Hello all. Sakura's personality has been warped to that of a more mature person. I'll explain at the very end of this. This was intended to be a oneshot, and as such it moves kind of fast. It also is going to be instead a two chapter story. At least this is my plan but knowing myself I'll probably change it and make the plot more complex, but I'm not sure.
Unlike most of the other high school fictions, this one is more trite and true to real high school. At least that's how I intended the feel to be.
I've been passed from family member to family member.
My mother and father travel around the world leaving me alone.
So I've spent my whole life moving from family member to family member.
I don't know why no one wants to keep me.
I'm always the perfect child.
I never fight in school.
I always get great grades.
I dress in recent fashions and have normal friends like they expect.
Yet, none of them keep me for more than a few months. They say I am too perfect. Everything about me is too perfect. I always outshine their own children and they blame it on me. Just because their children are idiots, I must take the blame and be passed on again. The perfect being known as Haruno Sakura can finally be a real person, because finally they've decided that now that I am sixteen, I can move back to the empty house my parents own, and live on my own. I'm going back to Konoha. I'm going back to being me.
Free from these shackles of trying to be perfect for the sake of wanting to be kept, I am going to prove my own self worth to myself and just be me. Being yourself in high school? It's an unheard of idea, I know, but I don't really give a shit anymore. I, Haruno Sakura, shall never again try to be something I'm not. If things happen, they will. If they don't , they won't.
--
Beep beep went Sakura's alarm clock as it flashed seven forty two in red digits. A hand smashed down onto the clock as a messy headed pink haired girl was angrily awakened. She sat up with a big yawn and stretched a bit before looking at her nearly broken alarm clock.
"Oh shit, I'm going to be late!" Sakura said as she quickly jumped out of her bed and striped before jumping into the shower just across the hall. After a five minute shower, she ran out hair dripping wet and grabbed a towel quickly drying off. She had planned to dress in a cute outfit, but at the moment her top priority was to just get there on time. So she grabbed the closet clothes which was a greenish pair of baggy cargo pants, and a tight fitting black shirt. She pulled on a pair of plain black shoes that were more for athletic use than for fashion, before grabbing her red jacket with safety pins and different buttons that had different slogans on them all over it. Quickly she shoved her CD player into one of the bigger cargo pant pockets and along with her around the ear headphones that blocked out noise which she put around her neck. She grabbed her wallet, cellphone, and keys and put them in the pockets before stopping to look in the mirror. Her hair was still dripping water not like that was her top priority at the moment. Her hair was short just a bit short of her shoulders, and was currently in a messy wild fashion from the water.
"It'll do." She said with a sigh as she grabbed a brush and combed through it real fast. She then ran downstairs and grabbed her gray sidebag that she doodled all over with trite sayings and simple drawings before running out the door. She pulled out her cellphone and looked at the time. It was seven fifty eight. She now had two minutes to get to her school. Sakura moved towards the gate at the side of her house and opened it. Behind the gate was a simple bike. Immediately she rolled it out before jumping on and started to ride as fast as she could. Originally she had set her alarm clock to five thirty in the morning, but apparently it had translated to seven thirty somehow. It had probably malfunctioned from her fierce punches every morning. She should really buy a new more durable one. As she finally made it to her school nearly getting hit by a car at least twice, it was nearly eight twenty three.
"Shit." Sakura kept on repeating as she pedaled her way slowly into the Konoha parking lot. Near the front of the school was a bike rake, and finally she smiled a bit exasperated. She closed her eyes in pure bliss as she pedaled towards it when suddenly a car pulling in at a rapid speed drove up and pretty much hit Sakura dead on. The car screeched to a stop and immediately a blonde haired boy popped out of the driver's door.
"I'm so sorry!" He yelled. "I didn't mean to kill you!" He yelled as he started to freak out as he looked over the girl. The girl was sitting on the ground with dirtied clothes and a tear of two on her pants and jacket. Sakura looked over at her bike which was now mangled. "Are you okay?!" The boy said as he waved a hand in front of her face. She grabbed it and glared up at him. "Eh…"
"You broke my bike…" Sakura's eye twitched as she stood up and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "How am I supposed to get around?!"She started to shake him as she yelled a bunch of random threats. People inside the classrooms with windows looked out and glanced at the strange girl shaking the boy.
"Uh.. sorry." Naruto said as he dizzily tried to maintain a sense of balance as the girl let go of him.
"This is officially a not good day." Sakura said as she plopped down on the curb and checked out her injuries. Naruto looked at her surprised.
"You're that transfer, right?" He asked as he offered her a hand.
"No, I've been here since freshman year, how could you not know me?" Sakura said with thick sarcasm.
"Really?" Naruto asked with a surprised look. 'This boy is an idiot…' Sakura thought as she sweatdropped as she took his hand and stood up before dusting off her clothes.
"No, I was kidding." Sakura said with a light laugh feeling bad at the boy's innocence. "I did just transfer in… today actually. I'm Haruno Sakura." She smiled lightly trying to ignore the slight injuries she had gotten.
"Uzamaki Naruto." He grinned. "Sorry about the whole.. running you over." He said with an uneasy laugh.
"Yeah… well I'm only worried about my poor bike…" Sakura said as she grabbed her bag from the floor. "At least now I have a real reason for being late." She said with a light laugh.
"Speaking of which I should get to class…" Naruto thought as he looked at his watch to see that it was now eight forty two.
"See you around, Uzamaki-san." Sakura said as she watched the boy rush towards the building. As soon as he disappeared into the building Sakura sighed. "Does he realize he left his car parked in the middle of nowhere?" She shrugged and headed inside towards the building. Immediately she found the office and walked inside. It was a warm little room with a secretary like woman sitting out in front of another door probably leading to the principal's room. There were five chairs lining the right side of the room. As soon as she opened the door the woman looked up. She had short choppy black hair and a small pig strangely enough in her lap. She smiled warmly.
"You must be Haruno-san. I was wondering if you were going to show up. Did you get lost?" The woman asked as she started to look through folders for her schedule.
"Sure let's go with that…" Sakura laughed uneasily as she didn't really want to tell someone that she got hit by a student. Naruto seemed nice and telling on him seemed kind of childish.
"My name is Shizune and feel free to stop by the office if you need any help. Would you like a guide Ms Haruno?" Shizune said as she handed Sakura a map and a class schedule with her classes highlighted.
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"You might want to stop by the nurses office."
"What?"
"Your knee wound?" Shizune pointed towards her knee that was currently scraped up with dirt and was bleeding a bit.
"Oh, will do." Sakura smiled as she walked out of the office and headed towards the bathroom. She washed out the wound until the blood stopped before walking back out to the halls just as the bell rang. "So much for going to first hour." She sighed as she looked at her second hour class. "AP Calculus. BC. How fun." Sakura said with a sigh as she wandered towards the room. Just as the halls were emptying she found the room, and entered. She looked in to find only six other people in the classroom besides her and the teacher.
"You must be the transfer, Haruno Sakura." The teacher had a mask on and a strange band that covered his left eye along with silver hair though he looked only in his late twenties or so. Sakura nodded her head as she looked at the six other people. They all eyed Sakura strangely. "Would you like to introduce yourself?" The man asked with a bored tone.
"Not really." Sakura said as she shrugged lightly.
"Well, here's your book." He handed it to her ."Study well. Take a seat then. I am Hatake Kakashi. You may call me Kakashi-sensei." The seats were all empty except for the last row in the back where all six of the students sat. The first boy had long brown hair and lavender eyes that abnormally had no pupils. He wore a white track jacket with a stripe through it and plain black jeans underneath. The boy next to him had raven black hair with long bangs in the front and slightly spiked hair in the back. He wore a zip up jacket like Sakura's but his was deep black and unzipped. It revealed a plain navy shirt along with dark blue jeans. Next to him was a boy who was currently asleep. He wore a simple shirt with a puffy vest over with baggy shorts on. He had brown hair tied up that resembled a pineapple. Next to him was the only other girl in this class. She had sandy blond hair tied up in four different pigtails. She wore a black spaghetti strap shirt and had on faded jeans. A green jacket was tied around her waist. Finally next to her was a boy with make up which slightly scared her. He wore soft of an animal hat that hid his hair and he wore a black sweater with blue jeans.
After taking them all in Sakura nodded, before taking the second to the front row and dropping her bag. She pulled on of the desk in front of her and put her feet on the chair with a bored look on her face. She pulled on her headphones that had been resting upon her neck and put them on. Sakura then reached into her pocket and pressed play. A CD mix that one of her 'friends' from her other school had made this for her. It was a mix of screaming rock music. She pulled out a pen and paper and started to take notes. The teacher sighed.
"Another fan of math." Kakashi went to the board and started doing math problems and explaining them though no one really seemed to be listening. The rest of her classes were just as this one, Sakura listening to music rather than the teachers and writing down the notes. Sakura never introduced herself, and because she was always listening to music no one cared to talk to her. It felt much easier to get through high school this way. The day was almost done as lunch finally came. She walked into the cafeteria and pulled out her sac lunch and looked at all of the people in the cafeteria. The groups were all the same. The outcasts and nerds sat on the outside ring of things. The drama kids sat somewhere closer in along with the cheerleaders and jocks. The popular sat smack dab in the middle of room. It was a different set up than her last school, but it was the same old school. She sighed and looked at them all rather bored. Some people snuck her looks wanting to offer her a seat or wanting to talk to the new girl who had hardly said a word. The whole new kid experience was by now a normal occurrence, but tired of approaching people, Sakura had decided this year since none of her relatives would care whether or not she had had normal friends and fit in she was going to let things just happen. If someone really wanted to talk to her, they would. There would be no effort on her part. If they didn't click they didn't. Naruto seemed like a good candidate for a friend since he was so easy to get mad at, but so far she hadn't shared a single class with him. In fact, even though she was pretty positive he was junior too, she wouldn't have a single class with them. Because of her perfect grades, Sakura was extremely advanced for her age, and was currently taking nearly all A.P.s. Most of her classes were with the extremely elite who probably looked down on her. As she looked through hoping to find him, she did. He was sitting smack dab in the middle of the popular kid table which was probably not a good table to approach if you're a new kid.
Sakura immediately walked back out the door of the cafeteria officially destroying some people's ideas of asking her to sit with them. A wide smile spread across her lips as she headed towards the outskirts of the school where the school field was. Sakura pulled off her headphones letting her ears out for the first time since second period. The silence in the air was quite nice. The smile seemed to be plastered on her lips as she plopped down onto the soft grass and looked up at the blue sky with white fluffy clouds passing by slowly. "Junior year seems like it'll go by peacefully." She closed her eyes and smiled as she whistled a sweet tune before sitting up and eating the small bag lunch she had packed the night before. "Bliss." She said as she munched on it.
Her days continued just as this one did. She bought a new bike and never ran into Naruto, and she never took off her headphones. It seemed like for everyday she was here, she got closer and closer to being completely invisible and ignored which was fine by her. Everyday, she wore her headphones and listened to a CD straight through all her classes. She even got away with it in P.E. Her crazy teacher said that as long as she did the work, he didn't care, but it was ruining her youthfulness. Everyday, she would eat by the field at lunch. Everyday, she would come and go by bike. By her second week of school no one knew anything about the pink haired girl except her name and that she liked used music, and no one cared to know anything about her. At least that's what Sakura had thought.
Sakura stood by her locker pulling out her B.C. Calculus book before putting it back in. 'I never even use it, I just take notes in my notebook.' Sakura thought just as the CD ended. Taking off her headphones to not get them yanked out, she pulled the CD player out from her bag where she kept it when she didn't wear her cargo pants. She set them in her locker as she reached to the top shelf to grab a CD holder. She opened the CD player and put the CD in the holder just as a hand came down and smacked it to the ground. Sakura not caring to even look up at the person bent down to pick it up, but that same person kicked it away. Sakura rolled her eyes and walked over and picked it up not really caring too much. With a quick examination no harm was done to her CDs. Heading back to her open locker, she let out a sigh of relief. It was then the same hand slammed her locker shut effectively making Sakura fall back onto her butt. A couple people around just snickered at her fall. Finally reaching her peak of tolerance, Sakura looked up to see blonde hair and blue eyes.
'Wow a walking cliché.' Sakura thought as she let out a mild laugh. The girl sneered at her.
"Look, I am sick of your stuck up attitude." The girl said as she pointed towards Sakura who still sat on the floor. A pink eyebrow went up and a smug look appeared on the pinkettes face as the girl glared at her. Sakura moved into a cross legged position and rested her chin on her arm which was leaning on her knee. It was as if she was enjoying a show. "Your little attitude of screw-the-world-I'll-listen-to-my-music is really annoying. Since you obviously hate it here, and don't like any of us, why don't you just do us all a favour and go be emo and kill yourself already? Okay?" The blonde's fair contorted into a strange look. Her eyebrows were together and her lips were in a dumb expression. The silly cliché of this was hilarious to Sakura who had seen this bit happen ten times over. The pink haired girl let out a light chortle at the blonde's threat. Quite a few people were gathering. No one had heard the girl talk, and no one even though the girl could laugh or so emotion, but there it was a perfect smile and laughter spilling out of her as if she was as normal as everyone else was. "What is so damn funny?" She looked around nervously. This kind of reaction was far from what Ino was expecting. She was expecting the new weird girl to start crying or to fight back or do something normal. Laughter was weird, and it make Ino look like an idiot. "Are you looking down on me like the rest of us?!" Ino said a little louder than she was intending to. Sakura erupted into a louder laugh of giggles and leaned back and slapped her thigh as if it was thoroughly hilarious. Ino looked rather flustered. "You're so arrogant!" The girl yelled. The bell then rang and people began to empty out of the halls. Ino took this and quickly weaved through the crowds to run away. 'How dare she make me look like an idiot?!' Ino thought as she stormed into her English class. Her face was flustered.
Sakura meanwhile just stayed on the floor until everyone left the hallways. She let out a loud laugh as soon as all were gone, but soon the laughter stopped and turned into a sad sigh. "There goes my hopes of a peaceful junior year."
Later that day, Sakura sat at the school field again. She was staring up at the sky when suddenly a white liquid poured down onto her face effectively wetting her pink hair. She sat up and turned around to find Ino standing there with an empty milk carton crushed in her hand. "Are you too good to eat with the rest of us?" Ino said as she chucked the empty carton at Sakura. Behind her a group of girls laughed along with her. A couple of them were laughing uneasily as though they knew it was wrong, yet they were laughing to fit in. Sakura just seemed unaffected as she looked at her wet hair.
"It's wet." That was all Sakura said before picking up Ino's trash along with her own and walking back to the large school building. Ino stood there aghast. Had her tormenting really been to no avail?
"What a bitch." One of the girl's said.
"Totally, she was probably a slut who is used to getting trashed." The girls kept on gossiping and eventually Ino jumped in, but Ino was being shaken by Sakura. The way she never really responded to thing was really getting under her skin. 'What a horrible woman…' Ino thought as she tried to keep up the façade of not caring.
With her headphones thankfully fine and away in her bag next to the sink, Sakura was in the girl's bathroom washing milk out of her hair when suddenly a lavender eyed girl walked in. Shock was across the girl's face as she wondered about the wet hair. A smile danced across Sakura's lips as she looked at the girl's obvious inquiry.
"Someone spilled milk on my hair, Hyuuga-san." Sakura said as she took a handful of water and splashed it onto her hair.
"You know m-my name." Hinata stuttered as her jaw was open in astonishment.
"Just cause I have headphones on, doesn't mean I don't listen." Sakura said before picking up her bag and heading towards the door. Sakura walked past Hinata and out the door thoroughly. As soon as the door feel, Hinata sunk to her knees in shock. A blonde haired girl and her posse walked in to the restroom and looked at Hinata on the floor.
"Hinata-san, what happened?" Ino said as she bent down to the girl.
"Didn't Haruno just come out of the bathroom?" One of the girl's said.
"Did that Haruno girl do this to you?" Ino asked as she shook Hinata who was still silent in shock. "What did she do? She picked on you didn't she?" Hinata snapped out of it and looked at Ino a bit scared. Hinata was once picked on by Ino's group and hated it.
"W-well no-not-" Ino's eyes narrowed as she glared at Hinata.
"Sakura did something to you, right?" The dark look in Ino's eyes told Hinata that Hinata was going to be the next victim if she didn't comply. Falling under the influences of peer pressure, Hinata hung her head and nodded. "Don't worry Hinata, we'll help you get revenge." Ino smirked.
As sixth period came to a close Sakura with her headphones in their normal place around her ears, she walked out first like she did everyday to be greeted by a large group of girls. Her classmates stood behind her looking at the girls and Sakura curiously. Ino was holding a CD case that had the name Haruno Sakura clearly printed on it.
"Huh?" She stated as each of the girls held CDs in their hands all poised and ready.
"Ever heard of an Ipod?" Ino said with a smile. One of the girls broken the CDs she was holding and dropped it to the ground.
"Oops." The girl said with a smirk. Ino and the other girls laughed.
"If you don't apologize to Hinata, then we'll break the rest of your CDs." Ino said as she pulled Hinata by the wrist and pushed her forward. Hinata looked nervous. Her eyes read apologetic as she looked Sakura in the eyes. Sakura pulled off her headphones.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Ino said as yet another one of the girls broke the CDs and scattered them on the floor. "Apologize or your little CD collection is gone."
"Apologize for what?" Hinata looked at Sakura with a pleading expression. 'Please don't egg them on Haruno-san.' Hinata thought. A smile seemed to be dancing upon her lips as Sakura let out a light chortle of laughter. This surprised the classmates who stood behind her. Apparently Sakura actually did have emotions they all thought. Who knew?
"Fine, break them all. Have fun listening to that one CD." Ino said as all of the girl's broke CD's and dropped them. Sakura just laughed a bit more. It was then she did something no one expected. The little music lover pulled out her own CD player and pulled out the CD and snapped it in half, before dropping her CD player and stepping on it. It was at that moment the teacher decided to come and see what had happened.
"Haruno-san, did you do this?!" He shouted as he pointed to the mess of CD's and the CD player under her foot. Before she could answer, Ino and her group all pointed to her and made accusations saying that she had broken all of their favorite CDs. The teacher infuriated pulled Sakura by the wrist to the principal's office. "Everyone go to your next class or leave if you have none."
Ino's group triumphantly dissipated almost immediately while Hinata and a couple classmates of Sakura stayed there contemplating the whole situation for a moment. A few of them believed Ino's lies, but some of them knew better. Sakura was innocent, but none of them like Hinata could speak up. Peer pressure is too hard to surmount to, what can one person do?
Sakura sat in the office. Her hair felt a bit crusty from the milk that was left in her hair so she spent the ten minutes in the office waiting for the principal's meeting with her trying to un-crust the hair. Without her music, she didn't really have anything to do. The door to the principal's office opened and the angry teacher who caught her motioned her in.
"Haruno Sakura, perfect grades and behavior up until this year. Is it true that you are living on your own?" The woman said from behind the folder.
"It's her lack of parenting at home!" The teacher said angrily as he was still exiting the room.
"Our conversation is over, Ibisu." The woman said as she set the folder down. She had blond hair pulled back into two ponytails and brown eyes with a single purple dot on her foredhead. Her chest was rather large to boot. "Shut the door." She commanded, and the man obeyed as he shut the door and headed to his classroom. "Now Sakura?"
"Yes." Sakura said dully. "I live alone."
"You move quite a bit and it never affected you before?" Sakura shook her head, and Tsunade sighed. "Let me just put it bluntly, does it matter that you live alone?" Sakura shook her head. "According to your record, you've never done such a thing before." Tsunade said with a sigh. "Listen because of your clean record and plus you don't seem like the type to do this, I'll let you off no punishment, but you need to clean it up."
"That's fair." Sakura stood up and bowed before heading toward the door.
"It's funny." Tsunade let out a light laugh.
"Hm?" Sakura looked back at Tsunade confused.
"You don't seem your age."
"No, it's just I've been through the same high school experience. I'm adjusted and indifferent to it. Can't wait til it's over though?" Sakura said with a bright smirk on her face.
"You're rather different from the rumors. I'm happily surprised."
"If you show an true interest, it's easy to show a response back." With that said, Sakura walked out of Tsunade's office and back to the hall to clean up the mess. As soon as Sakura left the office, Shizune walked into Tsunade's office.
"So what do you think of her?" Shizune said with a curious smile on her face.
"I think she's a clever girl." Tsunade smiled.
Her meeting with the principal was brief, but the wait to get in was long and seventh period was long over. No one was there to make this worse, which made it easier for her. Sakura walked to the mess with a plastic trash bag. She picked up the bigger pieces of them carefully and tired her best to keep from stabbing herself, but unfortunately by the end of the job, her hand was bleeding in five different places on her right hand, and in seven different places on her left. Some of the cuts were deeper than others, but nothing too bad, Sakura thought. As she picked up the trash bag along with her regular school bag, she headed to the trashcan at the back of the school. Surprisingly enough a girl with lavender hair was waiting for her right outside. Hinata stood there pressing her fingers together nervously.
"I'm so sorry, Haruno-san!" Hinata said as she bowed. Sakura just walked right past here and headed back down towards the back of the school. Hinata immediately stood up straight and followed her feeling extremely guilty. "I know you really didn't do anything, but Ino-san can be so intimidating when she found me… it just happened… and I couldn't deny it… or it would happen to me and…" Hinata kept on going on until the two had reached the trashcan which Sakura lifted the cap of, before dropping the remains of the CDs into it. "Oh, and those CDs I'll pay for all of them to be replaced… and"
"They were mix CDs made by friends." Sakura interrupted Hinata.
"Oh well… I still… I'll recompensate you for them… name the price… I am so sorry Haruno-san." Hinata bowed again. Sakura let out a light laugh. It startled Hinata and made her look up from her bow. It was then she noticed the red blood dripping from Sakura's hands. "You hands… the CDs… I'm so so so so so so sorry, Haruno-san." Hinata managed to bow a little bit lower. Sakura walked over and bent down and looked at her from underneath.
"I understand." A warm smile graced her lips let out a light laugh. "It's not your fault." Hinata stood straight up and Sakura did also. "I hope we can be friends." Hinata smiled as a tear escaped from her eye.
"Me too." Hinata said with a smile. Tsunade from the roof of the school looked down at the two.
"Very interesting." Tsunade smiled and walked towards the stairs down.
The next day Sakura arrived at school with headphones on her ears. Gossip had already started to spread, and people were staring at Sakura. What did she have? Everyone wondered as Sakura walked through the halls the same as she normally was except that now she had band aids all over her hands. Ino immediately confronted her that morning.
"So you had an extra CD player, is that why you broke it? You're probably some rich snob that can afford like ten of them. What a snob." Ino said as she bumped shoulders with her though Sakura just stifled. She turned to face Ino and lifted up the cord of her headphones. The end of it wasn't plugged into anything. "Are you stupid?!" Ino smacked Sakura's hand away making her drop the cord. Sakura just smiled at her blankly. People looked at them, but Ino quickly walked away not wanting to make a huge scene. 'That woman is purposely torturing me, I'm sure.'
Hinata saw Sakura coming and opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words. Sakura smiled warmly in Hinata's direction, but said nothing as well. 'I-I'm so weak…' Hinata thought as she looked after the girl. 'I don't want Haruno-san to be lonely anymore… but I'm too scared… will Ino-san start to pick on me too?' She started to press her fingers together as she furrowed her eyebrows. Suddenly a voice broken through the halls extremely loud,
"SAKURA-CHAN!" A boy said as he ran down the halls to meet up with said girl. He had wild blond hair and bright blue eyes and currently he was dragging a boy with raven black hair with matching black eyes. The pinkette turned around and looked at him a bit surprised.
"Uzamaki-san?" Sakura questioned as she saw him bounding down the halls. She also recognized the boy that he was dragging along. It was Uchiha Sasuke who was in A.P Calculus class. All eyes were suddenly on her as Naruto finally caught up with her a wide goofy grin on his face.
"I thought you had transferred schools, since I never saw you. BUT," He gasped for air, before continuing. "I heard this rumor that you had broken a bunch of girl's CDs which I found impossible since most people use Ipods or mp3 players. Anyways, so that is when I realized that you were still here!" Sakura stared at him incredulously.
"Oh-kay." Sakura thought as she scratched her head confused.
"How come I never saw you?" He asked with an excited expression.
"I take mostly A.P. classes with seniors." Sakura smiled at him. The two seemed to talk like they were old friends.
"How are you wounds? I was worried I had really killed you." Naruto said with a light laugh. Sakura laughed along with him.
"They're fine." The animated look on her face seemed so natural even though most of the people around her thought that the only look she had was emotionless stoic. Hinata looked on the two of them. She glanced at Naruto and a light pink blush came to her cheeks. 'How can he be so fearless?' (Dear Hinata it is because he is obliviously dumb at noticing the awkwardness between everyone else and Sakura. :3)She thought as she felt even guiltier for not even waving to Sakura in the halls. 'Why am I so weak?' Hinata said as she quickly looked away from the sight, if she watch anymore, she'd start crying at her own weakness. So Hinata ran towards her classroom.
"Have you met Teme?" Naruto asked as he motioned to the raven haired boy that was pulled them by his shirt.
"If you stretch this shirt out, I swear I'm going to kill you, Naruto." Sasuke said as he glared at him. He then glanced at Sakura.
"Uchiha-san and I share a class, but we've never been formerly introduced." Sakura replied with a strange look in her eyes.
"You never introduced yourself to me either." Sasuke said obviously taking the offensive to her gaze, but somehow Sakura just laughed. Naruto seemed a bit confused.
"Exactly." Sakura said with a smirk. Just then the bell rang, it startled the three of them.
"Well, I'll see you at lunch hopefully, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed Sasuke who was currently contemplating Sakura's cryptic message.
"I eat outside, Uzamaki-san." Sakura said a bit loudly. Everyone practically knew that was why she was never in the lunch area.
"It's Naruto!" The blonde shouted as he ran off to his classroom that seemed to be pretty far away for him to run to. Sakura just let out a light laugh.
"Naruto-san…" She shook her head and sighed before walking to her classroom. People were all staring at her like her first day. Haruno Sakura was actually friendly and somehow knew Naruto. It was a miracle and a great way to start rumors. As first period came to a close, her classmates considered her talking with Naruto a fluke as she hadn't changed one bit. She still had on her headphones ((though no CD player connected to it which she put on display by letting it drag on the floor.)) As she exited first period, Ino was standing outside waiting for her completely furious.
"HOW dare you?!" Ino shouted as she slapped Sakura clear across the face. Sakura just stood there shocked and rubbed her cheek.
"Hello, Yamanaka-san." Sakura said as she pulled the headphones which even without the music muffled the sounds of everything.
"Don't play it coy! You always had an arrogant attitude, but now I hear you're flirting with my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura just stood there silent as if taking it all in. "You don't even deny it!" Ino yelled as she reached back for another slap, but surprisingly someone had grabbed it. Hinata's hand was currently holding on to Ino's wrist. "Let go, Hinata." Ino said as she glared at Sakura clearly letting rage take her over.
"S-she… di-didn't.. c-co-confi-rm.. e-either, I-Ino-san…" Hinata kept her grip tight.
"You're siding with her!" Ino said as she shook her wrist free and glared at Hinata. She let out a huff before reaching back to slap Hinata. Hinata closed her eyes waiting for the impact. It wouldn't be the first time Ino had hit her or anyone for that matter. The sound of a slap could be heard, but Hinata felt nothing. She looked up to see a pink haired girl standing in front of her. Sakura's pink cheek was now a deeper rouge color that looked like it was bruising her pale skin. She winced a bit.
"Don't bring others into this." Sakura said in angry tone. It was the first time, Ino had even gotten a real reaction out of her and somehow it scared her. Ino faltered under Sakura's harsh gaze.
"S-stay away from Sasuke-kun!" Ino yelled as she ran down the hall towards her next class. Sakura turned to face Hinata.
"Are you alright, Hyuuga-san?" Sakura asked as she seemed to be examining the girl. Hinata nodded. "I'm glad." Sakura smiled happily. The bell rang. "I'm going to be late for second period, gotta go." Sakura ran off towards the classroom. Hinata stood there with a happy grin spread across her lips. She had done it. Naruto being unafraid had inspired Hinata to actually stand up to Ino and help her new friend Sakura. She felt so happy, she could cry; but she didn't. She skipped off to her class with a happy grin that just didn't want to fade.
Sakura walked into her math class and sat like she always did, but this time the students in the back stirred a bit when she entered. On her face as bright as day was a red twinge to her cheek that was slowly turning into a bruise. Sasuke whose thoughts were still dwelling on her cryptic words suddenly had a new interest. His eyes bore into her back during as she sat down and took out her notebook and slid on her headphones as she did everyday. At that moment, he noticed that her headphones were now plugged into notihng. Was the rumor true? That didn't make sense. Wasn't she the one to break someone else's CD player?
All around school, rumors were flying about Haruno Sakura. It's not like there weren't before, but the ones they had this time actually had basis. It told stories where Haruno Sakura actually had a heart and emotions and didn't actually always listen to music. Rumors were circulating and people wanted to ask her questions; the only problem was that some of the rumors had been indulgent and added in more violence on Sakura's part. The little fight with Ino had somehow been flipped to Ino being beaten up mercilessly by Sakura who did it because she was bored. The CD incident had turned into Sakura breaking into Ino's locker stealing her CD player and CDs and breaking them both in front of her. It portrayed Sakura as the villain who hated Ino because Ino had a crush on Sasuke and Sakura didn't want competition. Some had mentioned Hinata being Sakura's secret spy; but no one believed those, because Hinata was too innocent. These rumors along with the physical evidence that Sasuke had seen Sakura have during second period really didn't add up. So finally after second period he questioned her at her locker.
"It doesn't make sense." Sakura closed her locker to look at the face of Uchiha Sasuke who seemed to be confounded. She pulled down her headphones.
"What doesn't Uchiha-san?" Sakura asked as she started to make her way to her classroom. He followed her which made several people notice this. Rumors would fly, he knew it.
"The rumors and the physical evidence." Sasuke said as he glared at the girl. When he first saw the girl, he thought nothing of it. She just seemed like the loner type who didn't like to talk with others. There was nothing of interest. Rumors couldn't be believed at first, but up until two weeks ago none of them had basis. Plus upon actually talking to the girl herself, and noticing what Naruto had not, Sakura was a loner in all of her classes, but wasn't the type that is normally alone. Sakura's lack of response seemed to bother him even more. "Let me put it bluntly, you beat up Ino and broke her things, even though you have a bruise and no more music."
"That's right, Uchiha-san." Sakura said in a sing songy voice. Sasuke seemed to get even more frustrated than she did. "Aren't you going to be late?" Sakura asked as she had stopped in front of her next classroom. Sasuke looked away indignantly before walking off. Sakura just rolled her eyes and walked into the classroom. The students stared at her as she did her normal routine. 'Everyone really pays too much attention to rumors.' Sakura thought with a sigh as she slipped on her headphones to filter out the sounds of their murmurs.
Sasuke was sitting in his history period with a dark expression. This girl seemed like such an enigma. The way she could dance around actually revealing her personality. It seemed like she was fine with Naruto, but he was an idiot. It was like she had experienced it all before and was used to the kind of treatment she got. It was as though she was reading people like books; on the other hand, when Sasuke tried to read her, the book of Sakura would somehow snap shut. It was a bit aggravating. Soon, though he would find out she was just like every other girl who was shallow and annoying and always dreaming up nonsense, he was sure that he would be bored of her soon.
Hinata sat in her third hour classroom a bit tired. All second period people had questioned her about Sakura and if the rumors were true. She had a hard time answering them and got really nervous being the center of attention and had fainted halfway through the period. She had recovered in time to make it to third period, but somehow it felt as though things would only get worse. Ino was in this class. Hinata would have to face Ino along with the other people who were asking questions. She pondered the idea of ditching. Her older cousin Neji who was a senior had done it once in a while to hang out with his girlfriend Tenten. She sighed in defeat. Sure, she had enough courage to stand up to Ino, but ditching in the same day unthinkable. Hinata wished that Ino would not be there.
"Hinata." Ino said as she stood towering over the shy girl. Hinata didn't say a word, she just looked at her desk like it was the most interesting thing in the world. "I know you're still scared of Sakura, but seriously." She put her hand under Hinata's chin and made her look up to Ino's menacing glare. "If you defend her again, you're done." Ino walked off briskly and headed to her own seat. Hinata felt fearful, but part of her was welcoming this feeling. It was as though she wanted to pay her dues for Sakura. It was frightening and the ramifications could be bad, but somehow it felt like a huge weight was slowly being put off her back.
Fourth period went by like a breeze for Sakura since she didn't share a class with anyone who would dare approach the girl. It was a surprisingly nice period, and thankfully it ended without a hitch. She headed towards her normal spot on the field outside, and to her surprise she found Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke with his shirt stretched out a bit which probably meant that Naruto had dragged him here.
"Oh." Sakura said as she saw Hinata and Naruto waving at her. She walked over with a big grin on her face. "You don't have to change your eating arrangements for me."
"But I'm pretty sure you wouldn't change yours to ours!" Naruto shouted as Sakura plopped down.
"Well that's true." Sakura said with a laugh. Again, Sasuke was surprised at how animated the girl could become.
"Hey, what happened to your cheek?" The pink color had faded, but now a light purplish bruise had taken its place.
"I fell, right Hyuuga-san?" Sakura said in a sing songy voice like the one she had used before with Sasuke. Hinata immediately clued in and nodded her head in agreement. 'At least the woman was smart enough to know it was best to keep Naruto far from the truth' thought Sasuke.
"Must have been awkward, so where did you go before this school, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a warm smile.
"I forget the name, but I believe it was somewhere in the snow country." Everyone stared at her like she was crazy.
"Wow, so you're from the snow country. How did you cope with the weather change?" Hinata asked politely. Naruto still had his jaw hung in shock while Sasuke coolly held back his emotions which was currently shock.
"Well, technically I'm from nowhere." Sakura said with a smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. "I travel quite a bit." Everyone felt an awkward silence coming up so Naruto quickly started to ramble about what everyone was eating.
"So what are you having Sakura-chan? I'm having ramen, it's the best damn thing-!" Sakura had punched Naruto in the face. Naruto rubbed his head as he glared at Sakura. "What was that for?!" Sasuke had to smirk a bit at this. Hinata just looked rather surprised, if she could hit Naruto fine why hadn't she fought against Ino. Hinata pondered this, until Sakura explained,
"Why are you cursing in front of a lady?" Sakura let out a sigh.
"With a punch like that are you really considered a lady?" Naruto asked as he continued to rub his head. Sakura's eye twitched as she girl punched him again. She daintily wiped her mouth and stood up.
"I'm done." Sakura let out a light laugh as a sign of victory before walking away from the three who dared to speak to the strange girl.
"That hurt, Sakura-chan!" Naruto rubbed his head. Hinata pulled out a bandage and offered it to Naruto. (if you're wondering why Hinata has them, I am too)
"Thanks Hinata-chan." He grinned and got extremely close to Hinata causing her to go tomato red, before fainting. "Eh? Hinata-chan?!" He shouted as he shook her. Sakura looked back at them and hit him again, before picking up Hinata and walking towards the nurse's offices.
"Naruto is such an idiot." Sakura commented as she walked into the school building. Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke still sat there. Naruto rubbed his head for a bit, but soon returned to normal.
"So what do you think of Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked with a goofy grin that never seemed to disappear.
"She's different."
"So am I."
"But she's no fool." Naruto nodded his head in agreement until it clicked.
"Did you just insult me, bastard?!" Naruto was just a bit too late as Sasuke had already started walking. He chased after him with anger seething from him. As the two entered, lunch was finally over; people were pouring in from the lunch area. A certain blonde haired girl immediately found Sasuke in an instant.
"Where were you Sasuke-kun?" Ino said as she weeded her way through the crowds towards her god-I mean Sasuke. "You weren't with us."
"Did you miss me, Ino?" Naruto asked with fake enthusiasm.
"I think I just heard a bug buzzing, oh well, so where were you Sasuke?" Ino pleaded. Naruto inwardly sighed. That woman seriously was annoying beyond all reason, and in Naruto's mind had no redeeming features.
"Does it really concern you where I sit at lunch?" Sasuke asked with a sigh. Ino loved Sasuke more than anyone else at school. Hell, at one point she paid another girl to attack her, just so Sasuke would come in and save her.
"Of course silly." Ino said as she tried to make her voice sound all high and cute. "You always have to number one Sasuke-kun. If you start hanging out with certain people, things will change." Sasuke could almost hear Sakura's name when Ino mentioned certain people. It reminded him that he had forgotten to confront Sakura about those rumors. With that thought in his head, he completely disregarded Ino and walked towards Sakura's locker hoping to catch her.
"I think you've just been burned, Yamanaka." Naruto said between his fits of laughter. Ino just stood there fuming a bit.
"Shut the hell up, Naruto!" She said before curtly turning and walking down the hallway intent on finding what Sasuke thought was more important than her! As Ino turned another corner heading to a different part of school, she saw him heading toward that girl. He currently was talking with her at her locker. Ino couldn't hear their conversation, but Sakura had a wide smile on her face. Her heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds. Her worst fear had come true, Sasuke had fallen for another. At least that's how it looked like from the outside.
Hinata was currently on one of the infirmary beds.
"Where am I?" Hinata thought as she looked around to find a pink haired girl leaning over her bed.
"So you're okay."
"What happened?" Hinata thought as she faintly remembered being really close to Naruto and her heart beating really fast.
"You fainted from being in close proximity of Naruto-san." Sakura stated as a matter of factly. Immediately Hinata turned tomato red again. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone that you like him."
"How did you know?" Hinata said as she started to push her fingers together like she always did when she's nervous.
"Like I told you, just because I don't hear doesn't mean I can't listen." Sakura said as she put her tapped her headphones currently around her neck. "Plus you were staring at him all through lunch. How long have you liked him?" Sakura asked with a warm smile. Hinata looked at her surprised.
"Since freshman year, he's always been able to what I always wished I could." Hinata said as the tomato red slowly fading to a light shade of pink.
"I hope it works out well." Sakura said with a smirk on her face. Hinata smiled too.
"So do you like someone Sakura-san?" Hinata asked with a curious look on her face. Sakura laughed in response.
"Well, there was this one boy in the snow country who was really cute, but that is obviously not going to work out." Sakura let out a light laugh and Hinata soon joined in.
The two girls talked lightly, but before long the lunch bell rang signally the end of lunch. Hinata having classes opposite from Sakura separated ways from her, but the cheerful mood she had didn't. Hinata though kind never really had a girl friend. She had some friends, but they were guys and weren't exactly as sensitive as a girl could be. Her day couldn't get any better as Hinata saw it. She was able to stand up to Ino and not only defend her new friend Sakura but sit and talk with her in an almost public place and the best of them all, she had finally talked to her precious Naruto.
In all honestly, Sasuke and Sakura's conversations had just started today, but to high schoolers that was nearly a decade of time and apparently enough time to pronounce them a couple. In fact much like the one they were currently having, it was simply full of cryptic messages from Sakura to Sasuke.
"Haruno." Said girl popped her head out from behind her locker door and looked to see Sasuke approaching her. People around them who seemed to be awfully observant for once noticed this.
"Hi Uchiha-san. I didn't realize we were on a no suffix basis." Sakura said with a sly smile as she pulled out her A.P. English book for fifth period. As he came upon his locker, Sasuke looking mildly interested looked in her locker to see that a CD holder no longer stayed there. His suspicions grew further. "Did you come to search the contents of my locker?" Sakura said as the grin on her lips slowly spread out fully.
"No, but I just saw Ino and she didn't have a scratch on her."
"Your point?" Sasuke glared at the girl obviously frustrated.
"Why would you let rumors circulate about you that aren't true? If you don't deny them, people will believe they are true." He glared at her as if she was a nitwit without even an ounce of sense in her body. The look made her let out a light laugh.
"I obviously don't care." Sakura said as she shrugged and shut her locker and headed off towards her A.P. English class. Sasuke stood there a bit baffled before walking towards his own class not bothering to bring his own books to class. He'd just ask a girl and she'd surrender them and accept the real punishment. They were so easily manipulated.
"I don't care…" He mumbled as he let out a light chortle. Suddenly Naruto's voice echoed through the emptying halls.
"HOLY SHIT, SASUKE BASTARD CAN SMILE!" Sasuke's eye twitched as he looked over towards Naruto and chased him down planning on tar and feathering him before decided that that was far too nice. He would have to go into darker ways of death.
Sakura sat in her A.P. English class when suddenly Ino walked in and told her teacher something.
"Ms Haruno, the principal wants to see you." Sakura hearing the jest of what he said through her headphones picked up her bag and walked to the door with Ino trailing behind her. They made it halfway down the hallway when Sakura paused and looked over her shoulder.
"So since when are you the principal, Yamanaka-san?" Sakura said with a dull expression. The bruise on her cheek seemed to finally start hurting as Sakura was lightly scowling to Ino's pure bliss.
"I just wanted to have a little chat without an audience. I feel that making a private announcement will make a better impression. Plus a public one might ruin my image." Ino said as she flipped her hair for good measure. Sakura sighed and turned to face Ino full on.
"If it's that important to you, go ahead." Sakura said with a sincere smile. It surprised Ino; and for one moment, a strange flicker of guilt flashed Ino's face; but it soon disappeared.
"Yo-you see, when I told you to stay away from Sasuke I meant it. I love Sasuke-kun more than anyone else in the world, and he treats me different from every other girl just like you. We're childhood friends. I know him better than anyone else. Give up." Ino said as her face held a determination that could move mountains. Sakura's eyes softened to the girl. It was a strange feeling.
"I'm sorry." That was all Sakura said as she walked past Ino. Ino on the other hand felt as if she had been frozen solid for some odd reason. It was such a strange reaction from Sakura. What was she apologizing for? For falling for Sasuke? Was she saying sorry she can't? Or what she apologizing for Ino's devotion? The last option though thoroughly stupid in Ino's mind seemed like the most likely one though Ino would never admit it. Ino couldn't really comprehend the whole situation and was a bit confounded as she stood there. The bell soon rang which woke Ino out of this stupor. Though somehow all the anger she had been planning on taking out on Sakura seemed to change into a sadness.
After Ino's little visit Sakura's classes ended without a hitch. Sasuke had thankfully had classes on a different level along with Naruto so the rest of her day would be filled with silence. Not that she minded the company of Naruto or Hinata, but Sasuke thought that Sakura was some sort of novelty, and obviously him being around her directly meant Ino being angered, a simple equation, but Sakura would preferable not have milky hair but otherwise was indifferent with Sasuke. She smiled as she walked out the front door of the school. 'How did I become so popular overnight?' Sakura questioned as she headed toward the bike rack with curious eyes all on her. It felt awkward, but she was soon distracted as she saw Hinata waiting for her outside.
"Are you planning on following me home too?" Sakura said with a smirk on her lips.
"I-I was just wondering.. if w-we could hang out." Hinata asked with a worried look on her face before bowing. Sakura surprisingly bent down and looked at her again.
"Is this your favorite position, Hyuuga-san?" Hinata immediately stood up straight and let out a light laugh. Sakura laughed along with her. "I'd love to hang out sometime." Hinata smiled and walked over towards a large Mercedes where she climbed into the passenger seat along with Hyuuga Neji who was in Sakura's math class.
"I had no idea they were related…" She mumbled as she walked over to her bike and unlocked the chain and put it in her bag. She hopped on and started to ride away. Sakura sighed as she reached her empty house and walked up to her bedroom. Immediately she plopped down on the comfy bed. "And here I was thinking I would have an eventless Junior year." Sakura let out a light laugh. "I guess it does make things more interesting… things sure do move fast in high school. I go from invisible to everyone's favorite eye candy. Lovely."
Sakura is a bit more mature because of her experience.
SPOILER KIND FOR THE REST OF THIS FICTION: Because she moved alot more, she got picked on for her forehead before being accepted. After years and years of switching schools, people picking on her over trite things were easily broken down and dealed with according to how she thought fit. Her peronsality though because of that got a little warped. She now comes off a bit more frigid since she no longer has to pretend to be normal and fit in with everyone to keep her relatives from thinking she was too strange to keep. Do you get it?
Yeah, I changed people's personalities a bit, but not really. I merely took their dominant trait and exploited that one more so than their real traits. I made them more one dimensional cause in high school, most people are shallow and as such more one dimentional, but as they break out of their shells like in my story, you start to see the more rounded side of them. :3 ((but Naruto will stay the same, cause he can be well rounded and still be an idiot.))
So Review and Tell me what you think. :3 I might just keep this story as it is and never finish. Not really sure. :3