disclaimer: I do not own anything... /le sob
setting: AU
author's note: Yes, weeeell, this is me wondering why the sasusaku archive - complete - isn't so active anymore. Well, it isn't as active as before. Enjoy!

C'est La Vie
"That's Life!"

Chapter 1: Meeting You

Ingrates.

'You'd think it was the first time these girls had ever laid eyes on the opposite sex,' Sakura scoffed inwardly as she walked down the halls of her school. Destination: her locker. It was still early; possibly around 7 in the morning (school didn't start till 8:30), thus only a handful of students were walking around Konohagakure Gakuen; however, she did notice the number of male students chatting idly with one another.

Seeing males was normal of course. Seeing males in her school? Going to her school? Well that was a sight she needed to get used to. She had been going to Konohagakure Gakuen since middle school. The system then (as it had been since the school first opened a few decades ago) was only open to females. The school's curriculum was outstanding, and over the years the top scores garnered by its students (as well as the number of said students' achievements added to the impressive qualities of the school's facilities) had effectively sealed the fate of Konohagakure Gakuen as one of the top private schools in all of Japan.

A few complaints had risen and some had even been voiced out. Quite a few parents had wanted to send their children to the prestigious school. The only problem? They were boys.

From then on, the school and its board of directors had discussed the issue. Debating whether or not to continue the way their founder had run the school, or to be open-minded when it came to change. They then decided that for the sake of their old students as well (they needed to be exposed to company of all sorts— this included boys, for they will no doubt have to interact and work with them in the future) that Konohagakure Gakuen's doors will from then on be open— to all.

Being the analytical person that she was, Sakura had known the pros and cons of this decision. On the upside, the previous students will be exposed to a new environment. The con; however? Sakura glanced a couple of lockers down at a clique of girls that giggled uncontrollably whenever a cute, new male student walked by them— they turned into complete morons.

Shaking her head in disgust, Sakura pulled her locker open and shoved a few of the things she wouldn't need till later inside.

Another chorus of giggles echoed a few paces down as Sakura stared at her own locker, debating whether or not to bang her head repeatedly on the metallic blue painted item that belonged to school property.

'Shame. Blood red would have made a perfect color splatter for my locker design,' she thought bitterly as she settled for glaring at the opened locker instead. 'Wait, I'm no masochist.'

"Oi, forehead!" she heard the familiar voice of Yamanaka Ino a few steps behind her.

In that moment, her sour mood seemed to have left as she whipped around and fully took in the sight of a familiar face jogging towards her.

"Pig! Good to see you!" Sakura chuckled good-naturedly as she enveloped the girl in a hug.

Ino had been her best friend since middle school. They were in the same class back then, and it was because of the blond haired, blue eyed female that Sakura had a perfect new school year. The two had been inseparable ever since. Their beautiful friendship only flourished from then on. Things had gotten even better when High School came around. They had met Hyuuga Hinata (who was a fellow freshman as well), and Tsurugi Tenten (she was a year older by age, but due to her family's traveling history, she had missed a whole year in school, and had to repeat) thus forming a close, quartet group.

"By the way, who was it?" Ino questioned Sakura as they walked towards their classroom.

"Who was what?" Such a vague question.

A grasp on both her shoulders effectively caused the jade eyed girl to stare into her friend's equally serious azure eyes. "Who bribed whatever lady or good sir that was behind the school computer system whatever - thing? I mean it's quite impossible that you, Tenten, Hinata, and I were put in the same class this year. It's, well… too good to be true." She finished, quite astonished.

Ino's suspicions were then confirmed once a sly grin had slowly crept onto Sakura's face. Guilty. "I just knew that you were going to abuse the power you had over our headmistress, Tsunade-sama; also known as your medical mentor!" the blonde chastised. The rosette would have taken the girl seriously if it wasn't for the feral smile that had appeared on Ino's face.

"I was not abusing my power as her apprentice, alright? I just merely requested for it to happen. Besides, it's our last year after all. Better make it the best, especially under these circumstances," she motioned towards the now crowded halls that were filled with giggling girls, and wolf-whistling guys.

"What?" she looked at Sakura with confused eyes. "You don't like the new circumstances?"

Sakura shook her head. Long pink locks that were pulled into a high ponytail emphasized the action as she replied, "That's not really the problem." She paused, "I guess it's the… response you get from the girls. It's like they haven't seen a guy in their entire life!"

A hand covered Ino's mouth as her shoulders shook slightly.

"Are you… are you laughing at me?" Sakura questioned indignantly as her cheeks had puffed out a bit (a habit she was unconscious of). This action only made the blond girl laugh freely. "Don't tell me you're afraid of possibly falling in love at 18?" Ino wheezed as she pinched the pink haired girl's cheeks in mock-teasing.

"S-Shut up!"

Deciding she had enough, an abrupt turn had caused her to bump into an innocent passer-by, effectively spilling whatever liquid contained in what looked like a small jug the poor guy had been drinking from. The apparently scalding hot liquid had landed on the guy's shirt. Realization seemed to have dawned on the poor fellow as his dark eyes (Sakura noticed) had slightly widened.

"What the—"

Immediately bowing out of respect, Sakura began the string of apologies she had on the tip of her tongue. "I am so sorry!" she started before straightening up. "It's just that my friend here," she pointed at Ino, "has this strange ability to annoy the heck out of people. I think she's accident prone, too!" (an insulted "Hey!" from Ino) "I also suspect that it's contagious to those around her." Sakura finished.

It was only after her apology that she had fully taken notice of the guy (and not just his smoldering eyes). Dark, silky hair that stuck up at the end, milky white skin (that looked very attractive and possibly smooth), and not to mention the fact that he was just overall — handsome. Ino seemed to have thought of the same thing as well, for she was uncharacteristically very silent.

'Crap. You made a good first impression out of yourself,' she thought sarcastically.

Wiping his shirt with the palm of his hand, Sakura was thankful that Konohagakure Gakuen saw no reason to implement the uniform policy in High School. Sure, the school rule was effective from pre-school till middle school, but the school believed that freedom should be given to their students once the age seemed right. It was also sort of like practice for the future. Sure, one was given freedom, but that freedom came along with certain rules that they had to abide by as well. For example, they were given the freedom to wear their casual clothes, but with the notion of something decent; nothing skimpy, nothing revealing, basically anything that wasn't… unsightly.

For this, she was glad that the guy she had run into (demigod, cue swoon) had don on a plain black shirt (but from the looks of it, Sakura just knew it was branded and quite expensive), and dark wash jeans. If she had to bump into a person, she was glad that it was someone who wore clothes that wouldn't look like the stain would be very obvious. Yes, that was a good thing. What wasn't, however, was the fact that said person was probably the cutest guy she had ever laid eyes on.

The dark eyes that had been focusing on his hands that were previously swiping at the hot liquid that had somewhat burnt his skin as well (through the expanse of his shirt), had then settled onto jade ones. If Sakura was some sort of weak girl, easily intimidated by a male, she would have flinched at the intensity of the glare sent towards her. She wasn't; intimidated, scared, or anything less than annoyed.

"I said I was sorry!" Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, hands resting on her hips as she stared back at the male before her.

They heard a loud, booming voice yell from down the hall, effectively breaking their eye contact as a spiky, blond haired male ran towards them. His eyes zeroed in on the guy in front of her as he yelled, "Oi, teme! I've been looking for you!" once close enough, he jogged the few remaining steps and stopped right beside the dark haired male. "What's this?" he questioned, glancing back and forth between Sakura and his friend, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere surrounding them. "Do you like this girl or something?" his voice took on a teasing tone as he nudged his friend on the ribs by the elbow.

The guy's eyes then turned from his friend towards Sakura, giving her a look then promptly scoffing. "As if," he merely stated before spinning on his heel and walking away.

"O-oi! Teme!" the blond exclaimed as he ran after his friend, leaving the two girls alone.

Widened azure orbs met equally widened jade orbs as the two stared at each other for a moment.

"Did he just say—?"

"I think he did," Ino replied.

"That jerk!"

. . .

Arriving at their classroom in just the nick of time, Sakura spotted Hinata and Tenten talking by the seats nearest to the window at the far eastern side of the classroom. Two empty seats in front of theirs were occupied by what looked like their stuff. It seemed that they had already reserved places for Ino and Sakura as well. Grateful for this, Sakura walked towards them with Ino behind her. They barely noticed their surroundings or took note of their new classmates as they would have time later to do that.

"You guys will not believe what just happened to Sakura down the hall a few moments ago!" Ino exclaimed as she took her place beside Sakura's (not before thanking their best friends, of course) and launched into a full, detailed story of how Sakura's "Unfortunate Event" came to be.

By the end of it, Tenten was grinning widely as Hinata seemed to be in deep thought. "Ino-chan," she began in her usually soft and gentle voice, "That guy and his friend over there oddly fit the description of the guys you and Sakura-chan had run into this morning," Hinata finished as she inconspicuously pointed towards a dark haired guy and his friend seated at the back. This caused Sakura to whip her head towards the appointed place of the classroom. Once confirming that it was indeed him, she groaned, running a hand down her face. "Why me? Why, why, why?" Sakura chanted as she proceeded to hit her head softly on her desk. The act, reminded Ino of a mock-tortured soul.

"Looks like he's pretty famous with the ladies," Tenten commented, "Oi, Ami, wipe that drool or you'll create a puddle on the floor," she mocked the violet, dark haired girl that was seated a few seats behind them. Said girl shot her a venomous glare which only made Tenten smile in return before turning towards her friends. "His name is Uchiha Sasuke."

This earned her a few odd stares from both Ino and Sakura, and a confused one from Hinata. "What? I heard some girls behind me gushing about him!" she defended.

A slide of the classroom door caused a few students to turn towards the entrance. A man that seemed to be in his late 20s or early 30s stepped in. His silver hair was the only thing visible (apart from his right eye). His left eye, nose, and mouth were covered with what seemed to be a cloth or mask of some sort.

"Alright, settle down, everyone." He drawled out lazily as he took his place in front of the blackboard. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. You may not call me Kakashi, you may not call me Hatake. You may, however, call me Kakashi-sama or Kakashi-sensei." This earned him a few snorts from the loud blond beside the Uchiha, Sakura noticed.

"Kakashi, err—sama!" the blond began. Kakashi's right eyebrow rose in question. "Yes?"

"Sensei, it is past 9," he continued, "Which also means that…you're late!" he finished standing up and pointing to their homeroom teacher.

"Ah, yes. So you've noticed." A round of snickers erupted. "Well, on my way here, I passed by this old lady, you see, and she owned this black cat that just wouldn't come down the tree I was luckily passing by, so, being the good, kind-hearted man that I am, I had to climb all the way up the tree and—"

"Sensei,"

"—err, yes?"

"You're lying."

The man's eyes narrowed as he then straightened up. "Hmm. What's your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto!" the blond exclaimed with excitement in his eyes, "and don't you forget it!"

Kakashi's eyes crinkled in what seemed to be a smile (albeit a fake one, yes, it was quite noticeable despite the fact that more than half his face wasn't visible) "Naruto?"

"Yes, sensei?"

"Detention,"

"What?"

"—right after class, today."

"Wh-what?"

"—and don't you forget it."

The class then erupted into laughter as Naruto sunk back in his seat dejectedly. "Man, only the first day and you've gotten yourself detention. You're probably going to be the only one there!" a brunette male taunted as he laughed.

"Shut up, Kiba." Naruto grumbled.

Clearing his throat, Kakashi then called the class into order as he walked towards the teacher's desk— his desk then stopped. "Since teachers are given their class sheets a few days before school opens; I have assigned seating arrangements. One, that I do expect, you will follow," he then opened his desk drawer, and without looking stuck his hand in and brought out an orange book. "So, we will follow what is written on this—" Kakashi then noticed exactly what he was holding (apparently so did the other guys as well, since they began whooping, suspiciously) "Oh, wrong thing to pull out." He placed the small orange book back in the drawer, and rummaged in it a bit more before pulling out what seemed to be a sheet of paper, with a few columns and names printed on it.

As he began to mention a pair of names at a time, and people started shuffling and moving out of their seats into their new respective ones, Sakura only had one thought in her mind.

'Please, not him.'

"—Hyuuga Hinata to the left of Uzumaki Naruto," she heard Kakashi say. He mentioned a few more names before he called out, "Yamanaka Ino, behind Hyuuga Hinata, and Nara Shikamaru to your right." She felt the seat beside her screech a bit as Ino moved towards the place Kakashi had mentioned.

"Inuzuka Kiba to Hyuuga Hinata's left, and Tsurugi Tenten to Inuzuka Kiba's right." More list of names before Sakura heard Kakashi calling out, "Sato Ami behind Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji behind Yamanaka Ino."

The thing that only caught her interest and made her heart beat rapidly was the name of… "Uchiha Sasuke to the left of Yamanaka Ino. Suigetsu Hozuki behind Uchiha Sasuke and beside Uchiha Sasuke,"

She had her fingers crossed, and Sakura kept repeating a mantra in her head, 'Please, no. Please, no. Please no.' Uchiha Sasuke was one heck of an arrogant guy. So what if he was dark, mysterious, and handsome? So what if the way he shunned his fangirls was quite alluring? The point is, he probably had an ego about the size of Mt. Everest. He had looked at her like she was some… some – thing to be examined when he had first met her.

"Beside Uchiha Sasuke,"

"As if," his voice from a few hours ago had echoed in her head. The nerve of the guy!

There was no possible way. His fangirls could sit beside him for all Sakura cared. There were more than 10 people standing, waiting to be called next. There was no way she'd be the (un)lucky person that had to sit beside him for the rest of the term.

"—Haruno Sakura."

And in that moment, she just knew that someone up there somewhere didn't like her very much.

The opposite of love is not hate; it's indifference.
-Elie Wiesel

to be continued.

author's second note: let's just say that this story didn't go exactly as I had first thought it out to be. I had originally first plotted this thing to take place during summer camp or something. I don't know why I suddenly changed my mind. I don't plan for this fanfiction to be one of the typical HS fanfictions you have read out there, though. :)

author's last note: review, yeah? I need to know whether or not you liked the direction of where this is going. Reviews do motivate the writer, actually. :) Expect an update soon. First impressions? Leave a thought, yeah? :)