Chapter 1: New Year, Here I Come!
I've always been an outsider. From my petal pink hair to my interest in academics, I never fit in with my classmates. While most of my classmates sported black hair, my natural rose hair stuck out like a giant pink sore thumb.
I knew I would never be winning the prize for most popular. If you had asked who Sakura Haruno was, everyone would have said "Who?" Then if you described me, they'd go "Oh! That weird geek."
Yup. That's me. Misfit Sakura.
There's one way I'm just like my peers though. Itachi Uchiha. Resident school hottie. Dark eyes and hair. Athletic. Smart. You name it and Itachi probably has it. Like every other female in Konoha Gakuen, I was drooling over Itachi. He would graduate at the end of this year, and it was my last chance to snag him.
I spent the entire summer preparing. Reading every fashion magazine, working to earn money for make up and hair products. So as I approached the school, I felt good. I was a wannabe no longer. I was embracing my bright hair. My ticket to standing out.
I strutted my way across the parking lot. I was on top of the world. I should've known then that things wouldn't work out. But I, ever the optimist, wanted to believe that this was my time.
I spotted him talking outside the gym entrance. I took a deep breath.
"This is it," I whispered to myself.
"Hell yeah!" my Inner shouted. "Time to snag that yumm-a-licious hunk of manflesh for ourselves!"
As I angled over toward Itachi, I ignored the group of guys playing around with a soccer ball and focused on my plan. I was to bump into him as I passed him. Look up into those gorgeous coal black eyes and blink. Say "Sorry" in a normal to slightly snotty tone. Make him feel like he deserved to feel horrible. Leave him wondering who that hot, confident chick was.
Just when I was about to initiate step one, the bump, I heard a guy shout "Heads up!" I turned slightly and saw a blur before everything went black.
*~*~*~*~
"Give her some room to breathe," a male voice trickled into my mind.
My eyes fluttered open to Itachi leaning slightly over me. I stared up at him, stunned. Was I asleep?
"You okay?" he asked.
No, not asleep. The pain throbbing through my head is way to real for a dream.
I nodded dumbly.
"All right. How's your head feel?"
I touched my forehead and winced. "What happened?"
"You got hit by a soccer ball."
"Where?" I was going to keep this conversation going. This was my God-sent opportunity to get him interested.
He helped me up. "Your face."
Horror shot through me. Did I have a giant bruise on my slightly larger than average forehead? Or worse, a black eye?
"Is my makeup okay?" I blurt out.
"What are you, an idiot?!" my Inner screeched.
But she shut up when Itachi chuckled. I… I made Itachi Uchiha laugh. Me, Sakura Haruno. I could die happy now. Except I wished I could have done it without seeming like a shallow ding-a-ling.
"Good to know you're okay…?" He raised an eyebrow, indicating he needed a name.
"Oh!" I gasped as comprehension dawned. I had to give it to him. "Sakura! I'm Sakura Haruno! First year!"
He smiled a little. "Nice to meet you. I'm—"
"Itachi Uchiha," I finished. "I know. Your brother was in my class three years ago."
"Okay. I'll see you around. And try to avoid soccer balls from now on!" He left then.
*~*~*~*~
"You idiot!" Ino shouted.
I winced. "What? I talked to him!"
"Yeah by getting a giant bruise," my loud blonde friend flicked said bruise.
"Ow!"
"And you then continued to talk about another guy, his hunkalicious brother, in front of him." Ino shook her head. "Something you should never do."
I hung my head in shame. "I know. But it just popped out."
"And you know that Sasuke's mine!"
"Which is why he has yet to show even the slightest interest in you."
"Just you wait! He will!"
"Have you checked the class lists yet?"
"No. You know we always do it together," Ino replied.
We made our way over to the board. We scanned the first years for our names.
"I'm in class 1 C!" Ino announced joyfully.
"Me too!"
She scanned it for a few more seconds. "Sasuke's in it too!" she squealed.
"Good for you."
"Try to contain your excitement."
"Sorry. I just don't have a crush on Sasuke," I sighed.
"Fine. But you do know hwat this means, right?" Ino probed.
"Umm, no."
"Let me paint you a picture, Sakura." Ino took a deep breath and began to overact. "'Oh no! I'm failing history! Sasuke, do you think you could help me study for the test? I know! Let's make a study group! You, Naruto, Sakura and me.' Then you mysteriously disappear during the studying to talk to Itachi while I get in some flirting with Sasuke."
My mouth became an o. "I see."
"We get to make our moves." Ino paused. "You know hwat this means, right?"
"Um, you lost me again."
"We're going to have to fail history together for a little bit."
*~*~*~*~
"All right, your seating chart is on the board," Kakashi, my homeroom teacher, announced.
I looked at it and my heart sank. Ino was across the room. And I was behind… Sasuke?! I glanced over to see Ino's opinion on my sitting by her crush. She seemed split. She approached Kakashi.
"Excuse me, Hatake-sensei," she smiled once she had his attention. "Is there any chance I could switch seats with someone?"
"No. All seating arrangements are final. Now please go to your seat." He raised his voice. "Once you know where your seat is, please sit down in it. Since it's the first day, I'll have you introduce yourselves. Just to start the relationships."
Ino was the first of the two of us to introduce herself. "Hey. I'm Ino Yamanaka of the Yamanaka Florists. I enjoy flower arranging and shopping in my spare time. I'm a fun girl to be around. Nice to meet you all."
Sasuke's friend Naruto was a few people later. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Don't know who my parents were. And yes, these whisker marks are real. I like to skateboard and show Teme who's boss in my spare time."
I had plenty of time after Naruto to panic over my introduction. And then, horror of all horrors, it was my turn.
"H-hello. I'm Sakura Haruno. I… uh…" Palms sweating so very very badly. "I…" Feeling sick to stomach. I could feel Ino's glare boring into me. I licked my lips nervously.
"Come on! Spit it out, girl!" my Inner ranted, punching like a madwoman.
"Deep breath," a voice said from in front of me.
I glanced down to see Sasuke turned around ever so slightly to address me. He nodded when onyx met emerald. When they clashed, my stage fright melted away, vanished without a trace. An inexplicable calm comes over me.
"Favorite hobby," he whispered.
"My favorite hobby is reading," I finally got out. I don't know what it is about him but there's a connection between us. My heart was pounding, just like when I saw Itachi. But… it's different too. But I can't fathom it right now. "I hope you'll take good care of me this year." I bowed and sank into my chair.
Sasuke smirked then stood. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't give a damn what you think. So don't bother me and we'll get along great." Finished, he took his seat, cool as ice.
I wish I could be like that, I thought.
"You could if you would just stop swallowing your tongue," my Inner grumbled.
I sighed. This was turning out to be the first day from hell. I winced as I went to take my normal thinking position, hands threaded through pink hair, only to brush up against the bruise from earlier.
Definitely the worst first day ever.
*~*~*~*~
I holed up in my room when I got home from school. Things had gone a little better the rest of the day. I hadn't gotten beaned by any more balls nor did I do anything else unbelievably stupid or embarrassing. But my horrible start still haunted me.
I shut the door and changed into some dark flares. I stripped down to my camisole underneath my uniform and crossed the room to my stereo.
I won't lie; I had a pretty sweet sound system in my room. I loved music. I loved listening and rocking out to it. I pulled out my custom mix. I popped it in. But before I hit play, I plugged in my pink electric guitar to the amp. Then I cranked up the amp and did a quick tuning. I hit play and strumed out the first chords four times.
I grinned as I opened my mouth and belted out the lyrics.
"You hear the screeching of an owl
You hear the wind begin
to howl,
You know there's zombies on the prowl,
And it's terror
time again,
They've got you running though the night," I paused
for a moment before resuming.
"It's terror time
again,
And you just might die of fright,
It's a terrifying
time!" Two more sets of the opening chords and I jump onto my bed.
"You hear the beating
of your heart,
You know the screaming's gonna start,
Here
comes the really scary part," I crooned and jumped to the floor. I
slid on my knees across the smooth wood. I strummed out the next
chords as I stood, singing.
"'Cause it's terror
time again,
They've got you running through the night!
It's
terror time again,
Oh, you just might die of fright,
It's a
terrifying time." The opening chords repeated and my fingers glided
across the frets as the bridge began.
"All the trees begin
to moan,
And the monsters grunt and groan,
Rotting faces full
of slime,
Don't you know it's terror time?" I was bent back,
enthralled with the feeling and slammed my body forward in time to
hit the first chord of the chorus.
"And it's terror
time again,
They've got you running through the night," I sang.
"Yes, it's terror
time again,
Oh, you just might die of fright,
It's a terrifying
time!!!!" I listened with joy to the reverb.
A knock interrupted me.
"What?!" I snapped as I grabbed my remote for the stereo and hit pause. What was disturbing me during my vent time?
"Honey," my mom called through the door. "Could you turn it down a bit?"
I frowned then did a power chord.
"Thank you."
I heard her footsteps recede and turned the remote toward my stereo. My phone rang though. My eyebrow twitched and I snatched up and answered.
"What?!!!!" I screeched into the receiver.
"Somebody interrupted your jam session," Ino's voice chirped.
"What do you want, Ino?" I growled. Best friend or not, she was still dead. I needed to vent. And music was my way to vent.
"I figured you would be venting. I called to see if you mind if I came over to listen in."
"Sure. Knock yourself out."
*~*~*~*~
"Here's to the girls on their boards with their bruises and scars!
Here's to the girls whose fingers bleed from playing guitar!
Here's to anyone who never quit when things got hard!
You'll never let them say, 'You'll never get that far.'" I went into my favorite part of the song, the chords between the chorus and the verses. The progression was amazing and fun to play.
"Here's to the ones who don't give up!
Here's to the ones who don't give up!
Here's to the ones who don't give up!
This is your anthem!" Ino sang with me.
When I finished, I was breathing hard but smiling.
"Now why can't you show this side of yourself at school?" she demanded.
"I don't know," I sighed, flipping off my stereo and taking off my guitar. When the amp was off, I flopped onto my bed next to her. "Scared to, I guess."
"Do you have any idea how hot a girl who can rock is? I'll tell you. Itachi would onto you like… like… well, like whatever sticks to other things really well," Ino finished. "But my point is, if you would just open up and let your inner rocker chick out, you would be so cool!"
"Well how can I show my rock girl essence with a uniform?" I asked.
"Your personal stuff. Give me your cell!"
I reluctantly handed her my powder pink phone. "What are going to do?"
"You have any skull stickers?"
"What?!"
"Skull stickers," she repeated. "You have any?"
"No. And isn't that more gothic than rocker?"
She tossed my phone at my head angrily. "Fine! Have it your way!"
"I didn't mean it like that, Ino-pig," I sighed. Drama queen in the house.
"Yes, you did, Forehead Girl," she sulked.
"I'm so lonely," I crooned, swaying. "Soooo lonely!"
"No! Stop it!" Ino shrieked as I continued to sing her least favorite earworm.
"I have nobody foooooooor my ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo—own!" I placed a hand on my chest dramatically.
"Sakura! Stop it!"
"OOOOOOH! I'm so lonely!"
"Fine! I give, I give!" she cried. "Just… Stop singing that horrible song!"
I laughed. "Okay."
My mom poked her head in. "Time for Ino to head home, Sakura. You'll see her tomorrow."
"Remember the plan!" Ino reminded me as she went downstairs.
"I will!" I chuckled.
Little did I know that that was one plan our dynamic duo would never get to put into action…
A/N: Whoot! First chapter is done! And a darn cliffie in the first one! I'm evil like that.
Anywho some explanation is due. For instance how is Itachi a senior and Sakura in tenth grade?! Aren't they five years apart?! What's going on?! Answer? For this fanfic to work, I needed them to be in the same school. So Itachi got his age adjusted. He's seventeen. Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and Ino are fifteen. And also Sakura crushing on Itachi? Yes. I love ItaSaku and SasuSaku. But I swear that this fanfic will be SasuSaku. The ItaSaku is a plot device.
The songs. Yes, thank you Skycycle and Superchick for making such awesome songs! The name of the first song is "It's Terror Time Again" by Skycycle. The second one is "Anthem" by Superchick. Expect to see a lot more music in this fanfic. It's a key to the plot!
Don't worry! I'm going to work on my hiatus works soon! I swear!
