-Sometimes having to choose is a privilege and often we're not allowed to feel that way-

This is a story about making wrong choices and the repercussions of them. A story about love and hate, friends that stick with you through the hard times and make it right when you make a mistake, bad influences that influence your life in more ways then one, wrong choices that lead to hurting the ones you love, miscalculations that make two completely different worlds collide but it's also a story about a girl that struggles to live a normal life and protect the ones she loves, a girl that is so strong she overcomes every obstacle in her way and ends up as a winner in the end, a girl that walks great lengths to protect what she holds close to her heart. But will she really succeed in getting the happy end she longed to get? Read and find out :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor the anime/manga series Naruto. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

"Text"-speaking, "text"-thinking, lyrics and flashback

Chapter 1: Gaara's proposal

Sakura Haruno was the best student in whole Konoha boarding school. She got straight A's but she wasn't nearly the type of a nerd. She had pink hair and emerald green eyes. She was everyone's best friend. She was so good and kind, that's why most of the boys liked her.

Her roommate was Ino Yamanaka. She had blonde hair tied up in a big pony tail and baby blue eyes. She was the loudest one of the girls and she loved shopping. When they were on a break, usually lunch time she always commented on how someone was dressed up and stuff. She was always obsessed with boys, but mostly with Shikamaru.

That brings us to Shikamaru Nara the laziest guy in their group. He had brown hair tied up in a ponytail that makes him look like a pineapple and he had brown eyes. Shikamaru was also the strategist and the smartest one of the group. His roommate was Neji Hyuga.

Neji Hyuga was a quiet but very smart guy. He had a long brown hair and pale lavender eyes. People usually thought that he was blind because of the color of his eyes. He usually beat Naruto because he was always hitting on his cousin Hinata. He also had a fan club.

Then there was Tenten; a girl with brown hair tied up in two buns and chocolate brown eyes. She was some sort of a tom boy and she was always playing with weapons. Everybody in the school feared her especially after the rumor that she had a special walk through closet with various weapons. Everybody knew that she liked Neji except for himself. Her roommate was Hinata.

Hinata Hyuga was Neji's cousin. She had long dark blue hair and pale white eyes, similar to Neji's. She was very shy and timid especially when she was in Naruto's surrounding. Sometimes she stuttered but when it was just her and the girls, she talked the most.

That brings us to Naruto Uzumaki; blonde boy with cerulean eyes. He was really, really loud and he was kinda stupid, but he was the best friend that anyone could have. Naruto usually got teased and beaten up by Sasuke or by Neji. His roommate was the Sasuke Uchiha.

And last but most certainly not the least Sasuke Uchiha, the most popular boy in the school. He actually had a fan club. Sasuke had raven hair that spiked up in the back while his bangs fell down freely around his face, and he had onyx colored eyes. He was usually quiet but when he talked he was arguing with Naruto.

They were in the lunch room that is Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Neji and Tenten. They were known and referred to as the fab 8. (A/N: when you write F8 it is read Fate.) Ino, Hinata and Tenten were talking about the upcoming slumber party at Ino's house, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Neji were talking about football and Sakura was the only one that was deep in thought and out of conversation. Her thoughts strayed to a certain red haired teen with whom she just recently had a close encounter.

"Gaara isn't going to hurt my friends like he said, is he?" Sakura thought sadly, the sheer thought of it making her shudder.

Flashback

Sakura was going to the parking lot. She was about to go to town with the guys though she was running late. When she was looking for her keys in her bag she heard foot steps. She turned around to see Gaara slowly making his way towards her.

"Hello, cherry blossom. Where are you going?" Gaara had a smirk on his face.

"Well, not that it's any of your business but I'm going to town to meet with the guys." Sakura said as she hurried to find her keys.

"I really don't know what you are doing with those losers. Well anyway I have a proposition for you. I call you to come with us Friday night."

"Well, since I'm not obligated I decline" Sakura retorted.

"Ah, but you are." Gaara said amused.

"Oh is that so?"

"Well yes it is. You have to come with us on Friday night" Sakura raised one eyebrow as if she was saying 'You're kidding me right?' and Gaara grinned at her expression.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Because I know that you care more about your friends than you like to let I show. You know that someone might lose their life, especially Sasuke Uchiha. We wouldn't want that to happen now would we? Think about it and tell us tomorrow at lunch. We'll be expecting your answer, Cherry blossom." And he started walking away.

"Yeah like I'm gonna believe that, you lying bastard." Sakura yelled after Gaara which caused him to turn around. The malicious grin plastered over his face.

"Just remember the time Sasuke fell over the roof and nearly died. Ha-ha, now that was fun" Sakura's eyes widened in shock. She felt her heart rip apart and the tears prickling in her eyes. "Think about it cherry blossom." And he started walking away leaving Sakura crying and broken.

End of flashback

Sakura really did think about this. 'I had no choice in the first place'.

While Sakura was deep in thought Sasuke noticed that something was bothering her, but he just didn't know what it was. That solemn look told him that something troubled her and in her eyes he could clearly see that she was being ripped apart with indecisiveness about something.

"No way Shikamaru it can't be true. I bet you're lying to me." Naruto exclaimed. He folded his arms in front of his orange t-shirt and scowled.

"Why would I lie to you? The coach clearly said that you're not gonna play on the upcoming game. Troublesome" Shikamaru said and propped his head on his palm, looking almost as lazy as always.

"Aw Teme tell him that's not true." Naruto nudged Sasuke but he seemed busy with something else and didn't seem to notice him. In the mean time Sakura got up from the table they were seated at and walked over to the table where Gaara and his friends were sitting. Sasuke glared at Sakura's retreating back. 'What is Sakura doing with him? I'm gonna ask her when she comes back.' Sasuke thought to him self without turning his gaze away from Sakura. Sasuke knew that the pink haired strongly disliked Gaara-and it was something they both shared- but he couldn't find a plausible reason for Sakura actually going anywhere near the red headed teen.

"Teme are you listening to me? Earth to Teme!" Naruto started waving with his hands for Sasuke to see him. He just hit his head and said "Shut up dobe. Can't you see that I'm busy with something?"

"But…with what?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion and caused Sasuke to sigh exasperatedly. There were times like this when Sasuke had absolutely no idea how to hurt Naruto enough that he'll get some sense. So he opted to sigh and just tell him.

"Can't you see that Sakura went over to Gaara? They are talking about something and before she went over to him she was bothered. There's something going on and I don't like it" Sasuke said angrily and clenched his hands in tight fists that made his knuckles turn white.

- With Sakura and Gaara -

"Well, I see you made your decision. What will it be?" Gaara asked while smirking. He had waited patiently for her to come over and tell him her decision and now that she had finally decided to inform them, he couldn't help but to feel ecstatic. She was either going to agree or decline. So he would either spent time with the cherry blossom or he would get to beat up that smug Uchiha. Either way it was a win-win situation for him.

"What are you talking about? What decision did she have to make?" Zaku asked, looking up from his slice of pizza on the table. He left the said slice on his tray and stood up, smirking

"Yes I made my decision." Sakura said ignoring the fact that Zaku actually spoke. She would socialize with this people for the shortest amount of time. Spending time with Gaara or Zaku or anyone else from their group meant straightforward suicide. She knew for a fact that her friends won't like itand she knew it well.

"Wait a minute can somebody please tell me what kind of decision did she have to make?" Zaku yelled.

"She had to make a decision about hanging with us Friday night instead of those losers." Gaara explained. He felt somewhat excited and looking forward to hanging out with this cherry blossom.

"So did she make it?" Zaku said in amusement waiting for her answer.

"Yes I did. Count me in. But don't confuse your self Gaara; I'm only doing this for my friends." Sakura said in an angry manner. Gaara stood up and came up to her. He went closer to her and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. All the time he was watching over at the table where Sasuke and the others were sitting, the way Sasuke tensed not passing by unnoticed by the red haired teen.

-With Sasuke and the others-

They all watched over at Sakura and Gaara. When Sasuke saw that Gaara stood up and came closer to Sakura his body went rigid and his muscles tightened. His hands clenched into fists until it came to the point where his knuckles started to make cracking sounds.

"What the hell is he doing? And what the hell is Sakura doing there talking to him anyway?" Sasuke said through clenched teeth. The others were pissed too, but none of them was pissed off like Sasuke.

"Teme you know what we should do? We should go over there and kick their asses." Naruto stood up but was soon stopped by Sasuke's hand.

"N-Naruto-kun please d-d-don't go over there alone" Hinata plead Naruto. Naruto's eyes softened as he heard her voice. He sat back in his seat.

"Alright but only because you asked me to Hinata-chan" pink blush raised up into Hinata's cheeks.

Sasuke continued to send Gaara death glares while he leaned even closer to Sakura. He growled in frustration and everyone at the table backed away cause nobody like it when Sasuke was mad.

-With Sakura and Gaara-

"Be ready at 8 o'clock, Friday. I'll send Zaku to come and get you. If you could keep your-beautiful and totally kissable- mouth shut about this that would be great" he placed his cold lips down on Sakura's neck and watched in Sasuke's direction the whole time.

He found it amusing that Sasuke had a really bothered and angry expression on his face. After kissing Sakura's he turned around and gestured for his friends to get up.

"Don't forget about our agreement lovely, you know I'm not someone who's just messing around. Later." And with that he left Sakura standing there staring ahead blankly, the feeling of his lips on her neck made her stomach uneasy. When Sakura turned around she saw all of her friends' glairing at her. Her eyes rested on the Uchiha who seemed very, very disturbed. In his eyes, that now sported a red tint, she could clearly see the disappointment and anger. And it was all it took for the tears to start pouring down her cheeks. She couldn't stand there anymore and watch her aggravated friends. She covered her mouth to stop the sobs and ran out of the lunch room.

Sakura didn't know where to go, what to do or what to think. So she ran, until her legs couldn't hold her anymore. She collapsed under a Sakura tree and cried as she rethought about everything.

-With Sasuke and the others-

"What the hell happened? Did he just kiss her neck?" Sasuke felt more and more aggravated. He didn't know what was going on all he knew was that he was angry by a reason unknown. 'What the hell is going on? I don't like Sakura hanging around that Gaara guy'

"Um, Teme why are you bothered by this so much, I mean I don't get it." Naruto asked in confusion.

"That's not the point. The point is that Sakura is really strange this few days. First she calls us to tell us that she won't come to town and let me say she really did sound strange and shaky, anyway and now this? I'm gonna have a talk with her." Ino stood up but was quickly seated by Tenten.

"Wait a minute Ino. Here look she's watching us maybe she'll come over and then we can ask her like normal people what happened to her." Tenten said.

"Um, why is she crying and running away?" Neji asked.

"Um, why did the Teme go after her? Did anyone see him run?" Naruto asked in bewilderment.

Sasuke ran off to get Sakura the minute he saw her running away. He was faster than her so he came up to her quickly. She was turned with her back to him, supporting her forehead on the rough bark of the Sakura tree. Sasuke was furious. He grabbed Sakura's upper arm, pulled her up and turned her towards him. His eyes softened a bit when he saw her crying eyes but he was still furious and he didn't let his glare falter.

"What the hell happened there? What were you doing with that Gaara guy?" Sasuke asked her with a deadly voice that sent shivers down her spine. He wanted some answers and he wanted them ASAP.

"Nothing" Sakura said, her tone no higher than a whisper.

"Well it sure didn't seem nothing to me. After all he kissed you in the middle of the lunch room."

"It was nothing ok?" Sakura yanked her arm out of Sasuke's hand and turned to walk away. Sasuke caught her arm again.

"No, it's not ok. That guy is bad news and I don't want you to be hanging around with him." Sasuke said sternly.

"Ok what ever you say" Sakura didn't want to argue with him because he always won. Plus he was right Gaara really was bad news but she had no choice. "Can you let me go now?" Sasuke didn't let her go.

"Hn, not unless you promise me that you will stay away from him." Sakura huffed in annoyance and rolled her eyes.

"Fine I promise. And why do you care anyway?" Sakura caught him off guard and he quickly let go of her arm.

"Because you're my friend and I care about my friends. That's why now lets go we're gonna be late for English."

"I'm not feeling well I'm not going." Sakura simply said and left Sasuke in the court yard. She got back to her dorm and slipped into bed, slowly drifting off into slumber. The dream she had, was really, really strange.

Dream

She was alone in the dark. The coldness was sending shivers down her spine. Anxiety filled her body to the point where she was shaking. Suddenly two figures appeared, Gaara and Sasuke.

"Come with us on Friday or else your friends will pay the price." Gaara said.

"Don't listen to him. He's lying he won't do anything to us." Sasuke said.

"Come with us and you won't regret it." Gaara was trying to lure Sakura.

"That guy is bad news. Promise me you will stay away from him." Sasuke was trying to reason Sakura. His voice was heard couple of times before she finally woke up.

"Promise me. Promise me Sakura. PROMISE ME!" and her emerald eyes snapped open

End of dream.

Sakura woke up screaming. Little sweat drops were falling from her forehead. She felt very disturbed about her dream and couldn't contain the tears. She hugged her knees and propped her head on them. To say that Sakura wasn't afraid of all of this would be such an understatement. To some people Sakura's fear would seem irrational and some people would say that everything that was happening with Gaara was not that bad. But for Sakura, it felt as though she was betraying her friends. She was supposed to lie to them, she was supposed to ditch them, she was supposed to spend one night with Gaara doing god knows what. And although it was only for the protection of her friends, she still couldn't help but feel dirty.

When their classes ended Ino, Hinata and Tenten entered the room laughing only to find Sakura sobbing. They hurried to console her.

"Oh my god, Sakura why are you crying? Is it because of Sasuke?" Ino asked worriedly.

"Sakura is it because of school?" asked Tenten.

"Did somebody hurt you, Sakura?" Hinata asked bravely. Sakura was only left with crying all the time. Her girl friends could do nothing except be there for her. Actually they didn't know what was happening to Sakura these past two days. She was usually chirpy and happy; always singing and dancing making even Sasuke smile (even though it was just a little barely noticeable smirk Sakura always knew). They missed the old Sakura even though she was gone for just two days and who knew, maybe she would be gone for a much longer time.

When Sakura finally got her composure she managed to get the words unstuck.

"I-It's nothing really. D-Don't worry about anything. Oh and please don't tell the guys why I was crying please." Sakura was still sobbing.

"But how can we tell them why you were crying when we don't even know the reason." They all laughed because Tenten was actually right.

"Well, then don't tell them that I was crying, please." Sakura said through a little smile. They all laughed again except for Ino.

"Sakura don't you think that you might need to tell us about why you were crying. I mean we're your friends. You can tell us anything." Ino did have a point.

"I will tell you, but…" everyone sweat dropped at but. Sakura continued "I'll tell you tomorrow ok?" they all nodded unhappily. Sakura smiled at their expressions and when she freed her self from the tight hugs -which were probably intended to choke her for not telling them- she stood up and walked towards the door. Just when she was about to leave through the door she turned and said:

"Oh and exclude me from tomorrows plans, I have a thing to do." She smiled again and closed the door behind her, leaving the three girls dumbfounded.

"Ok, did she just say that she didn't want to participate in tomorrows plans about going out? Tomorrow's freaking Friday. I mean she has to come with us, for fuck sake. I mean I can't fucking understand how can she fucking ditch us like that. It's not fucking fair." Ino exclaimed and clamed her self on the bed after pacing nervously and cursing. She folded her arms on her torso.

"Okay…that was a lot of F-words in one sentence. Calm down I'm sure she had a really good reason for that. She said that she will tell us tomorrow and now she said that she can't go out with us, maybe the both things are connected. So don't worry we'll find out tomorrow." Tenten tried to reason Ino to stay calm because she was tired of all those panic attacks.

Ino stood up abruptly and she started jumping up and down happily.

"Um…what are you doing Ino?" Hinata asked confused.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…." Ino continued jumping.

"Um Ino…WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?" Tenten started yelling at Ino and she finally stopped.

"I have a brilliant idea. Wanna hear it?" the two girls nodded. "How about we dress nicely and go to Shikamaru's dorm. I heard the boys are getting together in his dorm in about…ah now." Ino looked at her watch and Hinata and Tenten sweat dropped.

"You were jumping because of that? That's your great idea?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah come on" she grabbed both of the girl's hands and yanked them in the dressing room. Ino had a huge walk through closet. Well, no wonder she had, since she was a freaking shopaholic. They entered the closet and looked at Ino dumbfounded.

After a while Ino walked out of the closet, grabbing the two girls hand and dragged them out of the closet.

"Ok, I still don't get it why do we have to dress nicely? I mean we're going to the guy's dorm room not to a wedding, Yeesh." Tenten said confused.

"Well if you dress nicely there might be a wedding." Ino retorted.

"What the h-"Tenten was cut off by Ino's blabbing.

"I don't want to hear anything about it. I know you like Neji and Neji likes you. So what the hell like get together already" Tenten raised an eyebrow at Ino.

"Well, I could say the same thing about you and Shika-kun" she said his name in the squealing tone that Ino used whenever she called his name. Hinata just stood there and laughed. The two girls turned to face her, both with their arms crossed on their bodies.

"What about you Hinata?" said Tenten.

"Yeah, it's not like we haven't noticed how you look at Naruto." Ino accused.

"Or how you melt down when he says your name Hinata-chan" Tenten continued. Both girls laughed when pink flush appeared on Hinata's pale cheeks. Ino stopped laughing first.

"Ok, guys now that we're done with embarrassing each other what you say we hurry up and go to the guy's dorm?" they all hurried to get dressed, then put on make up and finally do their hair. The end result was rather astonishing.

Ino came out first from the dressing room. She had white shorts and a gray t-shirt that had writing saying "Bitchin' & sexy" and grey slouchy boots. She had very light make up on, eyeliner, mascara and clear lip gloss. Her hair other than the butterfly pins didn't change much.

Next was Tenten. She was kinda of a tomboy so she never wore skirts or dresses. This time was no exception. She wore black Capri pants with a white tank top with pink writing "Punk princess" and converse pink shoes. Her hair was in her usual buns though this time she had some hair sticking out of them. Her make up was similar to Ino's.

Last but not least was Hinata. She wore skinny jeans, purple tank top with a saying "Not as innocent as I look" and purple Nike high tops. Her hair was straightened up with a hot iron and her bangs were pulled up with two purple hair pins. Her make up consisted clear pink gloss and mascara. Pretty simple.

"Well, now that we look freaking awesome let's go ask the guys to come with us to town. There's a new pizzeria in town I'm sure they're starving as much as I am." Ino said enthusiastically. Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"So shall we?" um looks like Tenten was eager to see her Neji-kun. The two girls wrapped their arms around Tenten's arms and marched out of the room. Their hearts were pounding and it came to a point were it seemed like they were about to lose them. There it was, a big piece of brown wood was coming in between them and the boys.

They approached the door slowly. Ino raised her hand ever so slowly in hesitation. She turned around to see the girls.

"Should I knock?" the two girls behind her nodded in agreement "Well here goes nothing" Ino muttered to herself and knocked on the door. Neji's voice was heard from inside granting them permission. Just at the sound of his voice Tenten felt like melting. Ino opened the door and slowly entered it.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, Neji's heart was pounding in a painful rhythm and Naruto's mouth gaped open at the sight of the girls. They were so different yet again themselves. Ino was playing with her big blonde hair, Tenten was cracking her knuckles and Hinata was blushing deep red.

"Hey, girls what are you doing here?" Shikamaru said after the three of them regained their composure.

"Well we wanted to ask you guys if you want to take a walk through campus or like go to a pizzeria. So what do you say?" Ino asked the guys.

"We'll go!" Naruto exclaimed jumping out of his chair. "Dobe" muttered Sasuke who was lying on his bed with his face turned to the wall. Naruto turned to face him and sent him a shut-the-hell-up-in-front-of-Hinata look and then turned back to rest his eyes on Hinata.

The guys got ready and each one held the girls hand and escorted them out of the room. Shikamaru glanced back at Sasuke.

"Bro, wanna come with us?" Shikamaru asked Sasuke feeling a little bad for his friend.

"Hn." Was his simple answer. Shikamaru muttered "Troublesome" and left the room. It was funny how only his friends knew when he meant 'yes' and when he meant 'no'. For gods sake who could ever distinguish yes and no when all this damn Uchiha said was 'Hn'. Well it's really simple, only his friends could, that's why they were his friends after all.

'What the hell was Sakura doing with Gaara? Uh I have to know somehow. But wait, why am I bothered by this? Ah yeah because she's my friend and we know each other since primary school. I'm gonna find out no matter what. But I'm gonna wait until Saturday because something tells me tomorrow won't be such a good day.-Sasuke thought to himself as he slowly drifted off in slumber.

-With Sakura-

Sakura was feeling pretty down. Why did all of this have to happen to her, of all people here to her? 'What the hell did I do to that red headed eye shadow kid? What did my friends do to him? What did Sasuke do to be pushed of the roof? God how vividly I remember that day. I dehydrated from crying. No Sakura, don't think about those times. Oh, Sasuke…'Sakura was deep in thought, when a deep voice cut her off.

"Well, if it isn't Sakura" Gaara said from behind her, breaking her in her thoughts which caused her to jump in surprise. She turned around to the source of the voice only to see Gaara's sinister smirk plastered over his pale face.

"What is it now Gaara? What, you have more threats for me?" Sakura said sarcastically which caused Gaara to laugh. Oh how he liked her feistiness. If there was anything that could arouse feelings in him it was this. Sakura looked behind Gaara only to find more of those sinister smirks. Zaku, Kankuro, Temari, Haku, Kin and Dosu were standing behind Gaara.

"Oh I see you've brought your little friends along. Are they supposed to be intimidating?" Sakura said sarcastically-again- while acting scared. Gaara couldn't contain the laughter and so did the others except for Temari who seemed really pissed off by Sakura.

"Come on, hit me Blondie. It's not like I'm afraid of you." Actually Temari considered her offer and wanted to walk over to Sakura to hit her.

"Is that so? Well you're gonna be afraid once I hit you pinky" Sakura's anger was boiling inside of her as she heard the nickname she hated the most 'pinky'. Her hands curled up in fists and she was ready to spring at Temari.

"What did you call me?" Sakura said through her clenched teeth. Temari crossed her arms over her torso and lifted up her chin. "I called you pinky. What are you going to do about that?" Temari said with a mocking tone.

"I'm gonna do this" Sakura said as she raised her fist. When her fist was about to make contact with Temari's face, a restraining hand caught Sakura's wrist. All of the present people looked up in shock, including Sakura.

"You're coming with me" the fierce voice said.