Sakura Haruno never was a popular girl in middle school. As a matter of fact, she hated her school. She was nerdy, geeky, barely anyone talked to her and she was made fun of a lot. Her hair was a peachy, champagne red and she was slender, short and hyper. I guess most of the other kids found her weird.
When her parents divorced, her mother made her move away with her. They moved to a city outside of the Konoha school district at first and, just as she became comfortable enough and was ready to switch schools, her mother decided to move again; back into the same school district. Dealing with moving, adjusting to living without seeing her father everyday and putting up with the stress of school made Sakura disconsolate. She was twelve and it was the start of her seventh grade year. Life had thrown her a curveball just as her teenage hormones had decided to kick in.
The pinkette stared out the window as the rusty, blue 1995 Chrysler pulled into the driveway of their new apartment complex. This place looked like hell. It was in the boondocks, surrounded by fields. There was a barn across from the complex. The complex was a ranch style with four apartments total. There were two attached in a semi-detached home style, the third one was attached by the roof, with a hallway intercepting and leading into the backyard where there was a porch leading up to the fourth apartment, which was above the third. The yard was empty and small, aside from the neighbor's trampoline and bonfire pit.
"There was a really sweet boy next door who offered to help me carry in boxes yesterday." Sakura's mother said, interrupting her sulking. "He was pretty cute, looked to be about sixteen, maybe." Sakura rolled her eyes. She didn't have faith in her mother's taste for suitors to date her daughter. Nor did she have faith that the boy would have interest in her. They got out of the vehicle and began unloading boxes.
The front door lead into the kitchen, which the living room was openly attached to. Both were rather large. Her mother had already moved the majority of the furniture in and had it set up, however her mother's bed was in the living room. She then realized there were a couple men there working on putting down carpet down the hall.
"After they finish laying down carpet in my room I'll move my stuff out of the living room. We've already finished setting up your room. Go look." Her mother said. Sakura cautiously moved down the hall, passed the laundry room and bathroom on the right, to the back bedrooms. She and her mother's rooms were across the hall from one another; her room was on the left. Her mother had placed her bed against the wall diagonal from the door and adjacent to the window. There was a large closet with sliding doors left of her bedroom door and open space to the right. Along the right wall, beside her bed, was a small vanity table. The room seemed big enough, and until she adjusted to life here, she figured this would be where she'd spend most of her time.
Sakura walked back out into the living room and plopped down on her mother's bed. School and packing had made her exhausted. But just as she closed her eyes to rest, someone knocked on the back door which happened to be right beside her. She propped it open to find a tall, handsome, raven-haired boy with tired looking creases below his eyes smiling lightly at her. He had short bangs with fringe that reached his jaw line and the rest of his hair was pulled back into a ponytail reaching below his shoulders.
"Hi." He said. "I'm Itachi. I live next door. I figured I'd come help out and get to know my new neighbors a bit better." He grinned. Sakura blushed.
"Oh. Hi. I'm Sakura." She replied, realizing just how long it had been since she had really spoken that day. She cleared her throat nervously. "The place is a bit cluttered but you're welcome to come in if you'd like." She mumbled, stepping out of the way and sitting back down on the bed. Itachi stepped in and shut the door, chuckling. He sat down the bed beside her.
"So, do you go to Konoha?" He asked.
"Hai." She replied.
"Just as of recently, or…?" Itachi inquired.
"Um, no. I've always gone there, actually." She said, giving a gentle smile.
"Ah. I see. What grade?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Seventh."
"Ah. My younger brother is in the grade above you." He said.
"How old are you?" She asked.
"Sixteen. I'm a sophomore." The raven-haired boy replied. Sakura figured this must have been the boy her mother had been referencing.
"Oh, I see." She smiled.
"So, what kind of music do you listen to?" He asked. Sakura was stunned at how inquisitive this boy was.
"Um, a bit of everything. Mostly hard rock, though, I guess."
"Do you like Avenged Sevenfold?" He smirked. Sakura blushed, she hadn't really listened to that band much.
"Um, yeah. A little." She said shyly.
"They're my brother's favorite band. He plays guitar, likes to think he's a rockstar." He said. Sakura giggled. "Well, I better get back. I don't want to intrude." Itachi said, walking toward the door. "See you later, Sa-ku-ra." He glanced back at her, pronouncing her name with every syllable. And with that, he left her apartment.
"That boy," she thought, "was achingly beautiful."
A couple hours later, after the pinkette had taken the nap she had been longing for all day, she sat in front of her vanity mirror and straightened her hair. If she didn't attempt to maintain it, it would get curly and frizzy. It was about 7 p.m. and the sun had already gone down.
"Whatcha doin?" She heard, almost causing her to jump out of her skin. Her bedroom window was cracked open in order to cool down the room as she applied heat to her hair. Outside of it, stood Itachi.
"Str-straightening my hair." Sakura answered, shaking off the chills. "What about you, you creep?" She asked, staring at him accusingly.
"Well, I figured since your lights were on and window and blinds were up that you didn't really expect much privacy." He chuckled. He had a point, but Sakura just grimaced. "Wanna come outside and hang out?"
"I guess I have nothing better to do." She sighed. As she stepped out the back door, she spotted Itachi and someone else on the trampoline behind their apartment. Itachi sat up with his legs over the edge and the other person remained lying down with their legs bent. As she got closer, she noticed it was a boy holding an electric guitar.
"This is my brother, Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Sakura. She just moved in next door. She's a grade below you." Itachi introduced. Sasuke sat up and glanced over. He was tall, slender and had shaggy, black spiky hair that reached his jaw line. He almost looked exactly like Itachi, however younger and less tired. He nodded indifferently and walked over to the porch, sitting down on the stairwell. From there, he resumed playing guitar. "Don't mind him. He likes to pretend he's aloof sometimes but most of the time he's an idiot." Itachi smirked. However, Sakura still felt a little dejected.
Just then, a woman with long black hair stepped out of the hallway next to the porch. She was wearing a long black dress with a beige apron. She smiled at both boys sweetly.
"Come on, you two. It's time for dinner." She said. Sasuke stood gracefully and turned, walking into the hall with his guitar at his side.
"Mom, this is Sakura. She just moved in next door." Itachi introduced.
"Hi, Sakura. I'm Mikoto, it's nice to meet you." The woman nodded. "Now, come in before the food gets cold."
"Alright, alright. Bye, Sa-ku-ra." He sang with gusto, turning and following his mother.
"I have two attractive neighbors…maybe this isn't so bad." Sakura thought to herself as she walked to her back door.