Saving the Savior
Disclaimer: I will probably never own Naruto.
~#*#~
"Oh man, just look at her. She walks around like she owns the place."
"Be quiet, she might hear you. For your info, she technically does own the place. Her father owns a fashion corporation and he donates tons of money to this school."
"Like I care. She doesn't have to treat us like we're beneath her or something. It's disgusting."
"And look at that hair! Pink? How trashy."
"She claims that it's 'natural.' Yeah right."
"Sasuke-kun, do you think her hair is dyed?"
The said Sasuke slowly looked up from his textbook uninterestedly when he heard his name. He openly glared at the girl who called him but she just batted her lashes and flashed her caked lips into a smile. He ran his hand through his hair and ignored the girl in hopes that she would leave him alone.
"Oi, Teme!" an obnoxiously loud voice shouted next to Sasuke. Irritated, Sasuke turned to Naruto, whose blue eyes gleamed mischievously. "You know, she asked you if you think that girl's hair is natural," Naruto smirked, pointing to the pink haired girl with his pencil. Sasuke's eyes quickly flicked over to that direction and he suddenly understood what all the noise was about.
They were talking about the rich girl. The girl he didn't give a single cent about. She was sitting at her desk and seemed to be working on some schoolwork. Once in awhile, she would shake her head slightly, probably deprecating herself for making a mistake in the work at her desk. Sasuke's eyes finally drifted to the girl's pastel pink pony-tail. The thin rosette strands were illuminated by the sun, giving her hair an ethereal shine. However, her bangs covered her face, so Sasuke could not get a single glimpse of her countenance.
"Hn." How annoying.
But an even more annoying sound was being emanated from the squeaky girl from earlier.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun, so do you think it's natural?" she asked again, scrunching her nose this time. Naruto sensed that Sasuke was becoming agitated, so he decided to step in.
"Natural or not, I think she's pretty cute," Naruto bravely said as he leaned back into his chair. The other girls who were gossiping about the rich girl earlier began to gasp. The squeaky leader of the group instantly turned red at Naruto's comment and glared at him.
"Ehh?! I'm much prettier than her! You wouldn't know pretty if it hit you in the face," the girl said, directing her words to Naruto. "We're leaving, girls!" she ordered. Naruto just shrugged as the little girl group stomped back to their seats.
Sasuke sighed, feeling relief and peace. Finally. He was about to return to his books when he was interrupted. Again. His eye twitched in irritation.
"You're welcome, Sasuke," Naruto whispered. He wore a silly victory grin…that Sasuke wanted to punch off of his face. However, Sasuke just glared at him and called Naruto a "dobe."
"Aw, Sasu-cakes! Don't look at me like that," Naruto whined, mimicking a whining fangirl. "You'll lose the president of your fanclub that way." This drew a slight smirk out of Sasuke while Naruto snickered a bit.
The bell suddenly rang and the teacher of the final class of the day arrived, silencing every student. The entire class paid close attention to their strict teacher as she gave notes.
Well, all except for one Sasuke Uchiha. Throughout the period, he kept glancing over to the rich pink-haired girl, trying to catch a glimpse at her face.
'I think she's pretty cute.'
The dobe said that confidently, but Sasuke wanted to see if that statement was true.
~#*#~
Ding-dong!
A groan sounded as the loud noise interrupted a man's sleep (and his flashback dream.) The man looked over to his bedside clock. 8:27 a.m. and that was way too early.
Ding-dong!
"I'm motherfreaking coming!" the man shouted. He swore to himself and promised he would strangle the person at the door. Grudgingly, he crawled out from the warmth of his blanket, exposing his body to the cool air of his room. His feet searched for his black slippers and soon, he shuffled out of his room and to the apartment door. The man growled as he opened the door, in a little bit (lot) of irritation. If looks could kill, he was sure the person at the door was already at his or her own funeral.
"Good morning, Teme!" an obnoxious voice practically screamed into Sasuke's face. Sasuke rubbed his eyes to clear his sight but he was absolutely sure who the person at the door was.
Obsidian eyes cleared and a pair of sparkly blue eyes stared back at him.
Talk about déjà vu.
"What do you want, Dobe?" Sasuke demanded as he sluggishly walked to the kitchen, silently inviting Naruto into the apartment. Sasuke turned on his coffee pot and heard Naruto shut the door and practically skip into the kitchen.
"I'm here to remind you about Ino's photoshoot! You can't be late since you offered to sponsor for it," Naruto announced. He opened one of the kitchen cupboards and pulled out two cups. He looked over and saw Sasuke furrow his brows in confusion.
"That's today? Damn. And I had wanted to schedule a company meeting," Sasuke grumbled. "Why did I have to be so kind and rich?" He smirked as his lightning-speed (no pun intended) coffee maker beeped and signaled his finished coffee. Naruto scoffed at Sasuke's conceit and shoved the two cups to Sasuke's side of the counter.
"Why are you so full of yourself? Now, that is the question," Naruto corrected. Sasuke 'hnned' at that and walked to stand across Naruto's side of the counter. He pulled out his very own bar stool and sat down. Naruto looked at Sasuke and finally noticed his darker eye bags and untrimmed hair.
"Dude, you look like shit," Naruto sneered, becoming a little serious.
"Go to hell," was the response he received.
"And you're grumpy. Hmm, well Mr. Uchiha, I think you have a case of Missing You-Know-Who Syndrome," Naruto replied while smirking into his cup of coffee. He was sure that would draw a worthy response out of the stoic ice block in front of him.
However, Sasuke just quietly growled and put his face into his palms. Naruto frowned. This wasn't the response he was fishing for. He needed a better hook.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. But this coffee does matter and it needs some sugar," Naruto cautiously stated. He kept his eyes on the Uchiha.
"The coffee is perfectly fine," Sasuke snapped. Well, it wasn't like he was lying. Sasuke always liked his coffee plain. No sugar. No milk. Just bland bitter coffee. Just the way he liked it.
"For you, it is wonderful, but my taste buds are bored! Do you have anymore of that Emerald Brand Sugar?" Naruto asked. Coal-dark eyes snapped open and Sasuke lifted his face from his hands. His expression softened at the mention of emerald and his vision drifted to somewhere far away.
"Bingo," Naruto thought. He watched Sasuke, but Sasuke did not see him.
Sasuke was thinking of something else that was emerald, but the shade of that specific emerald he was remembering was soft and caring. Warm and comforting. Sometimes chilling and annoying.
Emerald. Such a lovely color.
~#*#~
(flashback)
The bell rang and suddenly, all the students in the classroom rushed to the door. The chattering of students and the teacher's loud reminders of due dates next week could be heard all around the room.
Sasuke Uchiha had a unexplainable habit of leaving the class last, even after the teacher left. The teacher would understand and just slightly smile at the Uchiha, as a way of reminding him to lock the room after he leaves. In return, Sasuke would just slightly nod his head in consent. After the exchange of silent messages, he would usually just sit in the classroom, typically having nothing to do.
However, today, he didn't feel like staying in the classroom. He needed to attend one of the meeting's at his father's corporation.
As he grew older, Sasuke knew that his father wanted him to become the CEO of Uchiha Co., a large corporation focusing on almost everything on the market. The company was famous halfway across the globe for its efficiency and high profits.
Luckily, his father believed that Sasuke should live his own life now because he may not have a chance later on. This resulted in the rare monthly corporate meetings that Sasuke was required to attend.
That was the reason to why he was running down the hallways to reach the school entrance. He was going to be late to the meeting and Uchihas are never late. As if hearing his thoughts, the wave of bodies also rushing to the exit became too much to handle. Luckily, Sasuke knew a few deserted hallways that nobody used after school because there were no end-of-the-day classes taken there.
Sasuke stealthily snaked between people until he ran into one of the empty hallways.
Well, at least he had hoped the hallway would be empty. But, no. There was one more person who also knew of this hallway.
Leaning outside one of the hallway windows was the pink-haired girl. She wasn't looking in Sasuke's direction, rather, she was looking outside. Sasuke could see the side of her form, but still could not see her face. Sasuke grew irritated because of this and because she knew of his secret hallway. He also noticed there were miscellaneous objects lying on the floor, but he redirected his attention to the girl.
The girl seemed to be happily leaning out of the open window, so Sasuke decided to ruin her fun and he approached her. Sasuke noticed that her muscles tensed a bit, as if she knew he was there but she was hoping he would just pass by.
"Hey, it's dangerous leaning out of a window like that," Sasuke sharply reprimanded. This time, the girl tensed even more but showed no sign of acknowledging Sasuke's presence. Sasuke's eye brow twitched a bit at that and he grew annoyed.
"I'm not leaving until you get off the ledge," Sasuke informed. He decided to mess with her a little. Plus, egging her on like that just might allow him to see her face.
"Fine," the girl replied in a monotone. Her voice was surprisingly mellow for a small girl like her, but it was still feminine and smooth. "I'll leave then." She turned her back to Sasuke and held onto her school satchel that hung from her shoulders. Her pink hair swayed a bit with this action, but that wasn't what caught Sasuke's eyes.
As she took her first graceful steps away from him, something shiny fell from her bag. She didn't seem to notice, but Sasuke immediately went to fetch it from the ground. He walked to the object and brought it up to his face to take a good look at it.
"Wait!" Sasuke exclaimed. He saw the girl stop, but she did not turn around. He looked at the object again and noticed it was a key chain. The key chain was in a shape of a fan, colored in red on the first half and white along the bottom half. He frowned as he began realize its familiar shape.
It was the Uchiha crest.
Sasuke ran up to the girl who was at the end of the hallway. She still had her back turned to him. Her head was slightly inclined to look at her satchel, realizing that she was missing her keychain.
"Give it back," the girl coldly demanded. She turned her body to reach for the key chain but her face was still hidden. Her arm was outstretched and Sasuke noticed a hall monitor badge on her sleeve. Slowly, Sasuke's eye brows furrowed. He was starting to get angry from speaking to a person who did not look directly into his face. It was just rude.
"I'm not giving it back until you say thanks," Sasuke declared as his voice stoned over. Not showing her face and being demanding. Uchihas don't tolerate that. He thought he had her, but he was wrong. The girl just dropped her outreaching arm. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly and was in shock. She adjusted her stature and continued walking away from him.
"Fine, Uchiha, you can keep it," the girl stoically replied. Her steps echoed in the hall and they broke Sasuke from his small shock.
"What's your name?" Sasuke suddenly asked. He was purely curious now. He wanted to know who this annoying girl was. The girl stopped in her tracks and inclined her head slightly. Sasuke thought he heard her sigh.
"Sakura. Sakura Haruno," the girl revealed in strong tone. She failed to continue on her journey away from the Uchiha because the said boy caught up to her.
"Sakura, is your hair color natural?" Sasuke suddenly blurted. His own eyes widened at his question, not knowing why he would ask that.
"Smooth, Sasuke, very smooth," he thought as he mentally slapped himself. He was prevented from mentally beating himself up when Sakura turned around.
Sakura's softly sculpted but clearly defined face first caught Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke was surprised to find her smirking. Her smirking lips were pink like blossoms and they bordered her pearly white teeth. She stood with a powerful confidence and she had her hands on her waist.
However, there was only one characteristic on her face that completely caught Sasuke's attention. They were her bright green eyes. Her eyes contained shades of teal, dark green, fern green, and jade. They shined like emeralds. The emerald color of her eyes were accentuated by a twinkle of mirth and defiance.
It was completely enchanting.
"Definitely cute…wait…what?" Sasuke thought as different things flew in his mind.
"Well, Uchiha, my hair is dyed. I dyed it while I was growing inside my mother's womb," she affirmed with a hint of sarcasm.
With that, she smirked at him one last time and quickly turned around. Not giving him a chance to interrupt her departure one more time, Sakura quickly walked to the end of the hallway and disappeared around the corner. Her footsteps and remains of her tinkle-like laughter echoed in the hallway.
Sasuke just stood at where he was, eyes wide and jaws opened a bit. His hand still held Sakura's key chain, but his grip soon tightened. Other than that, he just stood there.
For the first time in Sasuke Uchiha's life, he was absolutely speechless.
~#*#~
Naruto stared at Sasuke quietly as he went through another flash back. In the end, he decided against getting the sugar for his coffee. Instead, he decided to not disturb Sasuke and to let him be. Besides, memories were the only thing Sasuke had left.
Sasuke's problem wasn't a real problem, but it affected his mental health. Naruto would constantly witness Sasuke's depression. Naruto thanked the kamis every day for not letting this harm Sasuke. Sure, Sasuke would go through flash backs but it wouldn't change his life too drastically. Sasuke still knew his duties and what was important in current situations.
However, it was as if Sasuke decided to live a life of depression when Sakura left.
"I want her back, too," Naruto whispered to nobody. He ran his fingers through his blonde spikes and sighed. He looked at Sasuke's kitchen clock and saw it was 8:43 a.m., about fifteen minutes from Ino's photoshoot.
"Earth to Sasuke! Come in to mission control!" Naruto almost yelled into Sasuke's face. Sasuke slightly jumped and glared at Naruto when he realized that he had interrupted his thoughts. "Ino's photoshoot will start in about fifteen minutes. You should go clean yourself up."
"Hn," was all Sasuke grunted as he looked at his kitchen clock. Stiffly, he stood from his stool and stretched a bit, feeling the knots in his muscles release.
He made his way to his room as he heard Naruto washing the coffee cups. Entering his dark room, Sasuke picked up a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from his closet. He shuffled over to his window and opened the shutters.
Sasuke did not flinch as the rays of the sun shot into his face and the room.
"It's too early," was all Sasuke thought as he stared out into the sky.
~#*#~
Author's Note: My first Naruto FanFic! ^-^ Please tell me how I did. If you liked it, feel free to review! It'd make me happy resulting in a faster update! Thanks!