Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would either be dead or with Sakura.
I saw your face in a crowded place, and I don't know what to do, because I'll never be with you. –"You're Beautiful", by James Blunt.
The day Haruno Sakura first met Uchiha Sasuke, nothing was going right.
That morning she had discovered that her favorite shirt had a stain on it and she had to wear her only clean shirt, which happened to be long-sleeved. At this fact, Sakura had twitched slightly, considering the fact that it was the middle of July. Nevertheless, she pulled the blue shirt covered in white butterfly prints over her hand and put on a pair of jean shorts. She tied her hair back with the red ribbon Ino had given her and slipped on her blue ninja shoes before rushing down the stairs.
When she ran downstairs, Sakura flung open the cupboard, expecting to see her favorite cereal there—Apple Jacks. She pulled out the box, and her face fell. The box was extremely light. She opened it up and uncurled the silver bag, peering into it. As she had suspected, there was nothing but a few crumbs and some spare loops that had been broken in half. Sighing, she threw the box in the trash and then grabbed a Nutri-Grain bar, wrinkling her nose at it, but taking it anyway.
On her way to the academy, Sakura managed to eat the bar and wipe the crumbs off of her shirt. It was then that a shopkeeper who knew her family well waved to her. The woman was kind and often gave Sakura free candy, so Sakura looked back and waved, grinning. However, she had apparently forgotten that she was running, and tripped over a rock while her head was turned. She fell to the ground with a loud "OOF!".
Suddenly she felt a stinging sensation in her right leg. She winced in pain, sitting up to assess the damage she had taken when she had fallen. She looked down at her knee that was now sporting brand new bloody scratches and groaned. Sakura sighed and got up, half running and half limping to school, blood slowly dribbling down her leg.
Due to her scratches and her visit to the nurse's office for a band-aid and first aid ointment, Sakura was late to her academy class. After her teacher, Miss Suzume, a woman with thick glasses and frizzy black hair, gave her a lecture on the importance of being a punctual shinobi, Sakura took her seat next to her best friend Yamanaka Ino, who had placed her hand on the seat next to her to hold it for Sakura until she arrived.
"What happened?" Ino asked quietly while Miss Suzume was writing on the bored. She pointed a thin finger with a painted blue nail towards her bandage.
"It's a long story, I'll tell you—" Sakura did not get to finish her sentence, as Miss Suzume cut her off.
"Miss Haruno! Do you have something you would like to share with the class!" Suzume pushed her glasses up with her index finger, her crimson red lips pursed in an expression that said, 'they don't pay me enough to do this job'.
"N-No." Sakura stammered. For the rest of the lesson, she kept quiet, hoping that her day would get better from here. However, it didn't, because when the bell rang for lunch, Sakura stood up, only to hear a disgusting squishing noise from behind her, and then giggles, and finally, the sound of three pairs of feet clomping away.
"Why you little--!" Ino's voice rang behind her. Sakura turned to Ino and blinked confusedly. Ino sighed, shaking her head.
"…Aa, Sakura… Gum."
"What?" Sakura arched her brow, confused.
"Ami. She just put gum. In your hair."
"NANI!" Sakura reached up, and, just as Ino had said, there was a large wad of bright pink, sickly sweet smelling gum. She twitched slightly, and then bit her lip, feeling tears well up in her eyes. Her nose stung as she tried to hold her tears back. Ino saw this and patted her friend on the back.
"Calm down, I'll cut it out. I'm a good stylist!" Ino winked and grabbed a pair of scissors from Miss Suzume's desk. Within a few seconds, Sakura's hair was gum free.
"Wow, thanks, Ino!" Sakura giggled slightly and the two girls headed out to lunch. They had decided to eat lunch at Ino's today, and were headed there when a girl called Ino's name. The blonde girl turned and saw one of her other friends calling her over.
"I'll be right back, Sakura—why don't you go ahead and I'll meet you there!" Sakura nodded and Ino smiled before running into the crowd.
Sakura watched her friend's mop of blonde hair vanish into the crowd and then turned around. The streets were scary to her—so many big people all around her. She felt tiny, as if they could squash her, not to mention that her stupid long sleeved shirt was making her sweat in the ninety five degree heat. She tugged at her collar and struggled through the crowd towards the Yamanaka flower shop. As she got further from the restaurant, the people grew less in numbers and Sakura could finally navigate at her best.
Suddenly, her leg caught another person's leg and she fell forward onto her face for the second time that day. She felt her nose stinging again and was about to start crying when suddenly, a pale hand extended to her. She blinked and then looked up. Her face turned crimson as she saw the boy who stood before her.
She had never seen him before—he was handsome, or maybe even beautiful. Sakura blinked again, her seafoam green eyes meeting his onyx ones. His hair was black with maybe just a hint of blue, and his skin was pale and creamy. His hands looked rough from working, and he wore ninja shoes—a sure sign that he was a shinobi like her. But he was so young… he had to be in the academy with her—but Sakura had never seen him around. Who was he?
"Are you going to take my hand, or not?"
She was pulled from her daze by his voice—deep for a boy his age. "What? Oh, oh… Right…" She turned a deeper shade of red and grabbed his hand. He hoisted her up and looked her up and down, taking in her appearance. She blushed harder and began to stare at her shoes as if they were immensely interesting. There was a moment of awkward silence, and then she spoke again.
"…I'm Haruno Sakura, who are you?"
He mumbled something like "Uchiha Sasuke." While looking away, a tint of pink on his cheeks.
"Sorry, I didn't catch—"
"SAKURA!"
The pink haired girl whirled around and saw Ino, waving to her as she pushed her way through the crowd. Sakura grinned and waved back.
"Are you okay? Oh, no, your elbows—" Ino yanked Sakura's elbows out and tutted like a mother. "Sakura, you fell again, huh? Gah, you're such a clutz."
"Oh, it's okay, this nice boy helped me up! Ino, I'd like you to meet—" However, when Sakura turned to point to him, she frowned. The boy had vanished suddenly, like he had simply disappeared into thin air. Sakura arched her brow.
"Huh? What is it, Sakura?" Ino looked at her friend puzzledly.
"…Nothing, Ino." Sakura looked towards her friend again, smiling.
"Okay, then, c'mon! My mom made dango for desert!" Ino grinned and pulled Sakura by the arm into the Yamanaka household.
Sakura however, turned and looked back at the spot where the boy had been. She frowned slightly, and then shook her head. She turned back to Ino and ran inside.
The day Haruno Sakura first met Uchiha Sasuke, everything went right.