Author's Notes: My first story uploaded on here, UPDATED. It is set in an AU, for I have not caught up to Naruto at all, and I just wanted to use their dynamic personalities for a story. Here's my first thanks for reading my story. Thank you.

Entanglement.

- n

1. Something that entangles or is itself entangled

2. A sexual relationship regarded as unfortunate, damaging or compromising

Thank you, dictionary dot com.

That was precisely the predicament that these four students would find themselves in. Entanglement. To be entangled in one another, from one person to another: all tied together into united, messy knot. They were all meant for each other from day one, or so it seemed. To begin, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke had all met each other in the early days. They had grown accustomed to each other and each other's ways, and by the time high school rolled around, they knew each other's patterns, personalities, and pet peeves by heart. They were what you would call the best of friends. Of course neither Sakura, Naruto nor Sasuke admitted it, but they all knew in their deep in their hearts that they were the best friends that everyone would peer at from the corners of their eyes in pure jealousy. They were fearless and rambunctious in their first year of high school because they had each other, and never failed to show that with each other, they could do everything and anything. They could not feel the piercing gazes on them when they were all together – nothing was seen when they were all together.

Sakura could usually see nothing but Sasuke, and her feelings for him continued to prosper as they spent their first year of high school together. However, unfittingly, Naruto could only be seen with eyes for Sakura. It was unfortunate, at the very least, to see how the two love-struck fools completely missed each other and formed a semi-love triangle within their friend group. On the other hand, to even out the group dynamics, Sasuke did not harbor any romantic feelings for anyone but himself, and often found himself burying himself in his studies in distraction. Besides, he thought, all the girls in 1-2 class were a bore and honma ni busaiku (one of the very few times he would use Osaka-ben was to insult people; other than that he often thought himself much too high class). He could see nothing but seas of ugly, underdeveloped girls that fed on other people's misery and drama.

When the fourth and last member to their group came along the following year, one member of the trio had transferred to an all-boys boarding school. Most obviously, this member was not Sakura. Another boy named Sai had found himself replacing the cavernous void that Sasuke had left Sakura and Naruto. Thanks to Sai and his cool, nonchalant predisposition similar to Sasuke's, they no longer felt lonely and depressive about the loss of their friend to a richer, better education in Tokyo. No doubt the two were overjoyed when Sai was placed in their class, 2-3. Being in second year, they found themselves frequently studying together at Sai's home where he had no parents to damper their merriment. Although they studied feverishly, they also made excellent use of Sai's gaming consoles and vast manga collection. He did not seem to be inordinately rich like Sasuke's prominent family, but Sai could not be said that he was without money. Sai received everything he wanted, every time. From whom he received such gifts was a mystery. Although Naruto and Sakura would inquire about his parents, Sai would always shrug the question off with a brusque change in topic. He barely even seemed to have a family name attached to his first name. It was always Sai, Sai, Sai. People began to forget he owned a last name.

Now naturally, Sai's feelings of attachment to the two had grown over time. Sakura was still obsessed about Sasuke, whose photogenic face frequently graced the street fashion segments of men's style magazines. She ogled over the pictures of his developed body and face, never forgetting to brag to Naruto and Sai with bubbly comments on her future husband's gorgeous apparel. She would always pester her two friends would also try and dress half as well as Sasuke. But Naruto enjoyed comfortable, brand-less track pants and sneakers, and Sai had an almost artistic and modern way of styling himself. His way of decorating himself was exclusive to himself and had a certain "Sai-ness"about it all. No one would even know where he purchased his clothing as he never seemed to wear the same thing as anyone else on the streets.

When Sasuke was permitted to go out and enjoy the city on the weekends, he wore the haute couture clothing that his elder brother sent him every season. It was always the expensive brands he draped perfectly over his body, gold and leather watches wrapped around his wrists, and the most overpriced and comfortable leathers used for his feet so he could stomp about.

Sai would peer at the magazines and shake his head from time to time.

"Isn't that look too common these days?" He would comment, angering Sakura. Naruto would just slap his knee in response and laugh by himself. Sai would always peek over to Naruto and had a tiny, genuine smile to himself.

Sai had grown very attached to Naruto without his acknowledgement. He would find himself casually thinking about the unnatural blonde and what he perhaps might be doing at that very moment. Sometimes, he would open his phone and just scroll through their messages to each other, contemplating whether he should send a random greeting in the middle of the night. Whenever Sai made up his mind to casually message him, Naruto would characteristically reply back extremely late. But nevertheless, he would always reply. Sai would sometimes wonder whether it was unnatural of him to be so attached to his male friend. He had never had such close friends in Tokyo, and wondered whether it was him being slightly peculiar or if it was the half-city, half-country Osaka air that was affecting him and warming his heart.

There were many memories of their second year of high school; however, time gently and routinely pushed the trio into the third year. Naruto just barely had the ability to force his way into third year and promised his companions he would work harder in his last year. But they knew that third year was not going to be much different from their second. They had taken the train to school together and nothing was out of the ordinary that morning. They went to check their classrooms, and read all their names to be together in one class once again. The three would be able to recall their squeals of joy and high fives to each other before they marched confidently to class. If they were together, they were unstoppable. Even if they weren't placed in the same class, surely they would be inseparable. The three predicted all the fun and hardships that were about to meet them in 3-1 class together as they sat outside at lunchtime, eating their bentos and enjoying the spring sun that was warming up to become the summer season. Nothing had changed. Sakura peered into her mirror for blemishes and visible make-up smudges, as girls were not allowed to wear make-up. Naruto prattled on about food and entertainment while Sai rested on his back, getting up to laugh every once in a while and converse with the animated Naruto.

No one had expected Sasuke to return to Osaka after finishing a mere year of boarding school. As the teacher was reading out the morning announcements that one day, girls squealed and crowded to the window, where they saw a much taller, matured and handsome Uchiha Sasuke getting out of a sleek black vehicle that was most likely equal to the worth of the school itself. He strutted alone towards the school entrance, hands casually tucked in his pockets and head held high, a smug look on his face. Naruto and Sakura squealed together excitedly, jumping up and down together. Although Naruto felt as though Sasuke was a tough competitor for his beloved Sakura, he was overjoyed to find his best pal heading his way towards the school once again. Naruto and Sakura bolted out of the classroom together, yelling Sasuke's name repeatedly and more importantly, embarrassingly.

"Teme!" Naruto jumped on Sasuke, flowering him with wet kisses. Sakura joined Naruto and shrieked "Sasuke!", following with a jump. Sasuke's knees buckled under him and they all fell to the floor.

"What the fuck!" He attempted to brush himself off of the nuisances. Naruto and Sakura pulled back to look at the handsome face of their Sasuke.

"Beautiful. You look like art," Tears formed in Naruto's cerulean eyes, "I-missed-you!" The words poured out of Naruto's mouth as if 'imissedyou' was one whole word. As Naruto began to cry, Sakura felt emotional tears well up in her eyes and overflow. The two stood in the middle of the entrance, bawling their eyes out, making Sasuke grow hot and red from embarrassment although there was no one around to stare.

"H-hey, stop crying, you idiots!" He raised his hands in bewilderment, unsure of what he should do. He took both of them in his arms and patted them awkwardly. "There, there..."

Tears continued to gush out of Sakura and Naruto's eyes. Naruto sniffled and wiped his runny nose on Sasuke's new uniform. Sasuke grimaced as he glanced at his dirtied shoulder.

"Uchiha Sasuke? You look much better in real life," Sasuke looked up to see a tall, raven-haired boy walking towards him with an almost too perfect smile placed on his face. The white-collared shirt uniform fit Sai well, emphasizing the muscles that begged to be shown off.

"And you are?" Sasuke assumed he was the replacement Naruto and Sakura would text him occasionally about.

"I'm Sai. Nice to meet you." His replacement bowed slightly, the same pseudo-smile plastered onto his pale, smooth face. Why was this guy so tall and good-looking? He almost looked as if he were a clear, marble sculpture made by the hands of Michelangelo. Sai was comparable to the smooth, marble figures of David or Bacchus. As Sasuke found himself admiring another other than his own, Sasuke shook the thoughts out of his head and nodded in response.

"Oh yeah, this is Sai," Naruto dried his face with Sasuke's uniform yet again, "He's been filling in your spot while you were gone." Naruto sniffled.

Sai raised an eyebrow. Replacing Sasuke while he was away? Naruto was slightly insensitively frank and his choice of words did not seem to please Sai, but did content Sasuke.

"Well, I'm back now." He shot a furtive glare to Sai, who had a considerable amount of height over him. Sai forced another grin onto his face and chuckled.

"Now we can be a foursome. How nice," Sai leaned over to pat Sasuke on the back, "Welcome back, Sasuke-kun."

How unforgivably ill-mannered of him! Sasuke fumed to himself as he heard himself be called with an endearing prefix when he had just met the guy.

"I'm so excited, guys!" Sakura smiled up at Sasuke, who was boring holes in Sai with his eyes. Sai returned Sasuke's glare with a complacent smile.

The silence was broken by Naruto's nervous laughter and the homeroom teacher, Hatake Kakashi, a strange character in himself. The man constantly wore a white mask over his face, claiming he was always sick and didn't want his pupils to catch his illness. All that was ever seen by the students were his lazy eyes paired unfittingly with his tall, beautifully sculpted body. Hatake Kakashi had a carefree, "I don't give a shit" attitude with his students, unlike the other teachers at the school. But he seemed mysterious, which led him to be a popular teacher at school with both the boys and girls. He clapped his hands, directing the attention to himself.

"Oi, oi. Let's get back to class so I can finish reading the announcements." He ushered the four into class. He finished the announcements and introduced Sasuke back into the class, who received loud squeals and dreamy looks on the girls' faces. Sasuke smirked to himself and sat in his seat in the back beside Sai. Sai shot a false smile at the Uchiha, earning a forced smile back. Both turning to face the front at the same time, one thought ran through their minds.

Interesting.