Title: Four Years for Love
Chapter: 1/?
Summary: An alternative universe fan fiction where the Naruto gang is in high school, focusing on the ups and downs of Sakura and Ino's relationship.
Disclaimer: I only own them on Tuesdays. Every other day of the week they belong to Kishimoto.
A/N: This is the first long chapter story I'm attempting. So keep the reviews coming to help my inspiration.
Buds
It was a warm day with a slight drizzle outside. The droplets splashing against hard cement made for a soothing rhythmic sound that few would appreciate. Some students hustled into the school with umbrellas fearing the rain would mess up the hair they spent hours perfecting that morning. Others walked through it carefree ready to face the storm.
The bell rang as second period ended.
A girl wondered down the hallways of Konoha High, her long pink hair swaying from her steps. It was close to a strawberry blonde but the color was pinker and seemed impossible to be natural. She adorned a silky maroon sleeveless tee shirt and black skinny jeans. With nails painted jade to match her eyes. A lone silver necklace hung around her neck in the shape of a swirled leaf. And hanging around her hips was a beige belt that only served atheistic purposes. All in all she looked very well put together for a teenager. Her walk was not as confident as her appearance though as she hesitantly slipped down the halls.
It was her first day of high school and she didn't know anyone in the district. Her eyes carefully examined the paper in her hand, before glancing back up to find a blonde girl standing before her locker. This girl wore a simple orange tee shirt and blue jeans, not bothering to dress up for the first day of school, instead going with a casual approach. The only accessories she bared were her golden loop earrings, and her hair was drawn up neatly into a bun save for a single strand that hung next to her sapphire eye like a bang.
Ino swore her heart stopped when she saw the beautiful green eyes of the student before her. Having never experienced that fluttering feeling in her stomached before she gasped quietly and wondered what insanity had taken over her. 'I don't know her. She must be new. I would have remembered someone with pink hair.'
"Excuse me, you're standing in front of my locker." The pink hair girl accused timidly.
"Oh, sorry. What's your locker number?" Ino inquired.
"Nineteen Ninety-Five."
"Well then, I guess we're locker neighbors." Ino smiled and pointed to the locker labeled 1994. "Are you new here?"
"Yeah, my family just moved over the summer. I have to admit I don't have any friends here yet." The girl blushed slightly so that her cheeks matched her hair, while busying herself with trying the combination to her new locker.
"Well then allow me to be your first friend." Ino watched in fascination as the girl became irritated at her locked lock. "Here let me help." The blond reached over and grabbed the combination out of her new friend's hands. She then turned the knob back and forth gracefully until she jerked on the handle and the locker door swung open. "It's one turn to the right, two to the left, and one to the right again. You better learn, because I might not always be here to open your locker for you."
"Right, Thanks." The girl's emerald eyes drifted from Ino's face to the books she was carrying. The blue-eyed blonde noticed the girl wasn't very talkative and decided it would be her duty to make her open up before the year was over.
"I'm Ino by the way. What's your name?"
"Sakura." As she said this, the bell rang and Sakura quickly shoved her unneeded books in the locker. "Sorry I have to go." With that she scurried off to her next class.
'Sakura. I think I like that name. It suits her.'
Sakura had just gotten out of math class, and was now soaking her face with water in the bathroom sink. It was an awful experience that she hoped to never relive. The teacher had introduced her to her new classmates when some boy had the nerve to make a comment about her forehead, sending whispers between the girls in the back of the room.
'It's not that big, is it?'
Water always made her feel renewed. Somehow it felt like she washed away the worries with its soothing qualities. Only able to linger in the in the girls restroom for so long, she dried her face and headed out to the cafeteria.
In the lunchroom she was greeted with loneliness. Her anxiety grew as she realized there was no one she wanted to sit with, the only people she knew were picking on her forehead. With that she decided on an empty table at the side of the room. Sakura slowly pulled her brown bag lunch from her book bag and emptied the contents. She was about to take a bite of her ham and cheese sandwich when she heard a voice.
"Hey there gloomy. What's got you looking so down?"
Sakura's head swung around, "Ino?"
"The one and only," the blonde replied cockily then sat down and in a more serious tone questioned, "Why are you sitting alone?"
"I don't think anyone likes me." Sakura whispered so softly it was hard to hear.
"That's silly. You should come and sit with me tomorrow. I'll save a special seat for you right next to me." Ino reassured. "Hey let me see your schedule, I want to see if we have any classes together." The pink hair girl fumbled through her pockets, pulled out a folded piece of green paper, and handed it to her friend.
"Humm…" the blond mumbled some before pointing out, "There! The last class, we both have English class with Mr. Hatake." Ino smiled. Sakura smiled back and Ino felt her veins pulse blissfully. Sakura's smile was beautiful; it matched her so much better than that frown she had worn before.
Sakura waited impatiently for English class. She wanted to see Ino again. The girl had been a guide for her on such a difficult day. When the time finally came she rushed down to Mr. Hatake's class scanning the room for Ino. She wasn't there yet; actually, Sakura had come to notice she had been the first student to arrive.
"Eager to learn aren't we?" A lazy voice asked from behind her shoulder. Sakura jumped a little surprised by the closeness. The girl turned around to inspect her new teacher. He looked like no one she had ever seen before. His hair was silver but there wasn't a wrinkle on what she could see of his face. A black turtleneck rose up to cover his mouth, it was light and thin and didn't restrict or muffle his voice. A scar ran down over his left eye while his dark right eye stared droopily at the orange book he was holding.
"Ah, well I expect great things from you, Sakura Haruno." He lolled out.
"How did you know my name?"
He didn't answer but his eyes curved upwards and she assumed he was smiling underneath that shirt he used to mask himself. 'He's kind of creepy. I should keep an eye on him.' A new group of students entered the room and Sakura took a seat in the back, which wasn't really like her. She normally chose to sit up front to get a good view of the board so she could learn the best, but she didn't like the idea of being so close to her English teacher. Sakura was so wrapped up in her thoughts she hadn't noticed the girl sitting in front of her had turned around and been staring at her for the past minute.
Ino had taken the seat in front of her new friend and twisted her body to rest her elbows on Sakura's desk and placed her chin on her hands. The blonde just watched the pink haired girl zone out. Finally there was a break in the silence as Sakura awoke from her trance.
"Ino?"
"It's about time. Where were you just now?"
"Ah just thinking." Sakura was a bit embarrassed she was caught off guard like that but decided to forget about it. After all Ino was here now and that was good. "Glad to see you."
Ino's eyes lit up with that statement. She was about to invite the girl over after school when Mr. Hatake interrupted. "Hello class, if you could all face the front..." Ino shrugged then turned back to face the board.
"Good, now that I have your attention, my father's name was Mr. Hatake, you can call me Kakashi. Despite the gray hair I'm not that old."
A kid in the front row slowly raised his hand after the statement.
"Yes, Shikamaru?" Kakashi called. This kid seemed unfazed the teacher had known his name and questioned, "So how old are you?"
"I'm 26."
'Wow, he is really young. He could have only gotten out of college 4 years ago.' Sakura added this new information to the data file on him in her head. He went on to discus the literature they'd be focusing on during the year, projects, tests, and procedure.
"Alright, You've probably had a tiring day take the last few minutes to relax and get to know your new classmates." With that Kakashi concluded his speech.
"Oi, Shikamaru!" Ino called across the room until the curious boy from earlier decided to get up and mosey his way over to her.
When he finally arrived he firmly planted his ass on top of Ino's desk. She glared at him for a second and then moved on to introduce the two present. "Sakura, this is Shikamaru Nara, my next door neighbor. Shika, this is Sakura, my new best friend."
"Hi." Sakura greeted. The Nara boy decided to just nod in response, obviously trying to avoid a long conversation.
"Ick, Ignore him." Ino snorted at his rudeness. "So, are you doing anything after school? Because I was thinking you could walk home with me, and we could get to know each other better."
"Oh, no, I'm not doing anything. I suppose I'll have to give my mom a call and let her know I won't be home until late."
The girls headed to their lockers as the dismissal bell rang, trading in their books for their backpacks. Ino handed over her cell phone and waited by the door for Sakura to finish her call. When she hung up she joined the blonde handing the cell phone back to its owner and giving a cheery smile as an okay for their plans together.
"Hope you don't mind getting wet." Ino grinned back and linked her elbow around Sakura's as they marched out the doors of the school together side by side into the rainstorm.
End Chapter 1.