Summary: A New Year has started in the Fire Country! It's the time for refreshment, renewal, new beginnings… And, of course, new missions! Team 7 has been reunited again after 6 long years and is ready to take on their first mission together. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are recruited to investigate the strange happenings that started occurring some years ago during the rehearsals of the play "Le Moulin Rouge (The Red Mill)" and to find out the culprit behind the mysterious deaths of some of the actors. It was a rather easy mission. That is, if you take out the horrible uniforms, the kilometric cafeteria lines, the gossiping material girls, a harassing Math teacher, the football team scandals, a cocky jock, and a seemingly evil headmistress… It's time for a reality check. Welcome to Konoha High School!
Helo, hello, hello! ^_^ This is my first Naruto fanfiction ever published here! I'm so excited about it. It was born out of an idea I've had for a long time. I read all these Naruto High School fics, but they are all AU. And then I thought "What if they went to high school, but still being ninjas, on a mission?" So that's how this story was born. That, and the fact that I've been listening to High School Never Ends from Bowling for Soup nonstop for the last two days. -_- Anyway, I hope you like it. Please read and review, I'd really appreciate it!
I don't own Naruto… Wish I'd own Sasuke, but I don't… Too bad.
Chapter 1: Of hangovers and noisy mornings
It was a bright and fresh morning in Konoha. Actually, it was a bright, fresh, and special morning in Konoha. It was January 1st, meaning something very important took place today: the starting of a new year!
The streets of the village were a mess, to say the least. The festivities of the day before had taken the place like a nasty avalanche. Wrapping paper and decorations were scattered everywhere on the ground. Empty firework boxes lay around like they owned the place. You could actually see a couple of drunks swaying around, too. And let's not forget about the snow! Since it was still winter season, snow was slowly falling on the rooftops and empty roads. Yeah, it was the perfect morning.
Our story begins on this very same morning, on this very same village, on a place called the Hyuuga compound.
"Nngh… Huh? Morning already?" a soft, feminine voice spoke.
Sleepy, jade green eyes opened slowly and took in the surroundings. The young woman rose from the futon and stretched her arms while a big, bad yawn escaped her mouth. Using her hands she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her whole body felt sore and her head was banging a little. 'Ugh! Why does my heard hurt so bad? What happened last night? Think, Sakura, think!'
She looked around for any clues and saw various bodies lying in futons scattered on the room. None had woken up yet. She easily recognized some of the faces. TenTen was sprawled on her futon in front of her and snored quietly, the sheets tangled up on her legs. Not too far away from her was Neji, covered up to the chin with his sheets. Sakura thought this was kind of cute. He had his own bed on the compound, but he stayed here with her. She guessed even cold boys like Neji had feelings deep underneath.
"Speaking of cold-hearted bastards…"
Her eyes kept wandering. Chouji was snoring loudly to her right, a snack of some sort clutched tightly on his hand. Sai slept quietly a little further away from Chouji. He looked so still, Sakura had to wonder if he was breathing. Ino was lying on a futon next to Sakura, mumbling something in her sleep. And a little further away, on Ino's side, was Shikamaru. The pink haired girl couldn't tell if he was actually sleeping or fake-sleeping. When it came to the lazy genius, it was the same both ways.
Not finding what she was looking for, Sakura stood quietly, trying not to wake anybody. She managed to pass through the mass of bodies and made it to the door. She stepped out and found herself on the inner courtyard of the main house. It had a beautiful and rather big Japanese garden. It had many trees and stones neatly located everywhere and a small pond in the middle. A blue bridge crossed the pond and lead to another section of the main house.
A cold breeze blew suddenly, leading the kunoichi to wrap her arms around her frame and rub her forearms to try and get some warm. Snow was slowly falling. It just made the whole place look all the more dreamy.
A sudden sting on her head brought her back to reality. She started walking slowly towards where she thought the kitchen was. They should have some painkillers that could help her. As she made her way there, she crossed paths with other sleepy faces. She smiled softly as a hello because: one, she was too tired to talk, and two, she didn't know most of them. Her head started recalling some details. Last night was the New Years celebration. Hinata had invited her. Everybody had a blast. And everything was blurry after the "Happy New Year!"
She finally got to the kitchen and was greeted by Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister. The young girl was wearing a silky white kimono with a delicate purple flower pattern and a lilac obi. Sakura looked down to examine her own clothing. It was just a plain red kimono, or so she thought until her mind sobered up a little more. Wait a minute! This was not a kimono! This was what was left of a kimono. No wonder she was so cold. She could almost see the fabric of the dark underwear peeking out. 'What the hell? I distinctly remember wearing my furisode kimono last night? Where are the other layers?'
"Are you okay?" Hanabi asked as she examined Sakura's gaping mouth and flustered face.
"Morning, Hanabi. Do you happen to have any pills around? My head's killing me."
Hanabi turned around and made her way to the cabinets as Sakura sat down on a chair in front of the isle in the middle of the room. The young girl quickly handed Sakura a glass of water and two white pills. The pink haired kunoichi swallowed them and finished the rest of the water. She hadn't noticed how thirsty she was.
"Sakura, could you go and wake Onee-chan and the others? Breakfast will be ready soon."
Sakura nodded and made her way back to the guestrooms. The sun was starting to heat the atmosphere, but it wasn't enough to outdo the cold. Sakura rubbed her forearms furiously again, cursing herself for not remembering what had happened to her clothes.
She arrived at the room she was sleeping at and glanced around. Neji was already awake and was folding his sheets on a neatly matter. Shikamaru was sitting up and staring at Ino. The blonde had moved around after Sakura had left and was now almost lying atop the poor guy. She was straddling one of his legs and had her slender arms wrapped around his waist while her face was snuggled on his side. She could've sworn he mumbled something along the lines of "Troublesome woman." Sai was already up and alert. He was sitting by the far window with his sketchpad in hand, probably making a stunning recreation of the snowy landscape.
"Good morning everyone." Sakura said with a smile and waved her hand.
"Good morning, Sakura. Did you sleep well?" Neji greeted.
"Morning." Glares down. "Troublesome woman."
"Morning, Ugly." Sai mumbled without taking his eyes away from the sketchpad.
The rest was a bunch of snoring from Chouji and TenTen. Neji finally stood up and turned to Sakura.
"Is Hinata awake already?"
"I don't know. Hanabi asked me to wake you guys up. Breakfast will be ready soon."
Neji nodded. His gaze traveled curiously down her body and a small blush tinted his cheeks.
"Uh… Forgive my rudeness but… Sakura, what happened to your clothing?"
Sakura turned red and raised her arms to cover her body. The Hyuuga quickly turned his head away in shame.
"I…" she started, but was interrupted.
A sudden noise was heard from behind Neji. It was Ino moving on her sleep, again. Shikamaru raised his arms as high as he could. If she kept moving and his hand happened to be on the wrong place when Ino woke up, there would be hell to pay. How troublesome…
"Mmm… mnn… S-kura… Nnn, take more s-s-sake…" she stopped moving and giggled, startling the poor Shikamaru. Suddenly, she went still and kept murmuring. "C'mon, Forehead… Nnn… Seven minutes, just seven… Don't be a coward… The closet." She giggled again. "Whadaya mean with whom… Mmmnn… Sasuke-kun, of course… C'mon, take more sak-k-ke…"
The sleepiness instantly wore off of Sakura, and the rest of the awaked for that matter. Sai stopped drawing and stared at Ino with a blank expression. Neji and Shikamaru stared in confusion and the woman currently using the latter as a stuffed teddy bear. Then, all eyes turned to Sakura.
A thousand different emotions were racing through her face right now: confusion, wonder, fear, realization, anger, fury… Her jade eyes narrowed and a feral growl was emitted from the deepest, darkest, scariest pit of her soul. Her fists clenched and she unconsciously pumped chakra into them as she made her way to the blonde woman, her feet stomping on the wooden floor. When she was standing before Shikamaru she took in a few shaky breaths before she screamed.
"Wha-? Who's there? I didn't do it!" Ino shouted to no one in particular as she sprung up from her place on the futon- well, on Shikamaru- and glanced around with a sleepy expression. Her eyes finally found the infuriated ninja standing in front of her.
"Uh, Sakura? Are you okay? You look awfully… angry."
"AAAAHHHHH! INO, YOU BAKA! YOU STUPID BAKA!" Sakura screamed, scaring the shit out of Ino. Said girl backed away and hid behind Shikamaru, appropriately using him as a human shield. Now Shikamaru was the one worrying. He would die at the age of eighteen in the hands of a semi-naked psychopath. 'How troublesome.'
"S-sakura, calm down. We can talk this out, whatever it is."
"This… this is all your fault! What did you do last night?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I woke up with a huge headache, most likely because I have a nasty ass hangover. I remember you bringing all sorts of drinks to me last night saying they didn't have alcohol, you dirty liar! And why the hell am I half-naked? Answer me, dammit!"
The room was dead silent. Even Chouji and TenTen's snoring stopped, but that was most likely because the whole shouting session woke them up and they were now looking in fear at the enraged medic.
Ino eyed Sakura as if she was crazy. She was about to make a comment about that thought, but stopped herself. Her mind had suddenly decided to remember her why she was in this situation right now. Her eyes widened in realization as the events of last night hit her. She looked at Sakura as a nervous giggle escaped from her lips. Oh boy, this was not going to be pretty…
"Oh, that! Yeah, that… the, the thing! Sure!"
"What thing?" asked Sakura. She looked like a lioness about to jump her prey.
"Well, you see, I… Um, I…"
"Spit it out already, you troublesome woman! I refuse to be murdered because of you!" Shikamaru hissed angrily.
"You, shut up! Uh, Sakura, you see… Well, what happened last nigh wa- Wait, what's that?"
Ino wasn't able to finish. It started out as a faint noise but rapidly grew into an all-out shouting extravaganza. It sounded like an angry mob was making its way through the hallway and to their room.
"TEME! GET BACK HERE, YOU BASTARD!"
"Dobe, shut up already or I'll kill you!"
"NO, I'LL KILL YOU! YOU COLD-HEARTED, SADISTIC, SELF-CENTERED, STUPID SON OF A-! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?"
"I already told you, dammit! I don't know what you're talking about."
"OH, YES YOU DO, UCHIHA! I DEMAND FOR YOU TO TELL US WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU AND MY YOUTHFUL CHERRY BLOSSOM!"
"What is up with you crazy people? I didn't do anything!"
"Hey, don't go lying now, Uchiha! Why were Sakura's clothes on your bed this morning?"
"YEAH, TEME! ANSWER US! WHAT DID YOU DO TO SAKURA-CHAN?"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!"
The shouting stopped and a very, very angry Sasuke made his way into the room and directly to Sakura. Naruto, Lee, and Kiba were hot on his heels.
"YOU SHUT UP, TEME! Oh, ohayo!"
The occupants of the room were frozen in place, a shocked expression written on their faces. And they thought Sakura was mad…
"Sakura."
The pink haired girl stared at the owner of the hissing voice. Sasuke was standing up in front of her with a frown adorning his handsome features. She quickly noticed he was shirtless, his toned torso a complete eye-candy for her to enjoy. This made her blush. She also noticed he was clutching something in his hand… Something, a red something …
"Sakura, what was your kimono doing in my bed this morning? What did you do?"
It took Sakura a moment to register the words that were being spoken to her. Of course, he being Sasuke, and her having a history on fan-girlyness, he would think this whole mess was her fault. Like she would sneak up on him and rape him in the middle of the night, leaving her clothes as a souvenir. She was not that kind of girl so this accusation made her very, very upset.
"Wha- me? Why am I the culprit? How do you know this whole thing isn't your fault?"
"My fault? Why would I have your clothes with me? What were you trying to pull off?"
"Don't you dare accuse me again, Sasuke Uchiha, or you will regret it!"
"Hey, hey! Calm down… guys?"
Ino had broken the heated argument having stepped out from her human shield. She received two death glares as a result.
"I'm sure we can solve this whole mess like the decent and civilized ninja we are. Who's with me?" she asked with a nervous smile.
Realization hit Sakura again and she quickly remembered why she was angry on the first place. She forgot about the Uchiha heir and turned her full attention back to her blonde friend.
"You… you know something!" she said and pointed an ccusing finger at her. Sasuke was glaring at Ino now.
"Well, yeah I do. But I will ask for mercy beforehand, because I would like to continue my career as a ninja on this beautiful, new year that has started today…"
"Spit it out!" both Sasuke and Sakura shouted.
"Okay, already! Yes, Sakura, I was giving you alcoholic drinks throughout the night, but only because you were refusing to lighten up because you were too tired from your hospital shift! And yes, this whole mess is my fault! When the countdown ended, Hinata announced that the guest rooms were going to be prepared for us to stay, but most of you refused because you were too tired. It was New Years, for God's sake! We were supposed to have fun! So I convinced you all to play 'I've never', and you two ended up very drunk so I thought it would be fun to mess with your dull, party-crashing mindsa little! You were really drunk, so I suggested you two to hook up; because, let's face it, God knows you need it, dammit! Sasuke didn't mind, he was too drunk to think it through, but you, Sakura, resisted! So I dared you to do it, or run topless this morning around the village. You said you would show me that you could take up any dare. So I told you to get him in the closet. You walked to him and practically dragged him to the closet with you, not that he resisted, and closed the door!"
There wasn't a word to describe what Sakura and Sasuke were feeling at the moment. There were gasps emitting from everywhere in the room. The tension in the air was so dense it could be cut through with a kunai.
"Ino… what… you… we… what?" Sakura couldn't find the words to express herself.
She dared to glance at Sasuke. Many different emotions were written all over his face, the emotionless façade gone for the time being. His troubled gaze suddenly found hers and all Sakura prayed for at the moment was for the floor to rip open and swallow her whole.
"So… so those were the noises I was hearing from there last night?" Chouji suddenly spoke for the first time since he had woken up, gaining everyone's attention.
"What noises?" Naruto asked, dreading the answer.
"Y-you know…" he said while glancing cautiously at Sasuke and Sakura. He didn't want his head ripped off. "Th-the moans, and groans, and… stuff…"
"Oh, my God."
Everyone looked at Sakura. She had sunk to the ground with her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide open, silent tears running down her cheeks. The others just looked at her, unsure of what to do. Naruto was the first to react. He walked over to her and sat down beside her while wrapping a reassuring hand on her shaking shoulders.
"Oh, God, what have we done? What kind of sick joke is this? I… Sasuke… we… last night. Oh, God." Her voice broke down slowly and she went quiet, trying to process what had just happened. Sasuke's gaze seemed to be permanently glued to the ground, which had become quite interesting now.
"Sakura, Sasuke… I'm sorry. I thought it would be a good joke. I never even expected you guys to agree. What I mean is tha-"
"Ino, quiet." Shikamaru said in a stern voice. She did.
"Okay, everybody, let's just calm down. I'm sure Ino didn't mean for this to happen." Now it was TenTen's turn to speak. "This is just a big misunderstanding, so let's calm down."
"It's not a misunderstanding, TenTen. We hooked up. I can't believe I lost my virginity on a one night stand. I feel so ashamed, I can't even think, I-"
"Okay, enough! Sakura, how do you know that you guys actually did it? For all I know, maybe you passed out in the middle of everything and didn't get too far."
"Oh, God. But we did do something. I don't remember a thing!" her jade eyes searched for Sasuke's onyx ones and pierced them with such intensity, Sasuke shuddered slightly.
"Do you… do you remember anything?"
Sasuke let his head fall. He did remember the 'I've never' game. He also recalled Sakura getting quite unstable with each passing shot. But that was it, the rest of his memories were empty. This upset him greatly. He let the alcohol get to his head. He had had no control, whatsoever. And the worst part was that now he was starting to think that he and Sakura actually getting together was a possibility. He knew he should've run back to his house when he had the chance.
"No."
"No, God no…"
Sakura kept drowning on self-misery when suddenly Sai spoke up.
"I once read in a book that for a 'hook up' to take place, both the man and the woman have to be awake and, most likely, nude."
"No duh, Mr. Smarty Pants!" Naruto said, annoyed by Sai's the-whole-world-already-knows-but-me comment.
"Well, I didn't saw Uchiha and Ugly nude or doing any sort of sexual act last night."
It was time for the artist to get the room's attention now.
"What are you talking about, Sai?" Sakura asked while whipping her tears with the back of her sleeve.
"You guys were all very intoxicated last night and were making a fool of yourselves, so I asked Neji-san for a pencil so I could finish my drawing. He told me I could find one in the closet on the hall. When I walked there I saw Ugly and Uchiha enter the closet and close the door behind them, so I waited outside. They wouldn't come out for a few minutes so I decided to enter and see if something had happened."
Everyone looked expectantly at him.
"They had passed out."
Sakura felt as if the Heavens had opened up for her. Oh, she would make sure to never, ever again be mean to Sai for as long as she lived.
"So, that means nothing happened." Sasuke said, more of a statement than a question.
"No." Sai said.
"But wait! What about Sakura's clothes? Sasuke had them." Kiba busted in.
"Yes, what about that?" Rock Lee asked. If those clothes were proof that something had happened, he would make sure that Sasuke would pay for it.
"Yamato-taishou passed by and offered to help me to take them back to their rooms. He tried to take Ugly's kimono out of your grasp, but you wouldn't let him. So he took you to your room clutching the clothes and I took Sakura to ours." Sai said and focused again on his sketchpad, signaling he was done talking.
Sakura had never felt so relieved in her life. Nothing had happened between her and Sasuke. She was still untouched. She would not get pregnant and give birth to little Uchiha brats (even if she wasn't completely uncomfortable with that idea). This was great! She was saved!
Sasuke was also relieved, though he would not show it as openly as Sakura did. He had sort of freaked out, in his own way, when he found Sakura's clothes on his futon that morning. He planned to face her on his own and ask her what happened, but Naruto had woken up and made a circus out of the whole thing. He had gotten angry about all the 'pervert' and 'advantage-taker' accusations, because they were not true, and went to confront her. But now that everything was clear, he felt better.
Sakura felt something grasp her arm. Sasuke had moved beside her and handed her the kimono. She blushed, because the whole situation was still embarrassing, and quickly put it on.
"Thanks."
"Hn."
"That's it? That's all that happened? Well, what do you know? You're still pure, Forehead! Now there's no reason to be angry with me, is it?" Ino said while grinning sheepishly.
Naruto suddenly felt a dangerous aura beside him. It was Sakura. Her fists were clenched and her teeth bore. He immediately let go of her and went to stand behind Sasuke. The Uchiha rolled his eyes. 'Dobe.'
"Oh, I'm not angry, Ino. Actually, I have a really good idea to solve this whole mess and make everybody happy."
The pink haired girl looked up and smirked evilly at Ino. Uh, oh…
The snow kept falling outside. The garden now looked like some sort of fantasy land, beautiful and white. It was, once again, a perfect and peaceful morning in Konoha.
"Woah, this omelet is really good! Thanks again for letting us stay over, Hinata-chan!"
Said girl blushed furiously and her crush's words. It had been a rather interesting morning.
~Flashback~
She had slept peacefully until Sakura had stopped by to wake her up. Her friend had a triumphant air about her. Discarding that, Hinata got off of bed and changed her furisode kimono (she was too tired to change last night) for her normal attire. She noticed it was snowing outside when she exited the room. The garden looked beautiful. Then something caught her eye. Something was moving on the garden. She quickly took hold of a kunai out of instinct. She didn't think it was a burglar, not at this hour, but it was always good to be cautious. When she approached the frozen garden her eyes widened at what she saw.
~End of Flashback~
"Um… S-sakura?"
"Yeah? What is it?" the girl answered from the far side of the dinner table.
"U-um… why is I-Ino running on her underwear around m-my garden?"
Some heads turned to look at the garden. Sakura smirked, remembering why her mood had lightened up that morning. She wasn't as evil as Ino was, so instead of running topless around the village, she condemned her best friend to run on her underwear under the cold weather. Lee, always the one to defend good and punish evil, kindly added the '100 times' part, which delighted the medic. So now everyone was calmly enjoying their breakfast while Ino was on her 90th lap.
"Sakura-chan, don't you think this was a little too much?" Naruto asked.
"No. She's made me do worse. And why are you all complaining? It's a free peep show." She said before going back to her breakfast.
She heard a low chuckle directly across from her. It was Sasuke. She raised a brow and looked at him.
"What's so funny, Sasuke?"
"You are so immature."
"Excuse me? I don't recall you being very 'mature' when you barged into our room this morning. Accusing me without proof! What kind of matured man does that?"
Sasuke merely glared at her. Suddenly, they heard something. Ninja senses took over, hands flying to any sharp object they had near: kunai, knives, forks…
"It sounds like a…" TenTen said but was cut off by a kunai abruptly hitting the wall. It had a note attached to it. Everybody instantly relaxed. It was just a message.
Neji stood up and snatched the piece of paper from the kunai and started unfolding it. He read it quickly and turned to the others.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. Hokage-sama wants to see you immediately."
The three teenagers looked at each other. Naruto was the first to react.
"Alright! A new mission to start the New Year!" he exclaimed excitedly.
He bid his goodbye to the others and left in a hurry. Sakura and Sasuke shook their heads but followed suit. Breakfast was quiet once again.
"Okay, that's… that's a hundred… hundred laps! What did I miss?"
Yay! First chapter done! I hope you like it so far! This chapter is important because of a few details, like the date (the starting of a new year) and some innuendos I can take advantage of later on. :) There was some Sasusaku stuff in here, for all the fans, like moi. Although this is a Sasusaku fanfic, I'll try to keep them away from the OOC as much as I can, I'll promise! ^_^ Well, until the next chappie! Remember to R&R.
~Andy
