Ch.1 Home, sweet home

Lines – Speaking

Lines – Thoughts

Lines – Inner thought

Lines - Flashback

"Mom? Where are we going this time?" asked an eighteen year old, pink haired, emerald eyed girl.

"We're going to our hometown, Sakura, dear, to Konoha." her mother answered with a smile.

"…" She was shock-struck.

"Sakura? Sakura! Are you listening to me? Sakura?" Mrs. Haruno shook her by the shoulder, but still couldn't get an answer from her daughter. "Sakura are you ok? Sakura!!! What happened? Can you hear me?"

That's right… She fainted. But not from illness or anything. She fainted of happiness. She hadn't been to her hometown Konoha in quite a while. Ten years to be exact. She missed her friends very much. Especially Ino Yamanaka, her blond haired, ice eyed best friend, which most likely moved too, because Sakura couldn't contact her in any way. And don't forget her other girl friends, like the shy midnight haired, pearl eyed Hyuuga heiress Hinata, or her favorite chocolate eyed brunette tomboy friend Tenten, or Tennie, as Sakura liked to call her.

Of course Sakura had other friends, like Naruto Uzumaki, the blond haired sapphire eyed ramen lover, that had a major crush on her. There was Shikamaru Nara – the laziest guy on earth, with black eyes and dark hair, also known as the cloud-watching genius. He is also called pineapple-head because of the way he puts his hair, whch is a high ponytail that looks like pineapple. Neji Hyuuga – Hinata's pearl eyed brunet cousin, also a genius, puts his hair in a lose pigtail. Kiba Inuzuka, the dog-boy with triangular marks on both his cheeks. He has a cute dog named Akamaru, which is Kiba's best friend. Choji Akimichi – the always-eating boy with red hair, but is very sweet and kind of cute. Last, but not least is Sasuke Uchiha – the most handsome boy you could ever meet: raven hair, onyx eyes and flawless features – a dream. The day before Sakura left Konoha, they had a major fight, which left not the best of memories of him to Sakura.

They were about two hours away from town Konoha, so Sakura had that much time to herself, 'cause as soon as they get there, there's gonna be so much to do that she simply wouldn't have the time. Sakura smiled absentmindedly at the thought of going back to the good old Konoha, to her friends, her memories, her childhood memories.

She remembered how they used to run around playing tag or hide and seek and such. Yeah… Those were the good old days… No responsibilities, no worries, no nothing – just being a child you once were. What could be better for an eight-year-old than running around all day with your friends? But this is the past and now is the present. Sakura has a lot to get used too. They are the best friends a person could ask for… Or at least they used to be. She could only imagine what they were like now. Most important, will they accept her after all these years?

This question was bugging her ever since she was told they were going back.

"Sakura? Are you asleep?" Mr. Haruno asked. "Sakura, dear?" Mrs. Haruno asked shaking her by the arm.

"Huh? What is it? Are we there yet?" asked Sakura in a sleepy tone while rubbing her eyes.

Her mother chuckled. "I thought you were asleep. Sorry to wake you up." she smiled apologetically.

"I was asleep? For how long?" she asked taken aback.

"We're almost there. Just about 20 minutes left. You can go back to sleep if you want."

"Thanks, dad. I think I slept enough for now." She said before hugging her father from behind his seat. He rubbed her arm in response, smiling.

They were driving down the highway when Sakura was listening to music on her iPod when she noticed a motorcycle on her left.

"Damn! I want one just like this one!" her inner self yelled.

"What the- I thought I got rid of you?"

"Apparently not for good." her inner replied.

"Oh shut up, you!" she yelled at her inner and heard no reply.

She focused on that bike beside her. She smiled when the driver waved at her. There was something about him, that looked familiar, but she couldn't put a finger on what it was. Before she knew it, the guy, as she concluded, sped off. She sighed.

"Sakura, look!" her mother said smiling while pointing to a now-in-sight town. "We're almost there."

"Sakura, smile. What's the worst that could happen in your new school?" her dad asked.

"I can get his by a basketball in Gym?" she said smiling sheepishly. Everybody laughed.

"Who knows? Maybe you'll meet someone finally?" Her mother suggested making Sakura blush madly.

"Mom…" Sakura pouted.

"What? It's just an innocent suggestion." Mrs. Haruno said a bit offended, but smiling nonetheless.

"Ok, calm down ladies. We're already here." Mr. Haruno said as soon as the car stopped.

Sakura got out of the car and was shock-struck. "…This is it?... Our new house?... "

"Yes, dear. This one's ours." Mrs. Haruno said while hugging Sakura encouragingly. "Let's go. We still need to unpack and it's your first day of school in two days." Sakura nodded and they all made their way inside.

"This place is huge!" Yelled Sakura in an empty hallway. She smiled. "Mom?! Which one is my room?"

"The one you like, dear!" Her mother yelled back. After that she heard a loud 'found it' in response and smiled.

Sakura entered her new room. It was painted in a light cream color. There was a huge window with a wide window sill, which was very convenient since she likes to sit on the sill when sleepless and look into the distance or at the stars if the weather is nice. Of course there was a big bed and a nightstand, a computer desk with a chair and the floor was carpeted. There was a big board for pictures and stuff just above the desk. And of course a dresser.

She put the box with her belongings on the floor and took out her laptop and switched it on. She opened her playlist and put on her favorite songs. On the first place was, of course, 'It's Alright, It's Ok' by Ashley Tisdale.

She started singing along with the song as she was unpacking when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, hey, hey! How's my lil' sister doing?" asked a voice.

"Temari? How's it going? How are the boys?" she exclaimed smiling widely while turning down the music.

"I'm good, but they keep bugging me 'bout calling you to say they miss you, big time." The black eyed girl laughed shaking her head and making her blond hair sway with every shake. She wore her hair in four pigtails.

"Really? Uh, man… I miss you guys too. I can't believe my parents made me go with them." She said in a sad, yet irritated tone while lying down on her bed.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine, besides, there are always the net and the phone, so we're cool."

"Yeah you're right, but it's still not the same as actually talking to you in person."

"Sigh… You're right. But hey! Maybe we could visit each other? Remember the sleepovers, the parties and stuff?"

"Yeah… Those were the days…" she paused. "My mom said that my old friends are going to the same high school as I'm gonna go. Maybe I won't be as lonely." Sakura said with hope.

"It'll be fun, believe me. There's gonna be a lot to do, and before you know it, we'll meet again." she said hinting to something.

"Wait… What are you getting to?" she asked confused.

Temari laughed. "Don't worry. You'll learn soon. All in due time, my friend. All in due time… Everything's gonna be fine."

"Ok… If you say so…"

"I know so." she laughed again. "Oh! I must be distracting you from unpacking, aren't I?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm just starting so don't blame yourself."

"Ok. Well. Gotta go before Gaara gets home from his date- Oops! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"Gaara's on a date? Let me guess. It's Matsuri right?" Sakura squealed and sat up.

"Ouch! You don't have to squeal in my ear you know! But yeah. It's Matsuri. She came here with her parents for the weekend… Man, I'm so dead!"

"I'm so happy for them! Ok, I gotta go unpack. I can hear my mom coming upstairs looking for me."

"Yeah, bye!"

"Oh! Temari?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck with Gaara. You'll need it."

"Thanks. See you soon." She hung up.

"Bye." She too hung up and turned up the volume of the music and continued to unpack.

*Knock. Knock*

"Come in, Mom!" she yelled.

"Sakura, I'm about to go prepare dinner, but I forgot to buy some of the ingredients I need. Would you be a dear and fetch them for me?" she asked in an apologetic tone.

"Uh… Sure, Mom. Only one question… Where's the store?" she grinned sheepishly.

"It's in 5 minutes of walk West. You can't miss it." Mrs. Haruno smiled.

"Thanks, Mom." she kissed her cheek and ran off.

"Sakura, what about the money?"

"Oh! Sorry." her mother laughed.

"It's okay, dear."

" 'K. See you in a bit." with that she stormed out of the house into the shining midday sun of Konoha.

"Yeah… This is the life." She thought as she went through the street smiling at the sun widely. "Konoha's so different from how I remember it. We used to live in a small house outside of town and now we live in a big one 10 minutes away from my school- What the- "Her thoughts were cut off by a loud beeping of a car.

"Hey there!" A girl said stepping out of the silver convertible.

"Uh… Hi?" she said as she regained her breath.

"I've never seen you before. You must be new here." The girl said with a smile on her lips.

"Y-Yeah… We just moved in this morning." she studied her appearance. "Say… Did we meet somewhere? You look kind of familiar." Sakura asked.

"Maybe… You look familiar too. I used to have a friend with pink hair and…" she gasped. "OMG! Sakura is that you?" She gasped.

"Ino? Ino yamanaka?! I can't believe it's you!" She squealed too as they hugged each other.

"I can't believe it, either. It's been what? Ten years already?"

"Yeah… It's been quite a while. Hey how are the others doing?"

"Good. I was just about to meet them, wanna come? They'll be happy to have you back." Ino said in an encouraging tone.

"Uh… Ino… I don't think they'll accept me after I left without warning. I think they could still be mad at me for that… Besides, I'm on my way to the store. Mom asked me to buy some stuff." She replied.

"Hmm… You got a point there…" she made a thinking face. "Tell you what. Let's get to the store and I'll drop you off at your place and we can go meet the gang and everyone will be happy." she grinned.

"I don't know, Ino… I'm still worried about their reactions. Some might be not too happy to see me, I'm sure of it." Sakura's face saddened.

"What? Are you kidding me? They'll kill me if I don't at least tell them you're here."

"Ok, ok. Geez! You haven't changed at all, Ino!"

"Neither did you!" she stuck her tongue out.

And with that they stepped in her car laughing and made their way to the store.

"Ok. Fill me in on everything. Who's hating? Who's dating? Who's new to the gang? And stuff." Sakura asked.

"Ok. The gang is pretty much the same as before you left, only there're new members. You remember everyone, don't you? So Tenten is going out with guess who?"

"Who?"

"Neji Hyuuga! Remember him?"

"How would I forget? I still feel guilty for leaving you guys like that. And it's already been ten years for Pete's sake!"

Ino smiled sweetly. "Well they've been going out since 9th grade. That's about three years now and they're very close. Ok… Next is Hinata. She's single for now, but has a mega crush on – you'll never guess who – Naruto."

"Wait… Naruto? Good old Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Wow! Didn't know you still remembered all the surnames so well. I'm impressed!" Sakura grinned. "Well, anyway, she really likes him – scratch that – she loves him, but is too shy to tell him. Plus she's afraid he won't return her feelings, which I'm sure he feels for her too."

"Ok. How about you? Anyone interested?" Sakura asked.

"Well, my story is much longer, but I'll make it short. I used to go out with Sai, a new member of the gang, but he turned out to be an asshole of a boyfriend, so be ware. I've also went out with Shikamaru, but that didn't last long since there's nothing more between us than friendship. Now I'm with Kiba since last year."

"So, what about the newcomers? Anyone I should be aware of like that Sai character?"

"Nope. There's Shino. Shino Aburame. He's pretty much different at first sight, but after you get to know him, he's a very nice guy, but has a weird side. He likes collecting bugs. Talk about ew…" She rolled her eyes as Sakura shrugged. "And that leads us to Rock Lee. He's really nice, but ever since he met our new Gym teacher Maito Gai, he started acting just like him. And I mean it. He's like a younger version of him." She shrugged.

"Ok… Guess I'll have to remember that… Now how about you tell me about their looks. Oh! And did anyone change their looks?"

"Oh... Sorry… Well as you can see I grew my hair longer and I changed my appearance too. Hinata grew her hair too, but she still wears modest clothing like a huge sweater and such. Tenten is still pretty much the same, only she got tougher and she usually wears chinese style clothes. Shikamaru is still that lazy guy you know. The only difference in him is that his hair's a bit longer and his features are more mature, but that's about it. Kiba-kun actually got very handsome and his dog, Akamaru, is very big now. He's at the size of a grown up wolf, but he's very nice. Naruto is still the soul of the gang, but he's definitely not the knucklehead he used to be. He matured greatly ever since Hinata was assigned to tutor him in a few subjects. And you know what? He turned out to be a very smart guy and I don't have school in mind. Neji… Well, Neji has long hair, is very smart, strong and quiet. Not the best addition to his description, but, man, he is HOT. Well, every guy in the gang is hot, naturally. They even started competing with each other about who had the best abs, but they have nothing on my Kiba - not too strong not too weak, simply perfect." Sakura giggled.

"Ok, where was I? Oh, yeah… Choji. Well he never changed much, except that he and Shika became best friends and he got… Well… Fat… But you must never mention that fact or you'll get in hell of trouble. That's a taboo. Sai has pale skin, black eyes and hair, is a dickhead, and very arrogant, so don't get pissed off if he says something you don't like, 'cause he has emotion issues. I mean he doesn't have any emotions, he just fakes them. Oh, and he's an artist! A very good one too. Shino is the quiet type. He listens and rarely talks. He has dark brown hair and black eyes, but he usually wears his shades and rarely takes them off. Last but not least is Gai Junior." The girl giggled.

"Nice one, Ino." Sakura laughed while putting the last item on her list in the basket.

"Thanks! Well Lee is a great guy, but seriously… He has really bushy brows, that look like they're alive and has a bowl cut. His hair and eye color is black. He always wears a green spandex and orange athlete socks. Talk about ew… Again." They laughed a bit then went in the line to pay for the products.

"Speaking of orange… Does Naruto still wear at least something orange every day like he used too?"

"Well he stopped on orange t-shirts and his bike, but sometimes he wears his black sneakers with an orange fox on them. But that's about it." Ino smiled.

"Ok. Now that's that. Is there anything you guys do? Sports, music?"

"Wait. First I want to know about you. Anything you want to say about your self?"

"Well, I sing, play the keys and saxophone, dance and, in free time, do sports."

"Like what?"

Sakura made a thinking face. "Pretty much everything, I guess, but my favorite is swimming."

"That's so cool! The girls and I are cheerleaders of the schools basketball team and I'm the captain. The guys are part of the team, namely Naruto, Kiba-kun, Shino, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Sai and Lee. Well, we usually get to play volleyball, tennis, soccer and basketball, but that's only in our free time, which is on weekends and holidays. About music and stuff… The guys have their own band named 'The Six Shadows' or 'The SS', as we call it.. The girls usually either help them in a few songs if needed, but me and the girls thought about it and decided to form our own band so if it goes well then you'll be first on the list to be invited, but it's still a secret, so keep it low. Hinata sings and plays the keys and the flute, I play bass guitar and sing, Tenten plays bass guitar and drums. The SS consists of Shino – the keys and the guitar, Kiba-kun – bass guitar, Neji – the keys and violin, Naruto is the singer and bass guitarist, Shikamaru – the drums and saxophone, and Sasuke sings and plays… Well… Everything."

"Hey, I just noticed, you never said anything about Sasuke except that he's in the basketball team and in The SS."

"Yeah… Sorry… He's the captain of Team Sharingan."

"Sha- what?" Sakura asked confused.

"Sharingan. It's the name of the schools basketball team..." Ino trailed off.

"And? Anything else?"

"He's changed since the last time you was him, but I don't blame him. He's arrogant, self-centered, has a fan club, doesn't eat anything sweet, rude, but Handsome, hot and smart. A total Mr. Perfect if you asked me." She made a sad face. "We rarely get to hang out with him. He's too 'busy' for that now." Ino emphasized on the 'busy'.

"Wait… You said you don't blame him, right? Why? Did something happen that he changed so much?"

"Well… We don't ever talk about it, but since you were his friend, and about to become one once again… I think you should know…" she trailed off.

Yeah! A New story! Hope 'ya like it! :) Comment please :)