SUMMARY: Caught in the dreadful clutches of human trafficking, can Sakura rely on the bond forged in childhood? Will her long lost friend become the friend who saves her…or the one who destroys her? Can Naruto face and forgive the betrayal by his closest friend?
A fanfic on the friendship of the trio: Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto. Rated M for violence.

PART 1

I am an orphan.

I live with my Mother's sister and her family.

My aunt died two months ago. My uncle is an alcoholic and is most of the time out of the house.

We are rich. My parents were, at least. All that money was inherited by me, but is used by my cousin and her wasted father.

I just started high school along with my cousin. We both go to the same school, Leaf High.

I have very few belongings, although I own more than I know about.

My cousin, whom I love more than anything, most probably hates me.

I am Sakura Haruno.

…

PART 2

I am the richest kid in Leaf high.

I just started high school, and find it impossibly annoying.

I don't want to brag, but girls kill for me. Some have already started a fan club.

I live alone.

My older brother owns all the riches but is busy most of the time. So I have to take care of myself.

I hate company.

My brother supposedly killed my parents, but he got away with it. I won't ever be able to forgive him.

I have no friends.

I am Sasuke Uchiha.

…

PART 3

I am alone.

My parents went to fight in the war, and never returned.

Everyone thinks I am cursed because it all happened on my birthday.

I don't want to show my feelings.

I am loudmouth and joyous outside, but inside, I am hollow.

I need a friend. But no one ever bothered to do so with me.

I have just started high school, and I hope to meet new people. People I can talk to.

There's this guy who says he promised my parents that he would take care of me.

He comes by once a year.

I am not rich, neither poor.

I go by my parents earnings, and don't work.

Sometimes, I just think that I am cursed. But then there's this photo of me with my parents. I look so happy. I don't think my mom and dad would call me cursed.

I am not cursed, just unlucky.

I am Naruto Uzumaki.

…
Sakura's POV

The new term began a week ago. All I could think about is trying to be invisible. I have a bad temper and often beat people up when they tease me about my unnatural pink hair.

I didn't care about school. I know my uncle, who killed my loving and caring aunt, would do the same to me and Ino soon. Ino is my cousin. I know that Ino doesn't like me, but I have to live with that. Life plays some unfair games with people, but it has been cruel to me.

While walking down the hallway, I noticed people staring at me again. It's been a week since school started and still people can't just leave me alone. Half of the day was already over. I was going towards the library just to get a peace of mind. Books somehow calmed me down.

I have not made any friends yet, and I would have preferred to keep it that way. I craved solitude. That's why people didn't like me. The world is always scared of things they don't understand.

I entered the library and quietly chose a corner to sit. It was quite and calm. Good. I reached my favorite spot, a seat by the window where there is always a soft breeze. It's easy to see who enters the library and is also out of everyone's sight.

But when I reached the seat I found it to be occupied. The occupant was a boy. I think I must have seen that boy in my class. He had angelic features and an extremely toned physique. But he was just too much popular. I might have liked to hang out with him, but popularity always attracts attention, and I hated attention. So I didn't want to approach him and tell him to leave his seat, but I also didn't want to sit anywhere else.

So I asked him to move.

"Can you sit somewhere else?"

"No."

"But you have to. This is my seat." I stated plainly.

"I don't care." He didn't even bother to look up.

"Well then no one asked you to care. Go and sit somewhere else or keep sitting here and waste both of our time".

"Hn." He got up quietly and sat in the next seat.

Victorious, I sat down and started reading.

* * *
Sasuke's POV

She was annoying. She just forced me to change my seat, with the use of sheer logic. It was true I didn't want to keep blabbering with her and she must have sensed this. She didn't try to talk or start a conversation and I was completely okay with that. But she was also the only one who didn't look at me twice. She just kept on ignoring me.

After that day, every day I would go and sit in the place next to her seat and she would come and take her 'favorite' seat. It was like our own solitude club. I found her presence to be less annoying and more peaceful with each passing day. After a week passed by, with me sitting next to her seat every time, she asked me my name.

"Uchiha, Sasuske Uchiha. What's your name?"

"Sakura Haruno." She smiled and that made my stomach flutter.

That was the second conversation we had had. The next week we started talking during the lunch break. We were in the same class most of the time. It was nice to be around her and she did not talk about stupid things like shoes and clothes. She talked about life, and future, and dreams, and magic, and I felt a little less zombie-like when I was around her.

The fan girls obviously noticed this. I had to save her from tricky situations (repeatedly caused by those fan girls) quite a few times, and when they realized I didn't like them annoying her, they backed away.

I was Sakura Haruno's only friend.

Naruto's POV

It was nice to be around people. For the first time, I was not the only one to be teased. There was bullying everywhere, but there was friendship and kindness too. The kindest girl I have met till now was Hinata Hyuuga. But the prettiest and quietest one is Sakura Haruno. She is kind too. Well, as usual, I couldn't help but create a bit of chaos among the kids. I spread a rumor about a scorpion on the loose, and then I spray painted many lockers before I saw someone running towards me, and guessing it was someone from the faculty, I too ran. Then I broke open door of the boys restroom, though I paid the price myself later. And finally, used ketchup as blood and fooled the nurse in the First aid room. I always had a packet or two in my pocket for situations like that.

Now I was sitting in my classroom, listening to the teacher about dividing everyone into study groups and telling us to maintain the groups year-round. We were also supposed to work on our assignments as a group. All the teachers had already divided the students. She kept on reading names off a list and I strained to hear my name. I was in group 7, or Team 7, with Sakura Haruno (I had to smile), and Sasuke Uchiha (I had to frown). Sasuke was boring, and there was no other way to put it. He was quiet and had this stay-away-from-me aura around him that made everyone cringe. Well, Sakura was the only one he talked to and I guess I could enjoy being with them, I was just not sure about the whole-year thing.

All the students shuffled around till they found their assigned seats along with their teammates. I sat next to Sakura, who sat next to Sasuke.

It might be nice to have some friends for once. You never know.

Did Naruto know then, that this friendship will be the best and worst thing that could ever happen to him…? Stay tuned for the next chapter.

A/N: how was it? I wanted to write a fanfic which deals with serious issues. I want to make the characters have the same kind of role, emotionally, they had in the anime. The first two chapters will be about their high- school lives. The rest…will be different … EDITED BY ThePotterDude/TheHarryDude.

Your futile author,

TheAnimeCrazedGal.
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