Flipped, a naruto fanfic

Title: Flipped

Rating: T (PG-13)

Summary: SasuSaku. AU. 'Even I had enough sense at age seven to know that Sakura Haruno was dangerous.'

Note: This story is slightly based off of Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen. Awesome book, it is.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Flipped.

This chapter is from Sasuke's POV.

All I've ever wanted is for Sakura Haruno to leave me alone.

All I've ever wanted is for Sakura Haruno to leave me alone. To back off and give me some space.

After almost half a decade of giving her the cold shoulder and strategic dodging, the girl still refused to stop shadowing me. You would think everyone would know when to give up. But not Sakura. Ever since that day my mom accidentally saw us holding hands, I seriously regretted ever moving to this town.

Maybe it was her laugh. Or her sparking green eyes. Or even her crazy pink hair– honestly, how many people in the world even had such a weird and girly hair color? – that made her so annoying. But mostly, it was her smile which had an irritating ability to make me feel uncomfortable.

But whatever it was, even I had enough sense at age seven to know that Sakura Haruno was dangerous.

Flipped

By: NatsuYukili

Chapter 1

It all started on a faithful Saturday afternoon during summer. I was seven back then, and still unhappy that my family decided to move from our mansion back at Oto to this nobody Konoha town. It was bad enough that my little seven year old self couldn't put a word in the decision, but believe me, it was 100 times worse when I found out that my next door neighbor was none other than Sakura Haruno.

I was helping my dad and older brother move the loaded boxes onto our front porch when she came around the corner. Being unusually observant at my young age, I easily spotted her far away. But then again, if one had pink hair, it was hard not to be so conspicuous. She came dressed in casual clothes, with a curious expression on her face, her large emerald eyes staring me. I noticed that her hands were quite dirty, as if she'd just been digging a huge hole. She walked all the way up until about a foot away from me, and then grinned widely, showing me her perfect little teeth. Suddenly, she leaned in and hugged me. Hugged me. Now, I'm sure everyone thinks hugs are fine and give you touchy feeling and all, but hugged by a complete stranger? With questionably pink hair? She leaned back a bit, but still remained in body contact with me, and looked at me with a cute blush on her face.

"Hi, I'm Sakura! What's your name?"

I subtly tried to extricate myself from her before coping with the more-than-slight mortification I had right now. But no luck, this girl latched upon me like a leech who hadn't fed on fresh blood for a week.

This was the beginning of my imminent awareness that this girl was as stubborn as a cow and twice as happy after it's been fed fresh grass after a long period of starvation. I didn't respond. Or smile back. Or did anything for that fact, except stand rooted to the spot, my body stiff and my face red as the tomatoes I loved to eat.

I prayed hard that no one was looking at us. But God must have had a personal vendetta on me, because right then and there, my entire family decided to show up on the front porch and witnessed first hand my humiliation. Mother immediately got a sappy look on her face, as if thinking Aw, my little boy is all grown up! Father, on the other hand, didn't look too pleased. He was harboring more of a why the hell is a pink-haired cretin hanging onto my son in such an intimate manner? look. My brother just smirked.

I sent them all the best Uchiha Glare™ I could as a seven year old. It must not have looked as intimidating as it felt, since all mom did was laugh merrily.

The girl must have finally taken a hint, because she chose wisely at that moment to untangle herself from me and actually had the decency to look extremely embarrassed. She bowed her head down and looked at her toes, her pink hair falling over her face like a curtain. "S-sorry," I heard her stutter. I was about to say something when my mom cut me off with a squeal. "Aw, you're so cute! I've never even met anyone with such adorable pink hair! What's your name?"

Now, my mom isn't exactly a famous model, but she was the kind of person that people stopped on the streets to look at because she was just that beautiful. She was the kind of mom that laughed prettily all the time, looked decent even when they cried, and made your high school friends to blush and feel foolish around her presence. So it was no wonder when the pinkette tilted her head to get a better look at this woman, and immediately got an even worse blush on her already hot pink face.

"S-sakura Haruno, ma'am." My mom got a sympathetic look on her face, and patted the top of the girl's head. "Back there was nothing, dear, don't worry about it," she cooed in that motherly voice. Sakura smiled unsurely, and it widened after she saw me standing off to the side. "You never told me your name…" She shifted her eyes to her feet and looked shyly away, looking as innocent as a 7 year old can, but ha, I knew better!

My mom, unfortunately, was not exactly keen at noticing deceit and gave me that knowing look that said, you better answer her before I take away your tomatoes, young man. But I loved my tomatoes! Left with no choice, I pouted a bit and muttered "Sasuke Uchiha" under my breath. If the girl's 300 watt smile could have possibly gotten any brighter, it did just then. Rocking back on her heels, Sakura flashed another grin at my mom and chirped, "Bye, Mrs. Uchiha…Sasuke-kun." And with that, she turned and ran back to her house. I mentally cringed at the sound of her voice saying my name, but tried to remain calm on the outside.

In retrospect, the only good thing that came out of this was that my dad became a full supporter of the 'Anti-Sakura Club'. Whenever Sakura came looking for me to play with her Barbie dolls or other equally lame and embarrassing activities, he would tell her that I wasn't home or sleeping or busy. Basically, he was my lifesaver during that time.

On the other hand, her little act practically gave my older brother, Itachi, license to mock me for the rest of my life. Like he needed more incentive to do that. My mom wasn't any better. She would always have a big warm welcome for Sakura, and then guide the little monster to her new prey – me. Lovely, huh?

So, slowly, my first year in Konoha passed. I was miserable. Not only was Sakura hot on my trail 24/7, I was horrified to learn that she joined a club full of her duplicates. It was named 'The Sasuke Uchiha Fan Club'. Cute, right? Not. After the second year, I was about to go crazy from all the stalking and constant giggling behind my back. Sure, the attention was admirable, but it can only go so far before it's out of hand, you know? Then, 6th grade came and I finally took the initiative to do something.

I asked Ino Yamanaka out.

Now don't get me wrong – I didn't do this because I liked Ino. Ino was the president of my fanclub, what better to get her to be my (albeit temporary) girlfriend and keep all the other crazed fangirls away? And the other genius part of this plan was this - Sakura hated Ino. Funnily, the used to be good friends, hanging out with each other and all, but I guess their rivalry got in the way. All the better for me, it was like killing two birds with one stone. But the peace never lasted. Ino is a very…grabby girl. Always wanting to sit with me at lunch and hooking her arm with me, and wanting to kiss me. Keyword: want. Thankfully, I came up with enough excuses to avoid that.

Frustrating enough, this was around the same time I met my rival – Naruto Uzumaki. The obnoxious blond challenged me to everything and anything. I'll admit the ramen-obsessed freak was a nice change from the usual envious glares and avoidance of the other guys in my class, but even I had a limit to his idiocy at times. Our "friendly" competitions and odd camaraderie made a surprising mixture. Like water and fire. Admittedly, I eventually considered him a friend. But that didn't keep his loud, grating voice from irritating me all the time.

At this point, all I can say is…wow. Who knew the life of a 6th grader could be so…dramatic?

It was during the end of my third year at Konoha when it happened. My father announced that we were all moving back to Oto for an indefinite amount of time for his company's purposes. I was twelve and for a moment, I thought that finally, finally, this was going to be over.

Chapter 1: Fin

A.N. I hope Sasuke didn't seem too OOC in this. But come on, seven year old Sasuke couldn't have been completely emotionless and stoned over. Remember, this is AU and there isn't going to be any Uchiha Massacre.

Hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter. Please give me feedback on how this is going so far and whether or not I should continue with it.

- NatsuYukili