Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto. Character not original, just tweaked their personalities to better fit my story.

Non-mass. Future Lemons.

Chapter One

Sakura sighed while looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Today was the first day at the academy. She was so nervous she could barely stand. Looking down at the toilet, she wondered if she needed to throw up again. Her stomach was in knots. Yet, beneath all the anxiety, there was a spark of excitement building in her gut. She wanted to be great. Deep down, she wanted to be the best kunochi in the village, possibly even Hokage. Sure she knew it was a long shot, but dreams all start from small places.

Looking back up into the mirror, Sakura decided that despite being scared, she would succeed. Today Haruno Sakura would be the best she could be. Repeating that mantra, she finally built up the courage to leave her bathroom and get dressed.

She settled on wearing he favorite red dress. Looking in the mirror once more, she tried to comb her hair to hide her large forehead. However, frustration and anxiety made this feat impossible. Throwing her brush down, Sakura stomped out of her room and into the downstairs' hallway.

"Okaa-san, I'm leaving for school!"

"Wait! Let me get one last look at you!" Sakura's mother shouted from the kitchen.

"Stop worrying. You're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm not even nervous." Sakura lied. But even at her young age of seven, she learned that not all lies were bad. Some lies, like white lies, were actually easier to say than the truth. Besides, if she wanted to be a great kunochi, she needed to hide her emotions and learn to lie with a straight face.

Sakura's mother came rushing in, "Oh stop worrying! Let me get a brush to fix your hair." She reached down and started patting Sakura's head, trying to undo the knot in her bangs.

Poop. Sakura frowned. She hated that her mother knew she was nervous. Clearly she had to work better at schooling her features. Lesson One: Lying is easy, but getting people to believe you is hard.

After twenty minutes of fussing and another five of her mother taking pictures, Sakura finally escaped her home with her bento and school bag. She felt exhausted already. One the bright side, she was so annoyed that she no longer felt nervous.

Her walk to the academy was fairly fast and uneventful. In only 15 minutes she was standing in front of the academy entrance. She was both relieved but also disappointed in this fact. One the bright side, she wouldn't be late for classes, which would be super embarrassing on the first day. However, on the down side, she started to get nervous again. The pit in her stomach started building. She prayed she wouldn't throw up. Meeting new people always gave her anxiety. But, she remembered her resolution from earlier in the day: "You will succeed. You will do your best." She repeated it a couple times to herself, finally building up the courage to step through the entrance and walk to her classroom.

The halls were fairly empty since she was so early. Sakura began to get nervous again, wondering if she was too early or if this was the right day. She steadied herself as she opened the classroom door. Peering inside, she noticed that the room looked empty. Panic started to wash over Sakura until she heard a noise behind her.

"Tch. Are you going to stand there all day? Or are you going inside."

Sakura whipped around, "Gomen! I was just wondering if I had the right room." As she looked up, she saw the face of a cute boy with dark features and pale skin. However, at that moment she was more scared by his expression and demeanor than she was filled with attraction.

The cute boy rolled his eyes, pushed her aside, and walked into the classroom, "Looks like they're letting anyone into the academy these days. How annoying." He promptly sat down in the middle of the classroom and tried his best to ignore the startled girl in the doorway.

Sakura was mortified. She slowly entered the classroom and sat in the front row as to avoid any future eye contact with the dark haired boy. Lesson Two: Some people are rude and mean for no reason, it is best to avoid them no matter how physically attractive they may be.

After 5 minutes of awkward silence, the classroom began filing up. A loud mouth blonde boy in a bright orange outfit decided to sit next to Sakura. However, instead of the extra company soothing her nerves, it just made her feel worse because he kept staring at her. Eventually the boy cleared his throat and introduced himself: "Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be the Hokage one day!"

Sakura looked stunned. How could he say that so easily? Becoming Hokage was a great honor and also very difficult. This was only their first day at the academy for crying out loud! Lesson Three: Some people are delusional.

Sakura was about to introduce herself to the mentally unstable boy in orange until she heard the sound of laughter from the back of the classroom. Whipping her head around, she saw the dark haired boy laughing. His laughter was contagious. Once he started, all the girls surrounding him began. Once the girls started, the rest of the boys filling up the classroom began to snicker as well. The dark haired boy then said: "What a loser! I can't wait to beat you!"

Naruto turned bright red and shot out of his seat "Oh yeah! Well who do you think you are anyway?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto gulped "Well you don't look that strong. Plus it's my dream to become Hokage! No one will stop me! Believe it!"

"Hn. Too bad losers don't become Hokage," Sasuke said as he rose from his seat.

The tension in the room was mounting and the rest of the students were waiting for the two opposing forces to fight. Sakura really thought that she was going to throw up at any moment. Both boys took several steps towards one another, eyeing their opponent's response.

Luckily the instructor walked in right before the boys became face to face. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as she saw both boys separate and move back to their original locations. She realized that she had been holding her breath during the entire exchange and felt a little lightheaded. After all of the commotion, it was hard to pay attention to anything the instructor said. She took her pencil from the top of her desk and jabbed her leg. The shock of pain knocked her out of her daze, allowing her to absorb her teacher's instructions. She remembered that she had a goal of becoming a great kunochi. So, paying attention to every lesson was important. She wouldn't say it out loud like Naruto, but she understood his desire to be strong and successful. Hell she would bet her mother's bento that most of the other children in the room dreamed of becoming Hokage. Naruto was the only one brave, or stupid, enough to voice that dream out loud.

Most of the morning lessons were boring and filled with information concerning the school. Nonetheless, Sakura forced herself to pay attention to every detail. She refused to look like a clueless idiot again, especially in front Sasuke. Never again would she be caught off guard.

Luckily, the morning session of classes finished without any incidents. As lunch began, Sakura sighed to herself and took out her bento. Halfway done with the first day. She was relieved that soon she would be heading home.

Naruto cleared his throat loudly, "Want to eat outside with the rest of the class?"

"Ok," Sakura said nervously. She always hated meeting new people and the blonde boy made her nervous.

As they started to walk outside, Sakura could hear snickering and laughter coming from her peers. This wasn't good. She became even more nervous.

Suddenly, one of the snickering students jumped out in front of Sakura and started shouting and even called Naruto a monster. Sakura was in shock and did not want to be involved in the fight. She snuck away from the chaos, but not before she saw Naruto start a fight with the instigator. She made a mental note to not hang out with Naruto again. He seemed like he attracted trouble, and her mother would not like it if she got into a fight.

As she walked outside, she decided to eat her lunch under a shaded tree. She felt much more relaxed now that she was by herself. Scanning the area, she noticed that Sasuke was surrounded by a group of girls. He looked miserable. She laughed to herself. It was funny that such an antisocial, rude person was so attractive that most of the girls in class seemed to flock towards him.

One of the girls tried to hold his hand and he quickly batted it away. As Sakura saw this, she laughed again. However, unlike the first time, this laugh came out louder than expected. Sasuke looked up and frowned when he saw Sakura. The girls surrounding Sasuke then became furious.

One of them shouted, "Don't pay attention to her, Sasuke-kun! She's stupid and ugly."

Another chimed in, "Look at her clothes and her large forehead. She's so dumb."

Sakura had never been bullied before today, but she just hoped that the other girls would stop taunting her if she remained quiet. She was wrong for making fun of them, so she didn't mind hearing their harsh words. Besides, these children clearly weren't very smart if these were the best insults they could come up with.

After a couple more minutes of taunting, another blonde girl in her class wearing a purple dress came to her defense.

"Leave her alone!"

Sakura felt relieved. Sure the taunting didn't bother her. But, all the attention made her nervous. She looked up and smiled at the other girl.

"Thanks. They wouldn't stop."

"They're just upset because you laughed at them. I think they all have a crush on Sasuke-kun."

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Have a crush on Sasuke-kun?"

"He's cute. But I don't know him well enough to say that I like him."

"Do you?"

"No way!" Sakura said loudly. "He's rude and impolite." As she said that, Sasuke's head whipped up. He stared at Sakura with a look of disbelief and disdain.

"Hahaha. I think he heard you."

"I don't care." Sakura lied. But, in truth she did feel a little bad for saying that. She didn't want to make an enemy so quickly.

"My name's Yamanaka Ino by the way. What's yours?"

"Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you."

"Want to eat lunch together?"

"Sure!"

For the first time today, Sakura actually felt happy. She actually made a friend. The two girls spent their time talking about nothing and gossiping mindlessly about their classmates. Sakura learned that Sasuke came from a well-respected shinobi clan in Konoha, which would explain his rude and conceited demeanor. She also learned that the majority of villagers hated Naruto. Both girls couldn't understand why though, since they both thought he was loud and fairly dim witted.

As they talked, Sakura actually felt at peace. However, that peace was short lived. While Sakura and Ino were becoming fast friends, Naruto was in the midst of trying to escape from his fight with his fellow classmates. As he was in the process of dodging punches, Naruto accidently backed into Sasuke and knocked him down.

Needless to say, all hell broke loose. Sasuke was bright red and immediately jumped up in order to join in on the fight. The boys trying to punch Naruto kept up their assault despite the extra people now surrounding them. The fan girls were screaming that Sasuke had been knocked down. Naruto was flailing his arms in an attempt at defending himself.

Sakura and Ino stopped gossiping and sat open mouthed watching all the chaos ensue. Luckily an instructor at the academy prevented the fighting from escalating further by separating both Naruto and Sasuke. If looks could kill, both boys would have dropped dead at that moment.

The exchange between the two boys made Sakura realize several things: 1) Sasuke was a rude jerk. 2) Naruto was a loud idiot. And, 3) both should be avoided at all costs. She decided that these two boys attracted trouble, which would only hurt her chances at proving her worth in the academy… and possibly result in getting her grounded. She vowed that she would never be friends with them.

Lesson Four: first impressions can be misleading.

Hope you enjoyed my first story. More chapters with a time skip to come.

xx pointgrey