking last night and I had this idea for a story! Hurray, inspiration :) I hope you guys like the highschool setting. First time ever using it, and I am a tad n00bish. Can you tell?

Unfortunately, I doubt that it will be very in character. In fact, I am sure it will be completely out of character, despite my best attempts. As you can tell, Naruto is a bit of an ass in this story, so already that's pretty much screaming OOC. Ah well, I'm sorry. I hope you guys like it anyway! I will catch you later, bambino's!

Ciao! Chickenwore