The front doors of Aburame high school were giant cherry wood monstrosities. They each weighed a good ton and a half. Or at least that's what it felt like to a certain frail green eyed girl. Each and every morning she arrived to school just a bit more than fashionably late, thus the doors were no longer propped open to allow easy entrance to the students. Opening them all by itself was not a task that proved to difficult, however, when it was stacked onto the fact that she had to do it all the while toting a bag full of text books and juggle a coffee and car keys in one hand, it became something she absolutely loathed.
Sakura Haruno had been attending Aburame high since her freshman year of high school and this was her senior year. She was enrolled in all the highest honors classes and was determined to get a high end scholarship to a major university that was anywhere but here.
As Sakura stood atop the steps in front of the doors to her school struggling to make her way inside, the doors suddenly flew open to reveal Naruto Uzumaki, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a florescent orange T-shirt that hugged him maybe just a bit tighter than necessary. He threw up his hand in a quick wave as he ran past her, she made a move to slink inside the door before it closed but her plans were foiled by the three boys that came running out after him.
Sakura recognized them all almost instantly. Firstly there was Kiba on Naruto's heels almost instantly, dressed in his blue and white Aburame High Basketball uniform. Second there was Lee, who always wore a determined look, but looked even more focused at the present moment as he chased his two friends. He smiled animatedly at Sakura for just a moment before tossing his Green Letter-man jacket to the side and taking off again- quickly over stepping Kiba. The third boy was none other than Shikamaru- he stopped at the bottom of the stairs and took a seat, watching with a bored expression as his friends all ran around like maniacs, crashing into the cherry blossom trees that were scattered around the green of the campus and leaving everything flaked with variations of pinks. Shikamaru was lazy- Sakura knew that much from gym class, so it didn't surprise her that he sat out from his groups current antics.
She lost her thoughts as she watched the boys parading around campus acting like, well like a bunch of high school boys- who were drunk and or high. Sakura didn't know any of them very well, except for Naruto, and she knew that Naruto would never do drugs. They had been friends since they were in elementary school and he had moved from a new town into Konoha. No one was nice to him at first, except for Sakura. They didn't hang out as much as they had in the past but they were still good friends. Sakura sighed as she watched them begin to wrestle around in the array of petals scattered about. She turned to walk through the door that for some reason or another she expected to still be open, only to find that of course, it was closed.
Sakura huffed and set her bag down, tossing her keys into it lightly, she took a sip of her coffee set that down to and grabbed the door handle with both hands- it came swinging open and she lost her balance. She fell backwards and right into the back of Shikamaru who let out a surprised a curse fell forward down the remaining stone stairs. Sakura was relieved that she herself didn't fall down any stairs thanks to Shikamaru being a blockade. She quickly got up and dusted herself off, hoping that no one saw but knowing that there was no the boys had missed it. She turned to face the green on which they were wrestling only to find that they had all made their way over to where Shikamaru had been planted. He was currently standing up with an annoyed look on his face as Naruto approached Sakura. She smiled sheepishly at him and mouthed oops- but Naruto looked beyond annoyed.
"Watch what you're doing teme!" He screamed at her as he walked by, she turned on her heel sending the white gypsy skirt she was wearing flaring out in all directions, so she could ask Naruto why he had just called her a bastard. But what she saw was Naruto screaming in the face of a boy who was a good 3 inches taller than he was at 5''11.
"Tch." Was the only response that came from the boy who was standing in front of Naruto wearing an expression that was as blank as Sakura had ever seen. His eyes were onyx and set underneath perfectly arched eyebrows of the same color. His hair was blacker than a ravens feathers- and he had long bangs that framed his face naturally and messily- the back of his hair was wild and it stuck up in the back reminding her of the tail end of a chicken or maybe a duck. His lips pulled up into a small smirk and he took his hands out of the pockets of his baggy dark blue jeans and crossed them over his chest.
Sakura recognized him instantly as well. He was Sasuke Uchiha.
"Sasuke!" Naruto said even louder than before, "You need to apologize! She could have been seriously hurt!" Sakura watched as Naruto mimicked Sasuke's previous actions and crossed his own arms over his chest only when he did it the muscles didn't stand out against his pale skin- maybe because he wasn't pale and maybe because he was in a t-shirt not a black wife beater...a painted on black wife beater.
Sakura shook her head and looked into the eyes of Sasuke- he was looking at her as well and he wore the same blank expression- his jaw was clenched and the veins in his neck stood out. She smiled at him shyly and shook her head.
"It's um- it's okay Naruto. Don't worry about it!" She said as she laughed nervously and waved her hands in front of her as if to dismiss the situation.
Naruto seemed to contemplate what she had said and rolled his eyes a moment later. He shook his head at Sasuke who was now smirking and had stuffed his hands back into the pockets of his pants. Naruto mumbled something that sounded like 'teme stupid' and 'effect on females'.
"You heard her Dobe." Sasuke said in a voice that was so very much like velvet or honey that Sakura didn't know if she wanted to sleep in it or eat it- both of which were impossible. She shook the thought away and made a mental note that it was insanely creepy to have any sort of thoughts like that.
"Ehh-" Naruto tried to protest but Sasuke cut him off.
"It was her own fault anyway." He eyed Sakura with just a spark of annoyance in his eyes- the first emotion she'd ever seen them portray. Sure she knew ho he was, she'd seen him around before. He had been a senior twice now, this was his third round- but no one thought he was dumb. Partially because all of the females in the school viewed him a God of some kind. Sakura never had.
Of course she thought he was attractive- and just now she had realized that he had a voice equally as alluring. However, that didn't mean that she viewed him as a God. He was just a guy, a guy who was obviously going nowhere. Sakura raised an eyebrow at him and put her hands on her hips.
"You listen to me!" She said in a tone that hinted at the fact that she was now offended, "It was not my fault that you threw open the doors and sent me an innocent bystander flying backwards and almost down a flight of stairs."
Naruto looked amused, and Sakura knew it was because no one ever talked to Sasuke in any sort of way that could possibly upset him or challenge what he had said. Especially not a girl. Sasuke just raised a brow at her and the smirk he wore so perfectly appeared again on his clean features.
"What kind of idiot stands in front of a door?" He said to her in a tone that hinted he actually believed she was some sort of imbecile.
"I was trying to go to school!" She shouted as she took a step toward him and jabbed her pointer finger into his chest. "So don't you-"
He grabbed her hand quickly but surprisingly gently and then proceeded to throw it backwards, his eyes now clearly portrayed annoyance and the smirk was gone.
"Don't touch me." He said, and his voice was cutting.
Sakura tried to pretend that it didn't affect her in anyway- but in truth she was shocked and a little upset. He had no reason to be so mean to her, she didn't do anything wrong.
"You-" She paused trying to find something to call him, she could find nothing and so she settled with saying you a few more times before Naruto patronizingly patted her on the head- much to the amusement of Sasuke.
Sakura gave a flustered huff and crossed her arms over her pale pink tank top. She didn't miss the way that Sasuke's eyes flickered to her chest momentarily and she blushed and turned her head- hoping he didn't notice the pink tinge on her cheeks. Of course he did though.
"You hair matches your face." He said smugly before he took his leave of them and walked back inside the building- Sakura could help but notice how he one handedly threw the door open like it was nothing. Was she really that weak? She sighed- because she knew the answer was yes.
"Sasuke got you flustered?" She heard from behind her. She turned to look at the source of the voice- Kiba Inuzuka. He was wearing a smirk that she knew was meant to be teasing- but she still didn't like it. Because the answer to his question was yes- and she didn't understand why.
"No." She said cheerily putting on a smile and waving her hands around yet again, "He was just being...um kidding?"
"He was being kidding?" Shikamaru said boredom coloring his tone as usual.
"Uh, well I just meant that he was kidding...haha." She said uncertainly moving her hand to the back of her head.
"Oh yeah?" Kiba said, his smirk growing wider, "That's funny because last I checked Sasuke didn't 'kid'. He's just an asshole."
"Oh." Sakura said, and much to her displeasure the defeat was clear in her tone, "That's what I thought..."
"It's okay!" Kiba said slinging his arm around her nearly bare shoulder, his tan skin contrasting strikingly against her own milky complexion. "Sasuke flusters all girls."
"I'm not one of those girls." She said honestly, "I far from worship the ground that he walks on, in fact, I think he's a loser."
"Really?" Kiba said, noticeably on the verge of hysterical laughter, "That's awesome!"
Sakura smiled lightly as she politely stepped out from underneath the weight of his arm and toward her stuff that had much to her dismay been splayed out all over the stone perch in front of the doors. Her coffee was tipped over and and the last few drops were dripping onto the cement slowly.
"Darn it." She said leaning down to put her books back in her back, but Naruto was there first and had them all gathered quickly. They stood up and he kicked her empty foam coffee cup lightly off of the edge. He smiled at her and handed her her bag.
"Sasuke teme owes you a coffee Sakura!" He said reassuringly and she smiled at him and shook her head.
"Oh no no." She said, "Thanks for picking up my stuff though Naruto!"
"No problem Sakura!" He smiled brightly as he threw his hand back behind his blonde head and closed his bright blue eyes. Naruto was so carefree- and overall just a caring person.
"Well I really do need to go to class now, it was nice to see you guys!" She grabbed the doors and heaved them open before Kiba grabbed it and smiled down at her.
"Naruto-" He said, "Go get Lee off of the ground."
Sakura looked over and realized that she hadn't even noticed how Lee had been sprawled out awkwardly admiring the cherry blossom petals that adorned the surface of the green grass- she shuddered inwardly, he was just a little creepy. She thanked Kiba and headed toward her classroom- it was still first hour which meant she had English, but it was already 9 o'clock which meant there were only about 5 minutes left until second hour. So she wandered the halls for a few minutes and walked up to the second floor where her locker was located, she put her bag inside and closed the door. She didn't need anything from her locker until her fourth hour so there was no need to tote it around until then.
She decided as she walked into her second hour art class that Sasuke was a jerk- just as she'd always suspected and that he was definitely a loser. She didn't care that he was gorgeous, because his ugliness on the inside had stained his physical appearance in her eyes. Well, not entirely. She laughed a little to herself about what a waste it had been that God would have created someone so beautiful and then entrusted the devil with giving him a personality. It was a cruel joke on the female species- and Sakura was glad that she was immune.
As the day progressed Sakura realized that she had been thinking about Sasuke more and more- she blamed it on the fact that she didn't go two seconds without hearing his name, followed by a very inaccurate statement about what a wonderful guy he was. It wasn't her fault that when she heard these things, she had to disagree.
One incident in particular that had rubbed her the wrong way was when her very own best friend had decided to go on a rant about just how miraculous the guy was. Sakura had already known that her bleached blonde supermodel friend was a member of the Sasuke fan-club- but she never spoke about it in front of Sakura. It was an unspoken rule between them, Ino knew that she thought it was stupid and annoying and Sakura never told her she thought it was. They rarely fought and they never wanted to step on the others toes.
So when Ino had approached her with a guarded look on her face during their history class Sakura was ready for bad news- not gushing about Sasuke the Messiah.
"Sakura!" Ino had said matter-o-factly. As she took a seat next to her best friend of over 10 years. The pinkette turned her head and raised her brows to let her know that she had her full attention. "Listen here forehead." The blonde said as her pastel blue eyes sparkled dangerously, "I know that you hate Sasuke talk, but Karin isn't here today and I need someone to gush to or I will explode."
"...Fine Pig." Sakura said dejectedly as she leaned back in her seat and folded her arms beneath her chest. "Shoot, I'm all ears."
"Okay!" Ino said, perking up instantly and clapping her manicured hands together, she leaned in toward Sakura and crossed fishnet clad legs- Ino dressed like she was going to the club everyday of her life. Currently she was in a top that looked like it had been dipped in purple glitter and then glued onto her body- scratch that, it looked like Ino had rolled around in glue and then rolled around in glitter, you couldn't tell there was fabric between the air and her skin. She was in a pair of tight black short shorts- personally Sakura thought that the fishnet tights were an unnecessary addition to the outfit- as well as the knee high black boots. Of course Sakura loved Ino to death, but they were polar opposites when it came to fashion, and apparently guys.
"Soooo!" Ino said interrupting Sakura's thoughts, "Did you by chance see him today?"
"Uh-" Sakura hesitated, and then shook her head,
"Okay well, Sakura! He is in a wife beater and I mean it is painted on! Have you seen the tattoo on his upper back? Have you seen his freaking sleeve? On his left arm?"
"Uh- no." Sakura said dumbly, and honestly she hadn't- she hadn't noticed any tattoo's and she couldn't picture them now even as Ino was telling her that they were there. She never would have known.
"Well anyway!" The blonde went on flipping a strand of her waist length platinum hair over her shoulder, "They are soooo sexy! Sakura he is so toned- God what I wouldn't give to just run my hands along those muscles- mmm."
"That's it!" Sakura said standing from her seat and throwing her arms up in utter defeat, "Call Karin! Call her! I cannot, I repeat cannot handle this drooling anymore!"
"But Sakura!" Ino pouted, "He is so-"
"He is such an ass Ino, he's mean to people for no reason at all. He is so rude, he is on his third senior year dammit!"
"But-"
"No." Sakura said holding her finger up to her friends glossy lips and then pulling it away and rubbing the gloss off of her finger and onto her skirt instead. "He's nothing Ino. Just nothing."
"Wow Sakura." Ino said crossing her arms over her chest and smirking faintly, "You're a little bit defensive there...I think you may be in denial!"
Sakura's face turned deadly and she stormed away from her friend quickly- got a pass from the teacher to go to the library and tried to think of a reason that she had gotten as defensive as she did. She decided it was simple. He was a jerk to her, he spilled her coffee and he called her an idiot all because he knocked her down. Yeah, that was it- she was just mad that anyone would give any sort of praise to someone so rude. She was only mad because he was rude- she repeated it a thousand times over in her head and then a thousand more.
She proudly stuck to that logic until her off hour 7th period, on which she decided to walk to one of the stores that was close by to pick up something to drink and possibly something to munch on.
As she made her way down the street she relaxed into a very slow paced tempo, just taking in the beautiful day- that was until her eyes fell upon a group of boys, all gathered around something on the sidewalk. She wanted to just go around them, but her curiosity got the best of her and she picked up pace to join in their circle. As she walked the wind blew her mid- back length soft pink hair out behind her, along with her long white skirt. She felt sort of like a ghost as her hair and clothing was swirled around her, she didn't know why except for that it felt sort of mythical. She reached the circle of boys quickly- anxious to see what was going on.
She pushed against the shoulders of several different boys- in order to squeeze her small frame into the front of the group. The boy's were all circled around a small rabbit, it was obviously injured- and Sakura was horrified at the way they were laughing. The poor thing was obviously scared, and she could only guess that it didn't try to run away because either it couldn't or it had already tried and they had stopped it enough times (in ways she didn't want to think about) that it had learned it had no option but to stay put.
The bunny's leg was twisted and it was bleeding from it's front paw. She went up to the creature despite the protests around her and she reached out to it- understandably and expectantly it shied away from her touch. Sakura had always wanted to be a doctor- she just had the natural urge to help people, to help anything. Currently, her caring instincts were telling her that she needed to save this poor white rabbit that was no bigger than a kitten. She shook her head sadly when she reached for it a second time and saw the fear so very obvious in it's big dark eyes. She picked it up and she was thankful that it didn't bite her, even though she was prepared for it to. As she cradled the small animal in her arms and felt it's body shaking she turned to the boys.
"What the heck did you do to this poor baby?" She yelled at them all accusingly. She could feel her cheeks flushing with anger as she looked at their remorseful expressions. One boy came forward and spoke to her on the rest of their behalves.
"We found it like this Pinky, calm down." He had red hair and dark eyeliner around his ocean blue eyes. His expression was not blank like Sasuke's- his expression was murderous, and suddenly Sakura realized she didn't know who these boys were and she didn't know what they were capable of. She tried to think of a way to get out the situation she had landed herself in and came up with nothing. There was no way they would just stand by and let her reach for her phone if they were dangerous, then again they may not be dangerous- but she didn't know if she wanted to risk finding out. She just wanted to get out of there, but she wanted to hold her ground- rule number one, never let anyone know if they scare you, they'll use it to their advantage.
"Well-" She paused for a moment and put on the same brave face she had used when facing the intimidating Sasuke Uchiha earlier that day. "Well!" She started again in a much braver voice and with a much stronger face, "Why is he hurt? And why didn't you let him go!"
"It's just a fuckin' rabbit Pinky!" A voice she didn't recognize called to her from the crowd, she didn't bother to look for the voice, she stayed focused on the red headed boy that she was currently speaking to.
"Well?" She said to him, her green eyes scrutinizing.
"You'd better go." He said to her, "You're pissing me off." And with that he reached into her arms and snatched the rabbit from her grasp- he snapped it's neck in one quick motion and threw the carcass at her. He had a devilish smirk adorning his thin lips as he assessed her expression and then noticed the tears well up in her eyes. "You need to learn not to but your head into other peoples business Pinky."
"It was just a helpless-" She struggled to keep her composure as she looked down at the dead bunny that lay at her feet.
She looked up and felt the tears running down her cheeks, "You are such an ass! How dare you take somethings life away from it like that!" She was screaming now and the tears were vigorously streaming down her cheeks. She heard the rest of the boys in the crowd start laughing mildly and talking amongst themselves about what an idiot she was.
"Fuck off." The red head said to her, "Or else."
"Or else!" Sakura yelled, she knew that she should just leave and call Naruto as soon as possible, but she was in such a rage and so emotionally wrecked that she was not listening to the wiser side of her conscious mind. She looked at the red head again and she charged him and smacked him straight across his face. She stepped back immediately shocked and afraid of the outcome to what she had just done. When the boy turned his head toward her, he was seething and his eyes were narrowed into slits.
Sakura ran, trying to reach the corner of the street that was no more than 20 yards away- but still a gamble. She turned and she fled as fast as she could toward the store she had been meaning to go to in the first place. She risked a glance behind her and saw that the group of boys was hot on her trail, she willed her body to go into overdrive and she begged her adrenaline to kick in- but she knew that it was a vain hope and she was terrified because she felt her muscles locking up as she neared the corner of the street.
If only there were cars on the street she knew that she would be saved, but the street was dead- and she feared that she may be too. She knew that she looked like quite a sight- her hair was flying wildly, her face was beat red and sweat was cascading down her body- not only that but she had gathered her long flowing skirt up in her hands and held it at her thighs so she could run better with less of a chance of tripping and being caught. Her arms were slicing through the wind as she ran but she could feel the boys only steps behind her- she knew that all they had to do was reach out and their fingers would probably brush the ends of her pastel locks.
"Get her!" She heard one of them say from far too close behind her- there were responses that ranged from 'kill that bitch' to
'let's teach her a lesson' to 'this could be fun'. And as Sakura turned the corner sharply, she exhaled heavily and let out a piercing scream.
"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASUUUUUKE!"
Maybe he'd been on her mind after all...