Explanation: This story is a multi-faceted contribution from many perspectives that will appear either continuously in sequence or only under certain circumstances. For example Sasuke is a more silent character and only interjects periodically. Sakura emerges strong and opinionated in almost every chapter. Parts may be OOC (and maybe a little cliché), because I had to give leeway to the situation. Also they are all around 16.
Strangely; Gaara's taste in music isn't the cliché heavy metal, but rather a varied playlist of songs I felt he might have a fascination with if he were in our time.
Every voice is different.
Welcome to Tomboy
Some people see the revolution
But most only see the girl
I can lose my hard earned freedom
If my fear defines my world
I declare my independence
From the critics and their stones
I can fight my revolution
I can learn to stand alone
And I'll be everything that I wanna be
(Superchic[k –One Girl Revolution)
Tomboy
By Reverse
1. Sakura. Over and Out:
I walked slowly; for me there was no hurry to get to school. Like the year before I couldn't convince myself this year would be any different. We all lived in a small boring town separate from the rest of society; an old fashioned small town. Nothing could be worse.
Most of the other teenagers in the world longed for the newest video game or a car. Teenagers here dreamed of getting away from this place, away from parental instruction and arranged marriages. Such was Hidden Village. I believe it might be against the law to own a television set.
We didn't even have cars and whenever I mentioned our lack of technology. Severe lack, I might add. People didn't rely on radios in the real word. Anyways, once I said it would be a great thing to own a motorbike, and there were shocked glances everywhere, the teachers of course said it would be horrible, especially after what happened to my parents.
One of the kids from the Suna district, (I lived in the Konoha district) said he thought motorbikes were a great idea, and we could race each other. I was all for it, of course, and then the teachers ruined our fun. Another Suna boy, one with brilliant flame-red hair said that his father said motorbikes were for Satan worshipers.
Everybody became scared after he calmly stated he wanted one.
Come to think of it, that must have been back in grade three, just a few years after my parents were killed in a motor vehicle accident, abroad. Everybody always said that word like a bad thing. I thought it would be cool to go abroad. Whenever I said so my friend Ino would look disgusted and ask if I was possessed by a demon or suicidal. I would just shrug.
Back in those years, the early ones, before the boys and girls were herded off into separate schools, before co-ed was scandal, before grade four, I had known two boys who were called demons.
One was the scary redhead, and people avoided him. He looked so sad, the other was a blonde whose parents had been something that the adults whispered about, the same way they talked about mine going abroad.
I only knew one orphan who was respected; well he was considered an orphan. Sasuke Uchiha, he was talented, respected and I defiantly admired him. My friend Ino was obsessed with him; I figured I should be too, like almost everybody in my school was. I was good enough at faking it, so I fit in somewhere. I just used my natural competitiveness to compete with Ino over probably the most retarded thing ever. Ever.
But nobody called me a freak like they would if they knew me.
The real me, who was pissed at waiting outside Ino's house like this; she took an eternity to primp herself up. 'I wana look cute!' she wined. I was really getting tired of faking everything.
So instead of feeling angry like usual, I thought about all of the classes I faked it in.
First came the one where we learned about cooking. I was a fairly good cook, but defiantly an angry one.
Scratch that, I was a violent one. I thought that the boys should learn to cook if we had to; I was all for pissing on the mark of traditionalism. I wanted to learn physics and sciences from teachers instead of textbooks stolen from my friend Naruto, the other 'demon.' He wasn't so bad. He let me read his texts and work on his homework.
Pretty strange things to be thankful for, but when you have a class that's based around sewing and flower arrangements for second period, I think anything else might make you go insane.
Third and fourth are Language and Literature. Not normal though either, I know this from doing Naruto's Language Arts homework. We had to read all sorts of 'female' novels. Nothing to scary, of course. Naruto had a few battered Stephen King novels I had nearly worshiped. It and Insomnia were among the collection, I enjoyed them far better than Jane Eyre, classic of not.
Even though he was shunned, Naruto was one of the coolest people I knew, we had started hanging out after school at a bridge in town, near his school, (the boys had boarding school) and just kept up the routine, as friends. I had no parents waiting up for me; I lived in a group home. Nobody wanted to live there.
The first time we met he had told me what a blockbuster film was and we had been friends and secret rebels since.
His parents had left him a VHS and television. I could only wish mine had.
"I'm ready!" Ino almost sang to the world, finally skipping from the plain house that, even as simple as it was, was not nearly as hideous as the group house.
We walked and I listened as she gushed about Sasuke, her azure eyes alight with a simple small-town girl's petty dreams. Dreams that were only there cause all her life she's been told never to expect more.
Today she was in a purple knee-length skit and matching 'exact shade' shirt. The sleeves were long, loose and regular. Just like the ones on the knee length dress I was wearing. Sometimes when I closed my eyes almost all the way I could imagine that the dresses we always wore were part of some pirate cult. That the big silver buckles on our black Mary Jane shoes were melded with our white knee-highs into some sort of gypsy fashion. Like we weren't part of small town tradition.
God, we so were!
'Stop kidding yourself!' I knew Jiraya, Naruto's caretaker and uncle would say. It almost made me snort, and Ino paused in her chatter to ask why I thought Sasuke in his black shirt was funny.
The guy didn't own anything that was not black or blue. Kind of like a walking bruise on the wall of fashion.
Small towns do that to your sense of humor; and probably your fashion sense. I would kill to be a boy in this town. Expected to be smart, expected to be something at all.
Ino combed her extraordinarily long hair with her fingers. I let mine alone. I had long red hair. If this town owned or believed in hair dye it would so be pink.
And it would be short too, I hated it so long. A waterfall of blood, my mind gruesomely supplied.
My mood was depressed.
"I wish I was a boy," Ino suddenly said.
I reeled, "Sorry—why?"
She laughed at my incredulous tone, I was the least girly girl I knew, she defiantly did not make the top five. Tenten might; but she was just the most normal and least retarded. "Well, then I would know Sasuke better!"
She looked smarter than she spoke sometimes. "But then you'd be gay."
"Eww. Forget that. Doesn't he live at your group home?" She asked. I personally had nothing against gays, this town sure did though.
"Only on the holidays." I spoke bleakly.
She ended the conversation as we walked up the steps to the school. "Oh." She said. Then she left me to rush inside and gush to her friends in such flirtatiously delicious language.
Hinata Hyuuga was sitting on the steps of the school. She looked angry, something that was surprising. She was almost always alone, but she never looked lonely. I was pretty sure her best friends were boys.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" I asked, sitting beside her.
She shrugged. The school bells rang. "We have to get to class."
I knew then I couldn't just walk into the school, not like any other day. It would be my last day. "I'm not coming back tomorrow; actually, I'll probably cut today."
"What?" She asked.
"I'm gonna disappear. So if you tell me a secret, I won't tell shit." I said.
"Detention Sakura!" One of the teachers yelled. I didn't care. I was going to stand up for myself today. And hope fully for the next while, long while.
"My father thinks I should marry Neji. We're both opposed." She spoke. I knew Neji; he was called an academic genius.
Hinata and Neji were first cousins. I think my parents might have been too. Stupid small towns.
"I hope it works out that you don't have to." We reached our lockers, both of us late for class. I grabbed my stuff out of my locker that I cared about.
"Me too," She said, her voice consistently soft.
I grabbed the books I had from Naruto and his homework.
Then I headed back towards the school doors.
"Where are you going?" Hinata called, even then, her voice was gentle.
I looked back, but only for her. My stuff cradled in my arms, my locker left open about twenty feet back. "I'm going to find a better lie to live."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Naruto rapidly closed the door.
I glared at him. He looked like he was hiding something behind his back, but all that was there was his regular dorm room.
"I snuck in, past the cameras. Don't worry, I'm cutting." I shrugged, leaning back into my makeshift throne. I had stacked up the pillows against his headboard. "What the fuck are you hiding?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Damn it Sakura." There was pounding on his dorm room door. He was still in front of it like he had something to hide. "Why didn't you tell me?! Since when do you curse?"
"Damn Naruto, I thought you'd be impressed, prince of pranks my ass." I walked over to him and pushed him away, my hand on the door handle.
"It ain't a teacher, right?" I demanded from Naruto. "Nope."
I grinned.
I wretched the door open to halt the banging. One figure stood still ready to pound on the door once again, his fist raised. One looked like he was lounging and the third looked like he was ready to burst down the door.
"Ever heard of patience?" I all but growled.
Sasuke Uchiha looked at me. "No."
I held the door open for them. "The fuck you ain't."
As the three paraded in I stopped the one with the flame red hair. "Aren't you the one who wanted to ride one of Satan's Motorcycles?" I asked, feeling bold and comfortable in my skin.
He glared. I took it as a yes. "I'm Gaara." He spoke, his voice alluring and dark.
"Sakura," I began to turn away from him. "If you ever get that motorbike…" I closed the door and locked it from the inside. "Take me for a ride; I'd kill to be able to ride one!"
"Aren't you supposed to be one of Sasuke's pathetic fangirls?" I made a face.
Naruto stood up for me. "She just likes to fit in somewhere. I don't think she likes him."
"I don't." I stated.
I dumped my backpack on the middle of the floor. Naruto's finished homework, a Stephen King novel, Insomnia this time, and a bunch of metal parts falling to the floor.
"What's all this?" The brunette asked. "I'm Kiba, by the way."
Gaara, Kiba, and Sasuke, it was nice that Naruto had friends here. "It's an atomic bomb." I stated calmly.
"Really?" Sasuke asked dryly.
I glared at him. "No it's Naruto's science homework I haven't finished."
Kiba laughed. "Oh!" he exclaimed.
"What?" I demanded. "That's why Naruto isn't failing; he's got a girl doing his homework."
"Wow." I exaggerated the tone, sarcasm evident.
"Actually, I have an idea. And it would mean I won't have to borrow old text books and stuff." I said, I was really looking at Naruto; but I didn't see why his friends shouldn't help.
He looked at me with evident suspicion. "It'll be an ultimate prank! And I'll tell you what girl likes you, if I know and you help."
"What do I get out of the deal?" Gaara asked.
I thought of the one thing he would want. "I'll give you access to my motorcycle. You might have to show me how to ride it."
"How do I know that's not a trick?" He asked. He had every right to be suspicious.
I shrugged. "My last names' Haruno."
The look of understanding dawned all of their faces, except Naruto because he already knew. "Actually, for something this sweet, I want to know what boy likes me, or really, my façade. It doesn't matter, I'm just curious."
"What's the trick this time?" Naruto asked.
Kiba looked confused. "This time?"
"Remember the gym shorts incident?" Sasuke asked. I remembered that. Naruto asked me to find him twenty pairs of old fashioned girls' bloomers in fancy pastel colors. He super-glued them to everybody's head, most had to cut their hair to get them off! Then he stole all the gym shorts he could get at and super glued them to the basketballs and made them rain in the lunch hall.
"I take it she's the one who made it rain gym shorts and basketballs." Sasuke stated, dryly again. I feared it might be his only tone.
"Of course Naruto had to be in the lunchroom, I cut class as per usual and let it rain!" I said over-joyously. "It was my idea; like raining cats and dogs!"
Small town living gets to you after a while. I was a prime example.
"This one's bigger."
They all looked a little shocked. "We get me a fake ID and a complete makeover and say I'm a guy and let me come to school here."
"Woah. are you possible to think small?"
"Come to think of it, we're gonna need hair dye. Thank god my boobs aren't noticeably huge like Ino's."
Gaara looked at me like I was an alien, then he smiled a little wickedly. "Motorcycle? Girl, I think I can help you. All you have to do is meet my bitchy sister. Come to think of it, you two should enroll together. Suna doesn't keep tabs on its occupants, so you can say your surname is 'akasuna.' It might take a week."
"What that guy will do for a motorcycle is scary." Kiba stated. "That's the most I've heard him speak, ever."
"Best of all, even my father won't know." Gaara said, still sounding wicked.
"That's really why he likes getting involved so much. Plus he kinda owes Temari." Sasuke said.
I really wanted to meet this Temari.
At twenty five past six Gaara went to announce to the principal that he had to go home for dinner. He simply said it was Suna business and might later involve the school. Gaara wasn't questioned.
I snuck down the fire escape and he met me at the bottom, having walked around the side of the dorm. The classrooms were on the main floor, the labs in the basement and the living quarters above the second floor, which was the cafeteria. In such a small town, there were often vacancies, however most people had roommates. Naruto roomed with Sasuke; Kiba said he was with somebody named Shino I hadn't met.
Gaara was alone. He said he had major troubles sleeping and the teachers didn't like him influencing others anyway. He was my preference to the others, except Naruto; who was my best and only true friend.
Well, Hinata was a pretty honest friend, and probably the least judgmental person I had ever met.
"Are we ready to go?" He asked and I was broken of my reverie.
"Yep! Sorry… Sometimes" I started; he didn't interrupt me, but was instead quiet. He didn't say anything so I didn't feel ashamed about finishing my sentence. "Sometimes I just get lost in thought."
He nodded.
We walked in silence towards his district. "It might take a week. Temari will tell you what to do."
"Ok. Thanks, I really appreciate it. If you want to check out that bike, you know the storage unit Tsunade runs?"
He nodded in affirmation; it was the first real positive emotion I'd felt from him. It was… pleasant.
"Well tell her or Shizune that their Cherry Blossom said to open 'er up and let chu see Satan's transport."
He glared, I clarified for him: "Make sure to say Cherry Blossom she knows my garage, the lock combo is Satan, what you said in third grade stuck, I'll never look at a bike the same way."
He chuckled darkly. "I thought I scared everybody, especially this religious freak show."
I made a face. "Give me some credit, I'm not that easily intimidated."
"We'll see." He muttered.
The rest of the walk was through the Suna district was pretty uneventful. Neither of us really spoke though the silence was comfortable.
"I'll warn you. 'My dad hates me' is a cover for me and my siblings. We're orphans who hacked his bank account to keep the house." He stated, calmly.
"I'll warn you, my parents are the scandal of the small town and I vehemently wish I had been born a boy, 'cause I don't act like a girl." I stated.
"You aren't all that fazed are you?" He asked.
I sighed. "I use to be different, and then I heard about my parents and what they did outside this godforsaken place and decided to become my own person."
Gaara knocked once before opening the door.
The house was clean and very white; the furniture was all tans and beiges and for some reason it just worked.
"Gaara did you—Oh!" A blonde walked in and saw me. Personally I thought she was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. Her hair was in four separate spiky ponytails and she was wearing overalls.
"Hey, you go to my school, but you often cut it right?" She asked me.
"Maybe, you must look mighty different there…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say before she laughed.
Her laugh was so free and full of life, it would be untrue to say I was not envois. "I do."
She motioned Gaara into the kitchen. "Sit, make yourself at home, I'll make some tea."
Gaara spoke to her in the kitchen and I sat a little tentatively on the tan two-person couch.
Less than ten minutes later both siblings emerged with mugs of tea. I was handed one as Temari sat next to me on the couch. Gaara sat Indian style on a large overstuffed chair across from us.
"Gaara already told you that you want to enroll yourself in the boys' school. I think it's a great idea, in fact, I'll enroll too. I'm sick of reading about biology and English online and in my brothers' textbooks. I don't want to be a homemaker."
"So how are we gonna do this?" I asked, curious.
She looked at the ceiling to gather her thoughts for a moment. "Well, tonight we'll change our hair and shit. And I'll have Kankuro call the school and say that our father decided to send me to some other relatives because our house is unfit for a female. And then I can call as your friend, and say you've ran away.
"Then we can get boys clothes and I can teach you about Suna so we can say we're Akasuna, I had a cousin with that last name, we can be transfers from home-schooling."
"You really thought this out." I said.
"Well, I was gonna do it last year but chickened out." She reasoned. "Now I figure, if we get caught, there's not much they can really do."
I smiled at her. "First things first! Excuse us Gaara."
He gave a small, almost invisible look of contentment, maybe even amusement, and nodded as Temari dragged me away, empty tea mugs on the table in front of him.
A was pulled by the arm up the stairs. The hallway was white.
"Bathroom's there, that's Kankuro's." Temari pointed to the first and second. One side of the hallway had a window but no doors. "Gaara's is on the end, and mine is in between my brothers!"
She hauled the door open and pushed me inside. Her bedroom was painted a perfect azure blue; there was a double bed in the center against the wall. Navy covers were thrown back and mangled.
Temari was already rummaging in her closet. She threw a pair of overalls and a red shirt on the bed. "Wanna change? You're about my size."
"Thanks," I said already kicking off my shoes. The overalls fit when I flipped the bottom over.
She threw a box of something and some scissors and a comb. "Please tell me your about to cut my hair!" I demanded.
"Oh, I'll do more than just cut it!" She smiled wickedly.
I let her have her way. She pulled me into what I thought was a closet but turned out to be an en suit.
She pulled a showerhead nozzle from its spot and practically forced the attached hose to stretch.
Her hand was on my neck and she bent me over the sink, she washed my hair quickly and efficiently.
Then I was handed a towel and she quickly did her own. Then she took the towel from me and pulled me back into the room.
"Hand me the scissors," She asked politely, her voice sounding rough. I did as she said and sat on the beige carpet. She combed my hair and then began to cut it, making sure it was even. It finally fell short about three inches from my earlobes. I liked it. Even in the swirls of strawberry red, I liked it the way Temari had created it.
"Can you do mine? Shorter in the front, to my nape in the back," She was very direct in her instructions. "Then I want to dye yours."
Her shoulder length hair was only a memory; personally I liked it once I cut it. It looked like it suited her. It was a little spiky and jagged where she moved her head to much.
When that was done she convinced me that the dye might tone my wild red hair down a little. Then she caked it with bleach and rinsed it out fast enough it wouldn't go blonde.
Not fast enough that it didn't turn pink.
Gaara, with no regards for knocking, strolled in to see me towel drying pink hair.
"I called Kankuro. He called the school, you have one week." He started to leave. "I'll see you then."
"Bye Gaara!" I called, smiling.
Temari turned around to face him. "See ya!"
2. Sasuke Interludes:
I watched Sakura climb from the window before looking back at Naruto, he had that look in his eyes again. The lonely look, I hoped she would be able to pull this off because every time she must have come by and left she left that look on his face.
I knew Naruto was raised mostly by his uncle; it didn't help anything. I think only me and Sakura knew about his parents. They left him on the doorstep of the church in the center of Hidden Village; they were only teenagers, a few years older than us. Scandal followed him everywhere, rumor had it they left the Village. Leaving the village was something to be considered dead for. Nobody would speak your name in anything but whispers anymore.
Sakura though, even though her parents were married so she wasn't called a demon, her parents had left here with high hopes. Little Sakura more or less was abandoned when her parents when chasing dreams. More like rainbows.
But I'll leave that part to her. I don't spill secrets.
My own family is a mess, leaving me in the care of a group home while they chased my wonderful older brother to an Ivy League University, even after he sent the applications in secret. I used to have aunts and uncles too, but for some reason nobody told me, I didn't anymore.
I heard about the Uchiha tragedy once, and I think Naruto knew. I am led to believe there was either violence or force used on Itachi's part to get everybody to just get out of this town.
They left me behind with little but memories.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked. I had drifted off again, pondering my life and others. "Are you ok with what Sakura's doing?"
I nodded. After all, why wouldn't I be?
Kiba looked over to me, "I think Gaara said more to her than anybody else."
Naruto smiled, I almost sighed in relief, sometimes I wondered if he might become depressed, but he always bounced right back, completely determined.
"You can keep a secret right, moron?" I teased.
He almost spit with the anger. "Of course bastard, it's Sakura we're talking about."
"What? And you like her like that?" I asked, though I was pretty sure Naruto didn't.
He gave me a provocative grin and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from returning it. "No, but if I did you'd be jealous!"
Kiba decided to interrupt. "Hey you two, quit your flirting! I'm still here and I don't appreciate it."
"Ah Kiba, we were not flirting!" Naruto drawled.
I glared. "You only wish, deluded dogboy."
"Seriously, are you two gay or something?" Kiba whispered.
"No!" Naruto waved his hands frantically in front of his chest. I knew better.
I shrugged. "Would that be a problem?" I said icily.
"No." He stated, shaking his head as he struggled to find if I had answered his question positively or negatively.
"Ki-ba!" Naruto whined. "Sasuke's just jealous 'cause when Sakura gets here, he'll have to share!"
I honestly hadn't thought about that. "Unless of course, Sakura humanizes Gaara."
There was silence after my suggestion.
3. Hinata's Goals:
1. Remember to practice calligraphy.
2. Try and contact Sakura, I heard she ran away today at school, and I haven't seen her since the day she told me she was finding another lie to live. I think she's still in the city.
3. Ask Kiba to help me sneak out on Saturday. We can maybe hang out in the ditches by the ravine.
4. Be brave. Confront Neji; avoiding everybody is just going to force you further into a situation you don't want. And I do not want to marry Neji.
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CARP DIEM
Ok. I'm writing another story right now, so this is only a PREVEIW. There won't be another chapter for a long time so put this on your alert, ne?
-Reverse