You're Not Alone...

A N a r u t o S t o r y

I

Naruto put his head in his hands and watched Sakura with a dreamy smile spread across his tanned face. Sakura was talking to her popular friends, like Ino. Naruto had to admit, Ino had a pig-face alright. Naruto was wearing a casual mix of clothes: a plain, white T-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and white skateboarding shoes, size 10 1/2. He was in the lunch room, like every other Freshman in the school. Naruto sat alone, but didn't seem to care anymore. He could just about categorize everyone in the room. Naruto was actually smart in his own way, but played the idiot to get around. He wasn't one to impress.

Naruto was considered an outcast by many, even though he had his acquaintances, but, he never thought anything of it, because he knew he was a person like everyone else. Other than Sakura and Ino, there was also Sasuke Uchiha, his arch-rival. Naruto never did seem to like Sasuke and stayed as far away from him as possible. And anyone who was anyone could tell that all of the girls who had just about any looks that were attractive were infatuated with him. Sakura was one of them.

If he could just meet Sakura- No, just even say a simple "Hi", that would be good enough for him. But there was some sort of barrier around the popular girls that Naruto couldn't penetrate. It was known as "Being a Somebody". Naruto wasn't a Somebody. He was a Nobody. Someone who was ignored and made fun of by just about everyone. Naruto had tried to be a Somebody so many times that he eventually got fed up with it by the end of last school year.

Naruto fiddled with his fork by swirling it around in his untouched mashed potatoes. Naruto wasn't particularly hungry today. For some reason, all he could think about was Sakura. Naruto always seemed to like the clothes that Sakura wore. She had a sense of style. That's probably why she was popular. Sakura was wearing a pink A-shirt (a shirt with no sleeves) with a zipper on it that was half-way unzipped to reveal a white shirt underneath; casually, she wore blue jeans (which she surprisingly held up with a black belt, unlike most girls in the school), and black sneakers with white stripes and neon-colored laces.

Lastly, Sakura was new to this school. She had moved from somewhere up in the mountains. Sakura was different from most popular girls. Whenever a person who wasn't popular had a hard time with something, or had just dropped their books, Sakura would go out of her way to help them and even say kind words to them. This definitely told Naruto that she was pure of heart and hadn't been popular for very long. Naruto never had a chance to have this kind of experience with her though. In fact, surprisingly, Naruto was probably the only kid in school that was in love with Sakura. Naruto had no idea why though, because he had always thought her to be very attractive. Overall, what made Naruto love her so, was probably because she was different. She was unique in many ways. And Naruto thought she was perfect. If only she felt the same way!

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Lunch had ended and Naruto retreated to his locker first, since he always sat right next to the door. Naruto didn't want to see any of the kids right now, he was entranced in his thoughts of Sakura. Naruto rushed to Gym, one of his favorite subjects. Only bad part about it, and he couldn't believe it was even bad, was that Sakura was in it, including all of the other popular girls. Most of the popular girls just stood and talked through Gym class, wasting time. But not Sakura. Sakura was a vicious, savage beast that showed no mercy when it came to sports. This was because Sakura was an athlete. But not just any kind of athlete: a Predator. Sakura played in just about every sport you could think of, even she didn't sign up for all of them. She was also the only girl who would play football and beat the crap out of you. And, even though it wasn't considered a sport, in Dodge ball, she would throw the ball faster than lightning. Even if her teammates all had gotten sent to jail, she would immediately turn the tide. Sakura could never get out. Some kids even concluded she was on steroids, but Sakura didn't seem the type to smuggle steroids into school. This is the second reason that Naruto thought Sakura was extremely cute, but not in a "softy" way, but in a respectful way.

Naruto headed out to the Gymnasium and saw Sakura was on his team. And all of the other popular girls were on the opposing team. Naruto couldn't think of an even better situation to be in. Naruto scooted himself next to Sakura, who was wearing a white T-shirt and white shorts that slid past her knees, without getting close enough to be hit by the "barrier". The Gym teacher, Kurenai Yuhi, announced we'd be playing Dodge ball today. Naruto's heart thumped. There was no way he could embarrass himself as to get out. Everyone stood up and the Team Captains were chosen. Sakura for our team and Sasuke for the other team. The two shook hands and everyone headed past the blue line on either side and the game had begun. People picked up the six balls and started throwing as far and as high as they could. Sakura whipped the balls so many times that they left black and blue marks on the opposing team's players' skin. Then the ball would bounce back to her and she'd throw again and again. Sakura's bubblegum-pink hair lashed at her face as she threw and sweat stood on her brow. Naruto could tell she was throwing too hard for her own good. Naruto watched over to her several times, hoping she was okay. She apparently was, but her movements started to slow down a bit later. Naruto could tell Sasuke was waiting for his chance to get at Sakura, because she was the biggest threat on the team. Sasuke suddenly noticed an opening and threw his ball and hard as humanly possible. Sakura didn't notice the ball, but Naruto did. Naruto dropped the ball he had in his hands and ran over to Sakura, right before the ball connected, Naruto jumped in the way and had gotten hit instead. he landed to the floor with a crash, and Sakura looked down at him. Sakura immediately headed over to him and knelt down to him.

"Are you OK?" she asked, a tone of respect and concern in her voice.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, sitting up. "I'm alright. I just didn't want to lose such an important teammate, you know?"

Sakura's mouth curved into a smile, "Thanks... You need a hand?"

"Thank you," he replied, just as respectfully, trying to hide his quivering, nervous side.

Sakura stood up and held out her hand. Naruto grabbed it firmly and she pulled him up with ease. Either I'm light, or she's extremely strong, he thought. Naruto brushed off some invisible dust on his Gym shorts.

"Say, what's your name, anyway?" Sakura asked curiously, not losing her friendly smile.

"Oh, um, N-Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto replied, letting a tiny bit of his nervousness out, and rubbed the back of his head.

Sakura giggled. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I'm new here, so, I don't have many friends. You want to talk later?" Sakura asked. For a second, he thought Sakura was just being plain nice, but she gulped and could somewhat tell that she truly wanted to talk to him later.

"Oh... Okay, sure," Naruto replied, releasing a small smile, but his heart was actually cheering, like it was having a college party inside.

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Gym ended and the Boys were let out first. Then the Girls. Naruto had waited outside the Girls' locker room. The popular girls were all glaring at him as they passed. Sakura must've told them all about him. Sakura came out last and Naruto immediately started to move, walking next to Sakura.

"So..." Naruto muttered, attempting to strike up a conversation. "How long have you been here? I mean, in town, not at school."

"I just moved in last week. I'm already starting to like this place."

"Well, I guess... But, don't expect too much of this place. Just surviving the first week isn't Heaven, you know."

"I know. But, I find having friends is the hardest thing..."

Naruto didn't understand. She had mentioned this when they first had gotten acquainted with each other. "But, you're popular! You've got it made!"

Sakura shook her head. "You're acting like everyone else. They only look at me on the outside as a snobby, little girl who has everything she'd ever want! But, being popular isn't easy... You need to be in tone with everyone and be okay with all of the new fads and be a good girl. But, I don't like that... I want to be myself... I want friends who like me for who I am, not because I'm popular..."

Naruto didn't know this at all. He had thought she was a little bratty except for the good deeds she did for those lesser than herself. But he didn't know that she was actually looking for friends who were normal, not expensive. It's a good thing she wasn't tainted like the others.