Author's note: I originally posted this fic back in 2008 when I was but a young sapling. Now coming back in 2012, four whole years after first posting it, I cringe wondering what I was thinking. Yet, as I'm not one to ever give up on a fic I thought I would bring it out of retirement and give it a big review. There will be pairings but they will come into it much later.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto never have, never will. The fantastic Kishimoto Masashi does.
A gentle warth filled the air as outside birds chirped, so happy and free. Now, if only the outside reflected the atmosphere inside the room.
An alarm clock flew across the room hitting a wall. All was silent once again as Sakura slowly sat upright in her bed, slightly groggy. She blinked away the sleep in her eyes and raked a hand through her bright pink hair.
'uhhh...whaa...Damn! It's too early for this.' Squinting, Sakura drifted her emerald eyes over to the far wall upon which her calendar was pinned. Today was highlighted in bright pink marker. She stopped to think way it was.
"Sakura! Wake up! Did you forget that today is the first day of the new semester! If you don't get up now then you won't have time to eat breakfast!" shouted her mother. As much as she loved her mother, all the shouting was a pain. Although it was times like this that she came in handy.
"Hai, Hai, I'm up now!" Sakura mumbled. She slipped out of her bed and opened her curtains. She had to blink a few times to adjust to the light. Sunlight beamed right into her immaculate room; every little book, pen or hair pin, set into place. Sakura hated untidy places as she could never control the urge to start cleanning. It was just one of her little quirks. One single little, insignificant piece of dirt and she felt the nedd to spring clean the entire room, top to bottom.
'Today is definitely going to be a good day. Most likely we'll just have introductory classes. A perfect opportunity to have a good long chat with Ino on all the summer gossip. I mean I love my grandparents and all that but two whole months in the countryside is enough to drive even a nature-lover insane. What modern teenage girl, with a good mental stability, could stay in a place that is so isolated. No cellphone reception, no shopping centres and no young people other than myself.'
She sighed as she entered her bathroom, starting the long process of choosing how to look on the first day back. After all, it does help to make a good first impression on her new classmates. But then again maybe the unnatural looking, yet very natural, pink hair would stand out enough as it was.
Tenten hummed happily to herself as she prepared for her day ahead. Her parents had already left for the day as they worked all the time. Her father worked overseas a lot along with her step-mother, which left Tenten alone most of the time. To be honest that's the way she liked it. Since her father remarried he felt the need to reassure her that' nothing will change' and 'he'll always love his little panda'. Her step-mother was the exact opposite. She expected only perfection of Tenten, setting out every rule imaginable.
'And she still expects me to run to her beck and call, singing 'Yes mommy, coming mommy'. Well I don't think so. No one, and I mean no one, could ever replace mom.'
"Tenten, can you please tie my hair up like yours today, please..." the little girl sitting at the dining table whined. She stared up with her large, doe brown eyes and batted them innocently. Tenten just stared at her straight at her with confusion spread over her features.
"Airi, what are you doing in here? How on earth did you get in, I mean, I know I locked that door last night? At least I think I did? Or maybe…" babbling Tenten rushed out into the hall, quickly closing in on the door handle. To her shock, surprise and honest relief the door was locked. Turning quickly on her heel, she marched back into the kitchen. There, Airi had on the most guiltless and innocent face known to man, but she knew she could never fool Tenten.
"Okay, Okay. I used one of big sister's hair pins to open the door," Airi mumbled looking away and twirling a strand of her ebony locks around her finger. "But I did remember to lock it again behind me"
"WHAT! HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT? AIRI, YOU'RE ONLY SIX YEARS OLD!" Tenten ranted, towering over Airi, who cowered thinking she had maybe went one step to far this time.
"Good morning Tennie! How are you this fine and glorious day?" sang a voice form the hallway as the front door closed.
From around the corner appeared a teen around Tenten's age with straw coloured hair gathered in to an immaculate braid. Her ruby eyes twinkled as they gave the kitchen a once over before stopping on the scene in front of her.
"TEMARI! It was you wasn't it? That soiled poor, naïve Airi's mind with criminal behaviourisms," Tenten hissed, glaring at Nanami with an expression of utmost disbelief.
"Now…I would love to take the chance to give testimony of innocence on this topic but if we don't rush, and I mean rush, we are going to be late. That wouldn't look very good on our transcripts if we were late on the very first day of the new term now would it, dear Tennie?
Nanami chuckled to herself at the look of pure horror that washed over Tenten's face. Tenten paled at the thought of the scolding she would get from her step-mother if she found out. Quickly ushering little Airi out the house and into her family's apartment next door, Nanami could hear Tenten's screams of frustration over Airi's mothers frantic apologies.
'Heckling Tenten should become an official sport. People would line up just to see the panda erupt' thought Nanami to herself as Tenten bolted out the door, grabbing Nanami but the collar of her shirt on the way.
Hinata was walking down a busy street watching everyone rush past her on the way to work. Shops were just starting to open and small children were walking down the street with their mothers on their way to school. She brushed back a stray lock of her navy hair. She sighed and stopped, looking in the window of one of the most stylish teen clothing shops. She looked in wonder at the many fashions on sale and looked at her own clothes. She was wearing a plain blue, short-sleeved, top and a navy skirt that went just above her knees. She wore on her feet a pair of trainers that were very old and a bit small for her. She had always wanted clothes like the ones in the window but she had been told by her friends in middle school that she had never suited them. Speaking of middle school, Hinata sighed again as she dragged her feet over to a nearby wooden bench. She could never really got over the fact that people who could be so kind and caring could also be so cruel. When she first transferred into M Middle School she expected to make no friends and be lonely, so she was pleasantly surprised when two girls started talking to her like they had been best friends for ages.
'I suppose it was that first glimpse of friendship that first blinded me to their true nature' mused Hinata as she rested her head on her hand, eyes seeing but not truly looking at her environment. First were the sidelong glances as she passed people in the hallway and then there was the whispers behind her back that got louder and louder the more she tried to ignore them. Finally, in a both kind and cruel comment Hinata found out the truth. Her most treasured friends that had accepted her so easily had spread the nasty rumours about her, about how really she was a stuck up little miss with princess syndrome and how she continually threatened them if they ever said anything she didn.t want to hear. Hinata clenched her hands into fists and bit her lip, so much so that the copper taste of blood filled her mouth. She hoped that none of them were at her new high school.
Rising from her perch she watched a young girl fall over and land on the cold, hard concrete pavement. She sat up and started to cry loudly. A woman rushed over to her and picked her up, whispering what Hinata assumed to be words of endearment into the girl's ear. Hinata presumed the woman to be her mother. Her mood sunk even lower as she remembered her own motherShe, herself, had very few memories of her mother, who had died after giving birth to her little sister, Hanabi. People told her all the time that she looked like her mother but she was not sure. All of her mother's belongings from throughout the entire household had been removed and locked up somewhere by her father. Hinata never even had a single picture to gaze upon. She looked down at her watch and saw that she only had another half hour before school started. She liked to be there early so she picked up the pace.
"AARRGGHH!"
Ino rushed down the stairs in her house in a panic, luminous blonde hair following behind in a high ponytail. She rushed into her kitchen where her parents were calmly eating their breakfast. Her father lifted an eyebrow in amusement at the sight of his daughter nearly choking on a piece of toast whilst trying to drink a glass of milk at the same time.
"Do. Not. Even. Start. I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" Ino screamed as she mad a mad dash out of the front door.
"Wasn't going to sweetheart," her father sang as he returned to his morning paper, peace one again coming to the Yamanaka household.
'It's like this every year. I set my alarm, it mysteriously breaks and I end up LATE! Not even Well not this year, I'm gonna be there on time!" She thought as she rushed through he wrought iron gates that signalled the end of the driveway to her home. Looking at it, it didn't seem that large, only when compared to the low-rise apartment buildings nearby. Turning around a corner blindly, Ino nearly crashed into a frail, old woman.
"Sorry!" She shouted back, more focused on the task ahead, "But this is a matter of life and death!" She continued like this for a good few minutes, panting due to loss of breath quite rapidly, until a shiny, black car pulled to her side.
"Miss Yamanaka, wouldn't it be quicker if I were to drive you? After all it's what I get paid to do," asked her family's personal chauffer, as the tinted window rolled down.
"Arigato!" Ino exclaimed in happiness as she hopped in the backseat.
Author's note: Yeah. Well. I hope it gets better. I'm just gonna go with it and see where it takes me, although I have no intentions of ever abandoning this fic.
Still trying to figure out a how to piece together all the little plot ideas I have.
Until next time.
