1.
The bell rang for the start of class. Students jammed the corridors trying to make their way to their classroom. Teachers were shouting and yelling trying to maintain order amongst the unruly mob. This was always the time Sakura hated the most. So many people jammed in together, she could barely breathe.
Two of the young boys, Naruto and Rock Lee were jumping around the corridors, bouncing off people's shoulders, laughing and hi-fiving as they made their way to class.
"Come on Naruto!" Rock Lee said. "We can't be late again or Tsunade's going to kill us!"
This was their favourite time. They loved the crowded corridors, all the students and teachers pushing and pulling against each other. They were in their element. One of Naruto's favourite hobbies was trying to come up with ways to bypass all the crowds. Using some of his ninja techniques, he loved running and jumping from wall to wall, hanging from railings and using his friend Rock to help him.
Naruto was rushing past when he bounced off Sakura's shoulder. The pink-haired girl spun around.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Naruto?" she shouted.
"Sorry." Naruto replied, with a wink and sheepish grin.
Sakura huffed and then turned to Ino, who also hated the crowded corridors.
"God, Naruto is so immature."Sakura said.
"Yeah Rock Lee too. He'll never get a date if he keeps acting like this."
"Isn't he trying to date TenTen?" Sakura asked.
"Trying would be a very loose term for it, Sakura."
They both laughed, but their smiles were quickly wiped from their faces when Choji, a rather plump ninja stood in their way and both crashed face first into his stomach. The two girls tried to push him away but he outweighed them both together.
"Move Choji!" Ino cried.
"I can't" he replied.
And he was right. He really couldn't. He was stuck in the middle of three hundred people. Even his massive frame couldn't shift them.
Ino turned to Sakura, her earlier smile very much wiped off her face.
"I really hope everyone in this school would just disappear!"
"Me too!" said Sakura. "Private tuition is definitely the way to go."
2.
The students managed to get to their class. And before long the bell rang out for lunch. Sakura sighed. She enjoyed studying, especially science. She wanted to become a medic someday. What she hated was going back into the corridor and jamming into the cafeteria amongst those ravenous wolves.
Ino brought her own lunch, so Sakura thought she wouldn't bother going to the cafeteria that day and just sit down and relax. She might go hungry, but the food in the cafeteria was usually so awful that sometimes it was healthier to eat nothing at all.
Ino and Sakura sat down in an empty classroom. Sakura outstretched her arms.
"Ah, it's so peaceful and quiet here. I love it."
"Yes," Ino said, sitting down and opening her lunch box. "You should bring your own lunch more often. It beats going to the cafeteria."
"Ok, I'll remember that next time."
There was a long silence between the two as Ino was busy eating. Her lunch box was immaculately prepared. Two small rice balls with honey-glazed chicken and some little cherry tomatoes. She ate delicately with chopsticks. Ino always had a feminine manner that Sakura admired. She often wanted to be just like her.
"So," Ino started, followed by a long pause. "Are you going to tell me what's on with you and Sasuke?"
"Going on?" Sakura replied, a little taken aback. "Nothing's going on."
"Oh come, Sakura. The whole school knows you two are dating. They saw the look on his face when he saw you in the corridor. And I've never seen the look in your eye before. Is it love?"
Sakura blushed. "Love? It's hard to say. I mean, what is love?"
"Don't be stupid, Sakura! Just answer my question!"
"Ok, ok. Yeah, we're dating. I really like him. He's strong and handsome. Everyone knows he's the most technically gifted ninja in this school, right? So, it's just been a couple of months but it's going ok."
"So, should I plan to buy a new dress for your wedding?"
"No, it's nothing like that."
Sakura blushed again. She flicked her hair back and turned around to stare out the window. The sun was shining. It was such a beautiful day. Robins nesting in the tree, the sweet chirping of their young. Kids playing out on the street. The sound of laughter and happiness filled the air. It was such a perfect day.
Sakura couldn't help think about Sasuke. She couldn't help think about that dream she had. She had dreamt of him every night for the last month. But why was he a vampire? She knew vampires weren't real.
Ino tapped Sakura on the shoulder and she snapped out of her reverie.
"Yeah," Sakura said. "I love him so much. He's perfect"
Ino smiled and continued eating lunch.
3.
In the cafeteria, TenTen was eating at a table with Temari. They were sitting together as they always did for lunch, complaining about the terrible food and trying avoid the weird geeks who would try and talk to them.
"Are you ready for the big tournament, TenTen?" Temari asked.
"I hope so." TenTen replied.
There was a big fighting tournament coming up in a few days. She had been training for several weeks to get ready. It was a big deal, she was going to have to fight some of the strongest boys in the school, including Sasuke. Temari and TenTen loved the tournaments and tried to enter every time one came up. TenTen had never won a tournament and this time, she was determined to put that right.
"Who are you fighting in the first round? asked Temari.
"I think it's Rock Lee."
Temari chuckled.
"You know he has a crush on you, right."
"Yeah, but I won't let that distract me. I'm going to treat this like any other fight. He won't know what hit him."
"Just don't beat him up too bad. It won't look very good at your wedding, if he has a black eye."
"Shut up, Temari! I hate that jerk!"
Suddenly Temari was barged over by a rather plump student holding a large lunch tray. He sat down next to Temari and held his hand out in apology.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Choji?" Temari shouted.
"Sorry. There's no where else left to sit."
TenTen giggled, but Temari was not amused. She was now pushed right up against the wall and couldn't get out.
"Why don't you enter the tournament, Choji?" TenTen asked.
"No, not this year. I thought I would train, gain a little weight and then try again next year."
"A little weight?" Temari said. "You've got to be joking. TenTen, you've got to be glad Choji isn't fighting this year. He'd eat you alive."
"Come on, Temari. Choji isn't a monster. He's a nice guy"
Choji's face went bright red. He wasn't used to compliments, especially from a girl as pretty as TenTen. He always loved her little pigtails. Maybe they were meant to be together. Choji thought about it for a moment and maybe this was his girl. But one look at TenTen revealed how wrong he was. TenTen and Temari were giggling to each other. He felt more alone than ever.
Temari looked over and saw Rock Lee and Naruto come into the cafeteria. They jumped the line and took huge portions for themselves. Everyone was complaining to them but they took no notice.
"Look," said Temari. "Your boyfriend is here."
TenTen looked over and saw Rock Lee. She tried to duck down, hoping that he wouldn't see her.
"Don' say anything."
"Why?" Choji asked.
"It's ok," Temari said. "It's just TenTen is fighting Rock Lee in the tournament next week and she's a little nervous."
"Oh, ok." Choji continued eating.
Rock Lee was looking around, hoping to find TenTen. He couldn't see her, but he could see Choji with his wide back and spiky hair. Next to Choji was girl who looked like she was crushed up against the wall. He recognised her, it was Temari. He smiled. He knew Temari and TenTen always hung out together at lunch.
He sprung up and jumped on a table and screamed TenTen's name. TenTen could have died with embarrassment. He could see her now, trying to hide her face and he jumped over to her with that gleaming smile that he always had.
"TenTen, I've been trying to find you all day."
TenTen uncovered her face. She realised it was stupid trying to hide now.
"Sorry, Rock." she said. "I've just been busy. I've got a lot of assignments to do and the big tournament is coming up next week."
"Yeah I know. It's going to be great. I hope I can win. But I know our match is going to be really great. So how about going out after it's all finished? I can buy you lunch."
"I don't know Rock" TenTen said, scratching her head. "After the tournament will be exams. I have study really hard."
"Just one lunch. It can' hurt. We can study together, what do you say?"
Temari looked over at TenTen. She didn't want to butt in but she could tell TenTen was struggling to turn him down politely.
"Shouldn't you be training too?" Temari asked Rock.
"I am training. I'm eating five times a day, getting super strong and practising my new technique."
"What's that?"
"You'll have to wait and see."
"I'm really looking forward to it." TenTen said sarcastically.
The bell rang. Lunch was over.
"Class starts again." TenTen said. "I've got to go."
"So what about my offer?" Rock Lee asked.
"I'll see you at the tournament, Rock. Be ready."
Rock Lee thought about it for a moment. Maybe she really liked him. Maybe this was going to work out well after all.
Choji stood up and allowed Temari to breathe.
4.
Sasori sat alone in an empty classroom. The curtains were drawn, it was too bright. He liked it that way. There was a wooden sculpture on the desk in front of him. He sat there with a small light and a chisel in his right hand. He delicately chiseled away making the sculpture. It looked like a person. It had a perfectly round face and long flowing hair. It looked more female than male. Sasori was trying to get the details exactly perfect.
The door swung open with a bang. Sasori dropped his chisel and looked up.
"Playing with dolls again, Sasori?" Deidara said, walking into the room. He was a tall young man with long blonde hair. Sasori was shorter with short scraggly red hair. He wasn't so keen on fashion. He was more worried about his work.
"I'm not playing with dolls." Sasori said. "This is important work. You know that I'm working on a special technique to control these."
"Yes I heard about that. How's that coming along?"
"It would be better if I could get five minutes peace."
Sasori picked up his chisel again trying to make the lips as perfect as possible. Sasori was very particular about the lips. He liked rounded, full lips with plenty of colour. He scraped away at the wood as Deidara watched on. Sasori's concentration was amazing.
Sasori's concentration was only momentarily broken when he was Sakura out the corner of his eye walking down the corridor. She was whistling, pursing her lips to make a sweet tune.
Sasori wanted to make lips as perfect as hers. He knew it was possible if he tried. He stared at her a moment longer. She had stopped just in front of the door to talk to Ino. Her perfect shapely body, her flowing pink hair. She was the perfect model to build his dolls.
He was infatuated.
Deidara looked at Sasori. He could see him almost drooling and then looked across and saw Sakura and Ino.
"So, you like that girl Sakura?" Deidara asked.
"What? No, of course not. She has a boyfriend."
Deidara laughed. "You were staring at that girl for a good minute."
Sasori felt embarrassed. He wasn't used to this.
"Let's talk about your dating life then!" Sasori shouted. "Where's your girlfriend?"
Sasori shouted so loudly that Sakura and Ino could hear him in the corridor. They turned back and looked at him in disgust. He was one of the weirdos at school. One of the ones TenTen always tried to avoid at lunch. Sakura had never spoken to him before and she hoped she would never have to. Sakura hoped they weren't going to be fighting at the next training tournament.
"You sure have a way with the ladies, Sasori." Deidara said.
Sasori chiselled away at his doll, now more concentrated and focused than ever.
5.
Ino went into another classroom and Sakura walked along the corridor alone.
She was alone which was so strange since the corridors were usually so crowded. She felt something behind her, wind perhaps. It was more likely her overactive imagination. She had been having those strange dreams and hadn't been the same since.
Footsteps.
Sakura turned around but no one was there. Just the sound of a classroom door shutting behind her.
Sakura reached the stairwell and started climbing the stairs. It was a long winding staircase with a beautiful golden banister. It didn't look like it belonged at the school, more a grand cruise ship.
More Footsteps. She turned around again. Nothing.
Sakura had been reading a lot of novels too. Perhaps that's why she had been thinking about vampires so much. She was always down the library after school until it closed. She liked horror stories the best. Vampires, ghosts, monsters. She had no idea why. All her other friends were into love and romance. She was too but just recently she had found something in this new genre that really clicked with her.
At the top of the staircase, it was dark. There were just dim lights from the top of the staircase down the corridor leading to the library. She liked horror stories, but she didn't really want to be a part of one. Only if Sasuke was there with her, to protect her, she thought.
There was a loud banging sound. It seemed to be coming from the library. Sakura walked cautiously towards the library and peered in through the window. It was dark. She checked the handle. It was locked.
Sakura peered through again. SHe couldn't really see anything. Nothing clearly, anyway. Just rows and rows of books and an empty desk with a computer on it. There was nothing strange in there at all.
It was just her imagination. She turned to go back to her classroom when she heard a scream. That was definitely coming from inside the library. She tried to turn the handle again but it wouldn't open. Once more she heard the scream and the footsteps - louder and louder each time. They were getting close. They weren't behind her. Where were they?
Sakura stepped back from the door. She could feel the handle vibrate and turn slowly. Sakura's blood ran cold as she turned and bolted in the other direction.