Chapter 1

Sakura took a deep breath of the moist Costa Rican air and smiled. She closed her eyes and pointed her head up at the sun, somehow wondering if it was the same sun she saw back in New York, her pink hair swayed in the warm breeze.

"Here we are." Her cousin, Esteban said in his thick Spanish accent like it wasn't obvious already. He always seemed to be practicing his English. He needed to since he owned the hotel Sakura was standing in front of. The tourists needed an English-speaking person.

The hotel was not very big and it was only a few miles from the nearest town. The road to the hotel was full of rocks so you needed to have a big car that could handle it. It was more like and inn per say. All the rooms were all in several big cabins placed on the way to the bottom where the front counter was. All the way at the bottom were the dining room and a swimming pool. Way past the hotel was a mine and farther off was a luxury of wildlife and a full rain forest.

Sakura came to volunteer here like she had done almost every summer since her cousin owned it and because she loved this country so much. The only way she could come here or even afford it is if she volunteered here. Her sister, Sayu, didn't want to get her nails dirty. She only wished that it was summer here like it was in New York instead she had to spend her time in Costa Rica during the rainy season while everybody else went to places where the sun shone all day. But of course she had to deal with what she had.

She placed all her stuff in her bedroom and went outside to start helping out. None of the tourists had come already but they were sure to come sooner or later. Sakura decided to relax while she could. She was happy that she could come all alone without her family. Sure, she had a cool family but she needed a break from time to time. If she hadn't been seventeen, her parents would have probably made her younger sister go with her. But Sayu had better things to do, like hang out with her boyfriend more.

Sakura stretched as the sun shone through her light curtains and on her face. Since it was winter, the sun went down early and it came up incredibly early. Around 5:00 she was already out of bed and dressed to go downstairs and wait at the restaurant.



It was empty…and boring. There was nothing to do and no one to talk to. She passed time waiting for customers to arrive-- if they ever did --by cleaning the pool, checking the rooms, rehearsing her Spanish etc. A bit after midday, when Sakura was just about to drop dead from boredom, Esteban walked up to her followed by what looked like tourists, white ones at that.

"Sakura," Esteban called her name when he reached her. "These are the Uchihas; would you please show them around?"

"Sure." She responded. "No problem."

"Finally!" The Lady that looked like the mother said. "Someone who speaks proper English!"

Esteban fumed as he walked away and Sakura immediately didn't like her, although it was amusing the way Esteban got mad.

Just because you come to another country doesn't mean that everybody has to speak your language fluently. Sakura thought to her. She was rich and spoiled, Sakura could tell at a glance. She put on her well-practiced fake smile and motioned them to follow her.

The little boy, who was around 6 years old, ran in front. She toured the family of four around showing them everything, including the old mine and demonstrated her knowledge on the plants and animals all around.

"Hey look at this." Sakura called over to the boy. She bent down and pointed at small plants with tiny leaves. "These are called Dormilonas because when you touch them, they pulled back as if they were going to sleep." She put a finger on the plant and it scrunched up. The little boy gasped and put his hand out to touch another who pulled back the same way.

"Mommy, look!" He said happily pointing at the plants.

"Yes, Stanley I saw." His mother said but really she was looking at her husband who was looking afraid of the monkey grunts coming from below.

Stanley headed over to the small pond and looked inside as if there might be something even more extraordinary than what Sakura just showed him. She led them away from the pond, going higher and they met a tub.



"This water is very special because if comes from around the volcano," She pointed to the large mountain. "It's the perfect temperature and people say it's supposed to have healing powers... But I don't believe in that."

"Sasuke is the superstitious one in our family." Mr. Uchiha said as he put his hand on the shoulder of his son. He looked around Sakura's age, if not older. "He is a fool for such things."

"Dad." Sasuke growled. He turned his cold glare to Sakura as if he were warning her not to tell anyone. She felt self-conscious under his gaze in her tank top and short shorts but decided not to think about it.

"Well, we're done." Sakura sighed and rearranged her gaze to the tub where Stanley was awing at the temperature. "We're back at the beginning."

"Thank you." The lady said. "My name is Lorelei and that is my husband Josh. These are my sons Sasuke and Stanley. And your name is?"

"I'm Sakura Haruno." She replied quickly. "Have a great stay." She concluded and quickly walked away. If she stayed any longer she was afraid they'll make her their personal servant for their stay at the hotel.

Another group of college tourists arrived, speaking Spanish. Usually the people that came to the hotel were either local or from United States. The rest of the day passed by uneventfully until Sakura found Stanley by the pond, all alone.

"What are you doing here all alone, Stanley?" Sakura approached him slowly.

"My brother won't play with me so I hide from him." She smiled at his weird conjugation of the verb to hide.

"Don't worry, when you want to play, you can just come to me and I'll play with you, okay?" Stanley's face turned from glum to glad. "But don't tell your brother, he might get jealous." Stanley nodded happily.

"Stanley!" A voice called from far away. "Oh God, where is that kid? Stanley! Mom, wants you back, Stan—"Sasuke came into sight from behind a bush. "Come here Stanley." He ordered.



"No," Stanley said fiercely. "Sakura said she'll play with me" Sakura wanted to tell Stanley to shut up. He'll most likely get her into trouble but the only thing she could do was smile innocently.

"Stanley, go to Mom. Now!" Stanley couldn't resist the sternness in his voice. He ran away crying in the direction Sasuke was pointing.

"What are you doing? Perverting my brother." He frowned at Sakura. "Don't talk to my brother. You might give him weird ideas."

"Excuse me, asshole." Sakura said before she could stop herself. Sasuke looked astonished. "He didn't have anyone to play with so I offered to play with him. I wasn't perverting him. If you don't want me to talk to him then why don't you play with him?"

"He shouldn't play with the likes of you and I don't have time." Sasuke's voice was so low it felt like the rumbling of the earth.

"I don't like the way you're speaking to me. I have feelings just like you do." Sakura raised her voice instead of lowered it like Sasuke was doing.

"Don't compare your feelings to mine." He growled, suddenly very angry. "You're just a low-class person. You have no idea how I feel."

"Exactly! I am a person and just because you happen to be richer than me, it doesn't mean you have the right to acknowledge me in that way and crush my feelings."

"I pay you for your services so you should do what I say. How dare you speak to me like that?" He turned to walk away.

"It doesn't matter. If you respect me, I'll respect you. Jerk." She could see his ears going red with anger.

The sooner he leaves the better, that asswipe.

(A/N: I know it's weird because they're Japanese in Costa Rica but this is fan fiction, people deal with it!)