Chapter One:
"It'll be fun!" Hinata had said.
"We can get to know each other more!" she'd insisted.
The club was packed. There were hordes of people dancing below on the dance floor. The bar was loaded with customers. Even the couch areas that could be seen through the windows of the VIP lounge were crowded. Several more club-goers were streaming in past the bouncers and joining the sweaty mob of people that was moving beneath the giant disco ball.
Sakura sighed.
Three things were wrong.
Number one, was that she was cold. The VIP parlor was air-conditioned just like the dance floor, but the VIP parlor was not packed, unlike the dance floor. Sakura was alone on the expensive leather couch that was strategically placed in front of the floor to ceiling windows. Better viewing of the people who weren't able to book the VIP because they were either not wealthy enough or they just weren't able to snag the room before someone else did.
Number two. Sakura's only friend, quiet, shy, kind, and thoughtful Hyuuga Hinata, was getting busy in the VIP bedroom with an unidentified male club patron. Emphasis on SHY and QUIET.
And number three. If it weren't for this quiet, shy, kind, and thoughtful friend of hers, Sakura would've never been able to afford to attend a place like this, let alone book the second-floor VIP room, complete with lounge, bar, kitchen, bedroom, and that enclosed balcony space for viewing the not-so-lucky, not-as-wealthy people.
"This is crazy." She muttered.
She leaned back in the leather cushions. Sure, the lounge was comfortable, and yes, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but did rich people really need a space to view not-as-rich people? To Sakura, that was a little excessive.
I don't think I could live with myself if I were rich, thought Sakura, as she took a sip from the delicate glass of fruit punch on the glass top coffee table in front of her. Just as the entrance to the club and the VIP room had a price, so did everything in the VIP room. The glass of fruit punch had been at least 27-hundred yen because it was apparently imported from some tropical far-off place and was made with real fruit. Hinata was luckily wealthy enough not to care, but it still made Sakura feel strange to be here on someone else's credit card.
She took a look at the small, pink cell phone she'd been clenching in her left hand for the past hour. The last thing she wanted was to miss a call from her mother, who thought she was just doing a little studying at a friend's house. Sakura knew her mom would have a cow if she knew that her little 15-year-old high school first year was out at Club Katana, sitting in the VIP, while that study buddy of hers she was with was actually in bed with someone.
And to make matters worse, it was the evening of the first day of school. Hinata-chan had seemed like a kind soul amongst the snooty rich kids that attended Konoha Private High School. But low and behold, the shy Hyuuga Corp. heiress had become a wild party animal at this club and had left Sakura to fend for herself amidst the snooty young adults that attended Club Katana.
A couple of thumping noises in the bedroom down the hall returned her to the reality of her drear situation.
"Miss, there are visitors here for you, waiting outside, shall I let them in?"
The smartly dressed bouncer, who had left his post at the double-door entrance, was now at her side.
Visitors?
Sakura raised an eyebrow. Who would want to see her? She didn't know anyone else at the school other than her split-personality acquaintance, Hinata-chan. Or maybe that's who they were here to see.
Yes, that has to be it. They're here to see Hinata, thought Sakura.
"Yes, you can let them in." she said.
She would just let whoever they were know that Hinata-chan was currently occupied with something else and then these people would leave.
She watched the double-doors open, and when they did, she was surprised at who came through the door.
"Oi! I'm starving! I wonder what they have here…"
A teenage boy with spiky blond hair walked in through the door. He didn't notice that Sakura was sitting quietly in front of the windows, and made a beeline for the kitchen and bar.
"Naruto, everytime we come here, you always spend the time eating. Why don't you come over and have a little fun with the ladies once in awhile!"
Another boy, this one tall, with brown, shaggy hair and sharp eyes, walked in. He leered around the room and spotted Sakura.
"Wow! Cute! There is already a girl here!" he exclaimed and walked towards her.
Sakura's eyes widened.
"Uh…I think y-you've got the wrong idea…" she stuttered.
She inched up next to the arm of the couch, just as the boy dropped down next to her and grinned. Sakura could smell his (most likely expensive) cologne. He leaned in towards her.
"What's your name, cutie?" he asked.
Who was this guy?! And he had the nerve to hit on her before they had even met?
"Haruno S-Sakura…" she replied.
She had become increasingly aware that these two boys weren't average club-goers. The boy next to her was wearing a crisp, black shirt and matching black slacks. She could even see that the Oxfords he was wearing were crocodile-skin.
"I don't think I've ever seen a girl here with pink hair, Sakura-chan…"
And then he leaned in to kiss her.
Sakura's heart skipped a beat.
And then she screamed. It echoed loudly in the round shape of the lounge.
"Woah, woah!" yelled the boy, recoiling from her.
"What've you done now, Kiba?" a voice drawled from the doorway.
Yet another boy entered the room, his hands shoved casually into the pockets of his suit pants. He had his dark brown hair up in a spiky ponytail.
"You always scare the women here." The boy scoffed and then he looked at Sakura, who was crouched down behind the couch arm.
"Don't listen to Kiba, he's a real flirt."
The boy rolled his eyes and then turned to talk to the blond, who was now eating his way through the fridge.
Sakura frowned. This was getting weirder and weirder by the minute!
"Tch, Shikamaru. Always so skeptical." Said the Kiba boy. He turned to Sakura.
"So anyways, do you have a name card?"
Sakura raised her eyebrows.
A name card? Why is he being so formal all of a sudden?, she thought, shaking her head.
"Say, listen, I don't know who you guys are but—
"Oh, Sasuke! You showed up!"
He turned away from Sakura. She growled. Who did he think he was?
"Hey, what are you looking at? When I'm talking to you…"
She looked up and saw another boy standing in the doorway. He was tall as well. He looked at the boy next to her expressionlessly, as if his face were made of stone. His hair was black. And when he turned to look at the two boys, Naruto and Shikamaru, Sakura saw that his hair was spiky in back. He was wearing a tailored black suit and a red tie.
"Why are you always so late, Sasuke?" whined the Shikamaru boy, although he had only just appeared a couple minutes ago.
The black-haired boy ignored him and swept his icy gaze over Sakura, who felt her face become hot.
"Who is she?" he asked, as if she weren't there.
All four of the boys stopped what they were doing and stared at her. She felt awkward, hiding behind the arm of the couch.
"Oh, her? This is Sakura-chan. I booked her for this room when we came since…well, you know, I'm single and—
"Booked me?!"
Sakura stood up from behind the couch. That was the LAST straw! How DARE he insinuate that she was a prostitute!
"I don't know who you think you are, but I came here with my friend, I didn't come here to serve you!" she said, crossing her arms.
The room was silent. The boys continued to look at her as though she were an alien.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do what I came here for, and have fun." She said.
She grabbed her school bag and stomped past the startled Kiba.
Who cared about Hinata-chan and her boyfriend, she was going to go do something other than sit here with these rude boys who thought she would do that kind of thing with them!
She had almost reached the door when,
"Stop."
Sakura sighed in annoyance. She turned around.
"What?"
The Sasuke boy was staring at her.
"You go to Konoha?" he asked.
"How did you know?" asked Sakura, frowning.
The boy raised his eyebrows.
"You're wearing their school uniform."
Sakura was about to combat his statement with something witty, but that caught her off guard.
The boy stared at her for awhile.
"That's all. Leave." He said.
He turned away from Sakura and pulled a small, black cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
Sakura glared at his back. This boy was the worst of all of them! Coming in here and questioning her, and then telling her to leave, when she was here first!
The bouncer opened the double doors for her. The curved, velvet stairwell seemed to shake with the beat of the music that was out in the dance area.
"What idiots!" she hissed.
She made her way down to the first floor of the club and left through yet another set of double doors. A rush of music, laughter, and glasses clinking together hit her ears.
"Well great. Now what am I going to do." She said. She could barely hear herself over the techno music that was blaring from surround-speakers.
She stood on the platform that led to the VIP floor and sighed.
Might as well go home. There's nothing for me here…, she thought.
She entered the sea of people and pushed past several couples who looked down at her in annoyance as she tried to get past them.
Before she left to go through the lobby, Sakura took one last look at the windows of the VIP room. It was crazy that on the first day of school, she had already made a friend, went to a club she couldn't afford, and even met several handsome, rich boys.
Standing in one of the rectangular windows was the boy named Sasuke.
She frowned and then gasped.
Even from where she was standing, amongst a sea of dancers, Sakura could see that the boy's stoic gaze was directed right at her.