AN: Hello to all who are interested by my title and wish to read what I love to write for all who love and adore Naru/Saku writing and the bonds of friendship between those who seek it with a passion. My story is a high school fic and will begin slowly at the beginning of summer, and it may be a little while before Sakura and Naruto meet, but I will try my best to achieve your expectations to the extant that I can.
This story will bring about many things that 'don't' happen at every high school, but I hope to build a background and setting in which you all enjoy. I will try to post at least once a week, and try for two a week, but it depends on my schedule and how much I can write down.
And Now, brought to you by Timberwolfe Productions and Associates:
Just A Regular High School Life
Chapter 1: A Nosy Neighbor
It was a nice day out upon the earth that we found ourselves living upon. The people were smiling inside their cars and driving without a care in the world. The traffic upon the freeway was wonderful for a day to leave bad things behind and move forward. In fact, a mid-sized moving van was doing that exact thing at the moment, its colors on the side brown and orange, with an image of the land that it had departed from on the long sides. And inside the van were two people, with one driving who looked like the adult and motherly version of the two.
A soft smile, though small, adorned her face, a smile of the hope that she wanted to bring to the person beside her. It was after all the girl beside her mother that had suggested this idea, and yet when the mother looked over, the daughter's head was against the glass, looking out at nothing in particular as a car pulled past them and casually moved ahead of the slower vehicle that was pulling with it a life of material possessions inside it.
"Sweetheart, come on. Cheer up a little." The mother encouraged as she turned the music in the moving van to a lower decibel, but the teenager simply sighed, slouched further into her seat, and brought her feet up to the seat before her eyes looked out to the horizon, unfocused and unhappy. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, mom. I just...I'm apprehensive about this whole ordeal, okay? I mean...shouldn't I be in a cell, rotting away?"
"Dear, the police didn't arrest you, and you have nothing to fear." The girl's mother voiced aloud. "Come on, you said that this could be a new opportunity for the both of us."
The girl sighed at her mother's newfound strength to encourage her and directed a small smile towards her mother. "You're right. This outta be a nice experience for the both of us."
"That's the spirit." The mother smiled and turned on the radio, as a Christian band started to sing about change and the girl looked back out, counting and picking out all the dents in the cars that passed them by, her cheek pressing against the warm window. To think, soon her alabaster skin may become tan after all this time, being from a place that was sunny only twenty days of the year. What does one do in the sun anyways? The girl knew the answer to the question of what to do, but she didn't in a way. The girl sighed and looked on as the van exited off the freeway, turning off of a large bridge over a deep chasm in the land and into the beginnings of a forest city, and as they passed a sign she looked at it in wonder. 'Konoha huh?' The girl thought. What did one do in Konoha on the first day of summer?
The moving van took a few more turns, before heading onto a street that was split down the middle on rich houses on one side and more middle class income on the other. The mother stopped the van and the girl's eyes stared off at the house directly across from her new house, with its four door garage, white walls, giant lawn, and everything else about it. This was a young town so they most likely had a teen her own age, and that meant that that girl or boy was probably snarky and given everything on a silver platter. Whatever they wanted was on a silver platter and they probably had so many friends that it wasn't a matter of anything that they needed or wanted anything in their life. The girl would make sure to stay away from them.
By the opposing standards, the girl saw her own house as advertised, with its simple two story design, with three bedrooms on the second floor and a hallway that led up the stairs and to the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The girl wondered a bit as to why there was no backyard, but she supposed that the people around here used the forest as their backyards and such. The mother turned off the engine and looked to her daughter before they stepped out of the truck.
The girl stepped down the second step and her red running shoes pressed against the hard pavement. The girl's hourglass figure was a moderate sized appropriate to her slim figure, but it matched her frame nicely. The girls emerald eyes were bored and shied away from most things after a second, but the girl did not see herself as attractive as other's would. She felt like she was a little chubby, and bits of fat on her stomach and arms and legs, her lips that when she rarely smiled made boys act...creepily towards her. She hated her forehead being a little bigger than others, but mostly, unlike her mother who looked great in pink, the girl hated her pink hair which at the moment was place into a light ponytail behind her, with a single loose strand near her cheek that always refused to be tied down.
The girl and mother walked around to the back of the moving van and unlocked it, hearing the slicks and slacks of the metal folding itself along the top of the van and looked at the seven or eight boxes that were the last to be taken here by the moving company. The two wrapped their arms against the other's shoulders and the mother pulled her daughter closer, kissing her head. This time will be different.
"R-Right."
"And sweetheart." The girl's mother pleaded. "Please try to make some friends, alright?"
"...I'll try, mom." The girl muttered as she leaned away from her mother's hug and turned forward and jumped up from the ground to the bed of the van and began to push the boxes towards the end of the van, so that they could easily get to them. She wasn't exactly the friend type, but her mom did not know or need to understand that in this age of technology and fashion. In truth, the girl was a loner, and terrible at making friends her own age. She had friends all over the world, so why make friends here? But she would try to make friends, for her mother, just maybe after summer, because there was no one around to make friends with. So for now, she'd probably go into her room, take apart her new computer, and figure how it worked and how it could be made better. The girl was shy, and only talked to people she knew really well, so this was her type of thing to do.
After a few trips inside, there were only a few boxes left and the girl's mother picked one up and looked to her daughter. "Sweetheart, I'm going to move inside and unpack these boxes. You think you'll be okay with the rest?" To her nod, the mother walked around the moving van, through the white fence opening and up and through the now open front door to the house, leaving her daughter to handle he rest.
The pink haired girl meanwhile, looked at the two boxes remaining, both for her room. The movers had brought everything else, but these things meant more to her and she wanted to make sure they arrived safely. They were her box of clothes and her treasured items. The young fifteen year old jumped down from the truck and grabbed the heavy box first, placing it in her hands before moving and leaning up to grab the last of the boxes.
"Hi!"
The girl was spooked initially and shivered before she turned to watch as a girl her age literally skipped around the corner of the van and turned to face her. The pink haired girl felt a wave of jealousy wash of her as she stared at this girl who had the perfect voluptuous hourglass figure, with shiny lip gloss shining on her lips, and her posture pouring out wave after wave of confidence. The girl wore nice expensive sandals with, was those real diamonds?! Anyways, the girl wore sandals before her bare legs went up and up until a tiny purple skirt swayed lightly as she smiled at the moving girl, her teeth so bright and shiny.
The girl blushed at the skirt, as she could see, even from her angle, the purple lace of the girl's underwear before seeing the purple t-shirt ruffled from being slept in. And then the girl's platinum blonde hair cascaded down her back, as if she woke up that way in the morning and just now walked out to greet her. The girl's mother had wanted them to get here early, so this had just gotten up, but damn, she had the body and figure that made people want to kill for, and even with her not moving, her full breasts still swayed from the past actions.
"...Hi..." The girl responded back, her eyes blushing at the erect tips protruding from the girl's shirt. She quickly looked elsewhere, hoping to not analyze the girl any further, because if she did, then she would make a bias about this girl, and people generally didn't like her when she eventually spoke out her opinions of them.
"So, are you the girl moving into this house here?" The girl pointed out the girl's house and she nodded, as the girl smiled to her. "That's great! I'm Ino. I live in the house across the way."
Now, the girl's cheeks flushed and she turned away to finish the moving. So this was the rich girl who had anything and everything she wanted. She would do well to stay away from her. And yet, as she turned away, the girl jumped closer, looking inside the van to whistle at the emptiness of it all. Geez, did this girl have any sense of personal space?!
"What's your name?" Ino asked, cocking her head to the side curiously, as her smile grew wider, blinding the girl in white rows of light. The girl closed her eyes and sighed internally. This girl was too bubbly. What was she going to be in life, a walk in happy pill that cured cancer?
"Sakura..."
"Well, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you. Do you want some help?" Ino asked excitedly as Sakura grabbed a box from the truck and Sakura shrugged before handing it over to Ino's awaiting hands, her eyes shining with eager happiness and a willingness to help. Sakura let the full weight fall on her arms and smirked internally as Ino's eyes widened as her arms and back pitched forward, as she struggled to keep it upright so as not to fall to the pavement below. Sakura grabbed the other box and began to walk over to the house.
"Wow. You're so strong." Ino complimented and Sakura smiled a bit. Ino obviously was oblivious to the six repeated words over her box that said, 'clothes'. As Sakura walked to the fence, Ino started off on a long story. "Well, anyways, it's the first day of summer, isn't that great? I mean, it being summer and all, and you know that we girls can wear anything we want in these months? I swear that I saw this girl, like yesterday, wearing like, nothing. A thong! Because like seriously, who wears just a thong, right? Okay, so she had a bra on, but her tits were like too big for her top, and they just kept bouncing out and everything." Ino gushed out in a valley girl style.
"So, my parents decided to leave on their annual summer trip, and just like every year, they leave me here to you know, guard the house, at least that's what they say. But I know that it's just an excuse for my mom to go to her boyfriend's place and play naughty role playing games in the bedroom, and my father, I mean, he hates my guts, so he just spends his days with his other family, and I'm sooo cool with that, but really, they should take me somewhere, don't you think?"
Ino breathed in to take a breath and Sakura turned around as they passed the lawn to the doorway to frown at Ino's words. Her family sounded so dysfunctional, but her face was all bright and bubbly and- OH! It was now that Sakura's analytical mind and eyes looked closer to see the tense muscles and squinting eyes. The smile was fake then, so that she could hopefully make the day better. This girl's worst fear was probably to be all alone, hence why she was here so early in the morning when most slept in. This girl was a glass half full kind of person.
"Hey, you're don't talk much, Sakura. Do you?"
Sakura smiled and shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I'm shy."
"Well, thanks for letting me splurge just now. I have a Load of friends, and they always say that I need to slow down my words and just to plain old shut up, so how about I talk for you and introduce you to some of them later on? How does that sound?" Ino asked as her cheeks made Sakura wonder how Ino didn't have laugh lines adorning her entire face yet.
Sakura felt a wetness at the edge of her eye and turned away abruptly, tears rolling down her face. This girl...she didn't even know who she was or what she had done. How could she be so trusting of her so fast? Sakura smiled though at the innocent care that this girl was showing to her. "Thanks...Ino-San."
The girls stepped through the door and Ino looked around the front hallway, so unlike her own where it led to an open living room, and saw Sakura point out the stairs to the upstairs area. The girl made their way towards the stairs passed the open doorway to the living room and Sakura made it up a few steps before her mother walked around the corner from the kitchen and got her attention.
"Sakura, sweetheart, I was wondering if you could- OH! Who might this be?" Sakura's mother asked as she leaned fondly against the wall to the kitchen before walking forward to stand before the girls.
Ino smiled politely and bowed a bit. "Ino Yamanaka, ma'am. Pleasure to meet you."
"Well, I'm am so glad to know that my little angel made a friend so quickly." Sakura's mother spoke as she looked to Sakura who blushed and looked away, missing the gentle smiles that increased on Ino's face.
"Well, Sakura seems like a great listener, which is great for me, because I am terrible with hearing. I think I inherited it from my parents. They never listen to what I have to say. Heck, that's why their away and I'm stuck here."
"Wait...you mean you are living alone in your house?" Sakura's mother asked, shocked that parents would leave their child alone for the summer.
"Well, my parents are rich, so they try to buy me off with stuff and I mean, I have enough to last me Years alone, but I make sure to invite company over...You know, once...in a while." Ino's voice slowed down as she continued and the two Haruno's saw the look of sadness that crossed into Ino's eyes before she shook her head and smiled, and she was back to being the bubbly girl she was. "Once you get used to it, you learn to live on your own."
"Still Ino, I must appreciate your helping us move in."
"What, t-t-this?" Ino reputedly casually, her arm shaking from the weight of the heavy box in her hands. She cocked her head as Sakura's mom gave Sakura a dirty look and Sakura blushed and traded boxes with Ino. "Hey! This is...light?" Ino asked, shocked before blushing as she looked down to see the word clothes. "Oh..."
"Ino-Chan...Would you like stay over for dinner?"
"You mean like pizza or something?"
"No. I'd be cooking something up for all of us. What do you like?"
Ino's eyes twinkled with tears as her smile turned into a hopeful look. "Y-you mean...a Home Cooked dinner?"
"Of course."
"...I'd be happy with anything like that." Ino breathed out. She hadn't had a home cooked dinner in...About four months now.
"Alright. Are those the last boxes, Sakura?"
"Yeah, mom."
"Well then, I'll take the van back and then go to the store to get the ingredients for my Hot Dogeroni. Behave, girls." Sakura's mother replied as she quickly grabbed the keys and made her way out the door, closing it as she did. Ino's eyes followed her out and she sighed. "Man, you have the best mom."
"I know..." Sakura whispered before tapping Ino's shoulder before nodding towards the stairs and Ino nodded as they moved up them towards Sakura's new room. Ino though let her eyes move up and down Sakura's frame, admiring her tight shorts shaping her thighs and ass, and wished she had that much tone in her own muscles. Her eyes saw Sakura's one arm holding the box and she blushed. She really needed to get her arms to be able to lift more by summer's end, and it was not Just because she wanted to impress this new girl at all, okay?
The two teens stepped onto the second floor landing and made their way down the hall to the back of the house, before Sakura opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Ino, who saw the freshly painted burgundy colored walls, and the bed yet to be made, with about ten or so boxes filled with things from clothes, to electronics, to dresses. Ino wondered at times why her own room was smaller than others when she had such a large house, but remembered that she did have a walk in closet, a Jacuzzi tub for a bathroom, and a stairwell leading to the roof. Ino turned to smile at Sakura's color choice when she saw that Sakura had dropped her box down and was standing next to the glass door, her hand caressing it softly as she stared out towards the balcony that showed the dense Konoha woods around the back of the house.
Ino moved next to her and smiled. "You like being outside?"
Sakura nodded her head fondly, Ino watching her eyes as they shifted over the area. "I wasn't allowed outside when I was younger."
"Really? Why was that?" Ino asked as Sakura's eyes widened as her memories spread throughout her body.
'Sakura! Get in here!'
'Don't touch her!'
'Sakura, please!'
'Get in there, and stay there!
'Sakura, whatever happens, stay in that closet, you hear me?'
'Momma!' A little girl yelled, banging against the locked door as inside, through the small slated hole, her mother cried incessantly on the bed.
"WHAT?!" Sakura jolted as Ino's hand rested on her shoulder, and Sakura was now turned to face Ino's concerned eyes that bore into her own with such intensity. Sakura shivered at the past memories. That wouldn't happen again, and no one would find out. No one.
"Why did you stay inside all the time, Sakura?" Ino asked, wondering why Sakura shivered at the bad times of her past. Her pure white skin was proof that she stayed inside a lot but not why.
"I...I always wanted to go outside, but um...I was sick a lot."
Ino ohh'd and nodded before they walked back and Ino began to help Sakura unpack, herself blushing at how much unfeminine Sakura really was as they moved on.
An hour later, Ino blabbed on and on and on about random things and things that were not worth anything but rumors as she made Sakura's bed, as Sakura unfolded and placed her dresses and skirts and shirts in the closest on hangers. Ino sighed as she was proud of her work and glad to know that Sakura was simply good at electronics and not a complete tomboy. Tomboys didn't like Ino because she knew that she was their polar opposite, she was as girly as one could get. Ino earned scratch marks when she got into catfights, painted other girl's nails in her room and at school, and talked about boys and how they made her feel special when she laid down with them. In fact, all of these things were ones that she planned to do with Sakura, because with Ino, anything she thought of, she wanted to do.
"So anyways, you may think I have a great bust and everything, but you need to catch Hinata in the locker room someday. Seriously Sakura! You could float a whale on her chest...and they are so soft, like marshmallows. She used to be all ahhh! Ahhh! But now, she's like...go on, and touch them! She'd really getting out of her bubble, though she has slept with a lot of guys this last year. Maybe she's addicted to sex, huh?"
"I suppose she is." Sakura spoke up as Ino took a breath, taking a red dress and flipping it right side out.
"Oh and you might get along with my friend Naruto. He's like a total player, but inside he is the sweetest boy you'll ever meet. It's funny, he never tries to flirt with girls or anything, but we can see he's all toned and muscled and with these nice eyes and- Oh my god, you're blushing!" Ino exclaimed, and Sakura turned around to put the dress away. The guy sounded like a sweetheart, a really sexy hot sweet piece of- Sakura shook her head. Damn, her hormones were making her doubt her intelligence over these last few months.
"Anyways, then there is Shikamaru, though he lets me call him Shika, because he's like, um-ah-he's, well you know." Ino smiled shyly for the first time and Sakura caught the glimpse of her reddened cheeks in the mirror, and smiled. Ino was someone who had her heart on her sleeves wasn't she? "Anyways, and so I was walking down the street and...Am I annoying you?" Ino's voice carried over and Sakura turned around to look confused at Ino's worried face, biting her lower lip, and wringing her hands together with the sheets.
Sakura smiled and shook her head. "No Ino, you're not. Actually, though I don't talk a lot, I like to listen to those around me. So I like hearing you speak about anything, Ino...Ino?" Sakura called out as she turned to see Ino smile brightly. "What?"
"That's the most you've ever said to me."
"Oh shut up!" Sakura joked back.
"Ha! I knew you wanted me to shut up!"
"Ohhhhh...just go on with who was next? Kiba-San?"
"Oh! Yeah! So Kiba was staring at Hinata's breasts on the last day of school and he walked into the flagpole! And then when he..."
As the girls went on and on in their topics, Sakura's mother had walked back into her house and was almost done with dinner when she closed her eyes to smile at the sound of laughter coming from Sakura's room. The older woman smiled as she moved around the house stealthily moving up the stairs, cringing at the sound of a squeak on the fifth step. She'd have to get that fixed. Still, she continued forward to Sakura's door, as the giggles and laughter continued as Ms. Haruno gently prodded the door open and looked inside to see Sakura resting her back against the bed, and braiding Ino's hair whose head was turned to the ceiling as the rest of her body laid across the bed, as Sakura sometime remarked on things that make the both of them crack up all over again.
Ms. Haruno backed away from the door and made her way to the stairs before she cried happily, rubbing her arm tenderly, where a scar was formed and looked back up to her daughter's door. New start. This time, her daughter would be happy. Yuki would make sure of that. "Sakura! Ino! Dinner!"
Ino sighed happily as a full feeling washed over her entire being, making her feel so happily bloated. "Thank you for the meal s much, Ms. Haruno."
"Please Ino, its Yuki-San. Are you sure that you don't want some more?"
"I'm stuffed already!" Ino complained happily as she looked across the table. "Besides that, I'm training to be on the varsity cheer squad this year and I have to watch my figure."
"I'll say." Sakura muttered as she glimpsed Ino's perfect breasts still popping out of her Loose shirt. Her breasts were naturally perky and prominent and her legs and arms were to die for. She was the best image of what a cheerleader could look like. Sakura looked down and cursed herself. She had changed into cargo pants, favoring them over skirts and her vest still on her body. But this time around, she had bound her breasts up tight. Really, they just always got in the way. Besides that, it wasn't like Ino's body, whose body parts were all juicy and just perfect in Sakura's eyes.
"Have you been training for it long?"
"Well, I got on the team freshman year, but you always have to try out, and I want to do my best. As they talked, the clock clanged dominantly and Ino sighed at she looked at the time. Well I suppose I should go home."
"I'll walk you out." Sakura offered and Ino smiled and nodded as Ms. Haruno began to clear the table. In and Sakura stepped onto the concrete steps outside the doorway and smiled.
"Thanks for helping again, Ino."
"It was my pleasure. I got to have a lot of fun, Sakura." Ino smiled, and Sakura's heart flipped a bit. Could she truly have made a friend so fast? Sakura smiled a bit as Ino turned to walk down the driveway...Maybe.
"Oh Sakura!" Ino yelled as she turned back around. "Some of my friends and I were going to go to the local waterfall next Wednesday. You want to come?"
"Um," Sakura looked around herself, embarrassed. "I don't have a swimsuit."
"EH?! Really? Where did you swim before?"
"Well, I'm from Mist Ino. There's not much point in swimming if it's always raining."
"Oh...Do you know how to swim?"
"Y-yes, but-"
"Well then I'll buy you a swimsuit!" Ino smiled brightly and saw that Sakura was about to refuse and she wouldn't have any of that. "If there's one thing I like more than shopping, it's buying someone else stuff they need."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure." Ino replied offhandedly, waving her hand dismissively. "Do I look like a girl who doesn't know what she's sure of? Anyways, the girls and I are all getting new suits. The girls and I can pick you up tomorrow."
"O-Okay!" Sakura smiled happily, as Ino thumbed up at her before skipping, again Skipping, across the street to her house. Sakura shook her head as she moved to close the door before walking back to the kitchen and saw her mother doing the dishes. Sakura immediately moved to her side and began to dry them off, doing it in a rhythm that had been made over years of practice.
"M-mom, I'm going to go shopping with Ino tomorrow." Sakura spoke up as they finished and listened as her mother's air nodded into the apron.
"Need any money?"
"...Can you even spare anything?" Sakura asked a little too harshly and Yuki sighed and shook her head. Tears quickly formed and Sakura realized her words had been too rough and leaned over to hold her. "Don't cry, mom. Remember, it's over now. It's his own fault that he took everything away from you."
"H-he almost took you." Yuki's eyes teamed with tears but Sakura shook her head.
"And he failed. I'm here with you mom."
"I know."
"I hope you have a good first day of summer." Yuki smiled and Sakura nodded and walked behind the wall to the hallways and made a noise on the stairs before pausing. Soon after, Sakura leaned against the railing to listen as her mother cried below. Sakura's own eyes team with tears and she suddenly frowned as she hit her own forehead.
"Come on, Sakura. You went to Julliard!" Sakura whispered to herself. Sakura already had four degrees under her fifteen year old self, and it was the money that she made from her concerts that paid for this house, but still her mother wanted her to have a regular high school life and have a regular life with friends her own age.
"Come on!...You can solve this!"
AN: So there is the beginning stage of my story, and I would love to get your responses on what you truly believe I should do and how you felt the chapter felt.