AN/ Yes, this is the new Softer than Scarlet. I ask that you please review, fav and alert it if you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer/ (laugh) No! I don't own Naruto and I don't think I ever will. So, you can stop asking me now.


Chapter Two

II

Enter Sandman

Sakura curled a finger around a loose ringlet and pushed it back behind her ear, knowing it would fall back in front of her face a few moments later. There are some things you can't fix in the world, only patch up until it's ready to fall again.

Her deep philosophical thoughts were interruptedas a soft hush of muffled giggles over came the females around her. A few of the guys close to her locker backed away and moved to the other side of the hallway. Thinking it nothing, Sakura shrugged her shoulders and returned to the semi empty locker she was getting used to.

That was, until a dark velvety voice snatched her from her thoughts.

"Move." Sasuke was getting annoyed at having to wait for someone else

A bit startled Sakura looked up from her books and frowned. Naruto was walking down the hall next to Sasuke who was next to Neji in a neat line. All the others in the hall parted for them as if they were kings. They were stopped in front of her locker, waiting for her to move for them. What the three were doing walking along the wall where the lockers were and not using the middle of the hallway, Sakura did not know, nor did she wish to know.

It was too early in the morning for someone to be messing with her now. Sakura slowly turned to look to her right and blinked lazily. "Why? Can't you just go around? I'm busy," she replied, annoyed.

Sasuke was taken aback slightly by her defining words Neji and Naruto were both amused that someone, let alone a girl, had the guts to stand up to Sasuke Uchiha. Neither one remembered a girl ever standing up to Uchiha Sasuke without going weak in the knees from fear or yearning.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" he asked in a low, cold tone that sounded like something out of a dramatic movie scene when the main character threatens the helpless villain.

She blinked lazily. "No."

Naruto looked like he was about to fall over laughing at her blunt answer and from the looks of it Neji was slightly amused by the scene. However, their emotions changed to light surprise when they saw the smirk on Sasuke's lips.

"Fine. Then I'll move," he replied walking around her without Naruto and Neji. "And just so you know it's Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura did a mental eye role, only because she lacked the energy and the motivation to pull one off with her sleep deprived eyes. "Whatever," she replied, pulling a few books out and closing her locker before walking past Neji and Naruto.

The loud blond and the pearl eyed boy watched her retreating figure as she headed outside with curiosity in their eyes. Sasuke, however, just watched her with unreadable eyes so, no one knew what he was thinking or feeling towards the events and the pink haired second year.

Shikimaru sighed and lazily pulled his laptop out from his black messenger bag and set it down on the one of the cafeteria's tables turning it on. He sighed heavily for the tenth time that hour as he recalled the favor one of his friends asked him for. His portable computer beeped signaling it was up and running. Cracking his knuckles he let his fingers fly over the keys with seed that only comes with experience. I was amazing his fingers could move that fast since the rest of him was a lazy bum. Harouno, Harouno, Sakura Harouno," he mumbled to himself as a little box opened telling him that he was hacking into the school's records. Yes, Shikamaru was a bad boy when it came to computers and the Internet. He was a skilled hacker and untraceable source of information.

"Here it is. Sakura Harouno, age: 16 height 5'3" weight 102 Date of birth 28 march parents/guardians…whoa that's interesting…" Shikimaru mused, moving back to typing some more on his laptop. Regardless of his actions the big red Confidential' continued to blink as he typed some more on his laptop.

"It looks like information on her parents is completely confidential, and- dang I can't even get into the stupid file. How troublesome. I'll have to go back home and work on this on my base. My laptop can't go up against heavy duty stuff like this," Shikimaru mumbled as he became more interested in what he found out. Deciding to move on, he tried pulling up the rest of her file.

'Sakura Harouno, age: 16 height 5'3'' weight 102 Date of birth 28 march parents/guardians classified Blood type…Classified.

"What is with this chick? This is so troublesome. Moving on, it says she went to Suna Prime high, a privet school for only the best. She's a straight A student except for gym. There she has nothing except Fs. But then what can you expect from a girl. She has a lot of medical classes and first aid classes under her belt. It looks like she was aiming to be a nurse or something but then she stopped about a year ago.

"Deciding this was the best he could do for now, he pulled up notepad and began to manually copy down the information as wall as a personal note at the bottom.

'From the looks of it she probably has no social life to speak of and can't pass gym'

"Well I'm going to get some lunch for myself before heading outside to cloud watch," Shikimaru sighed, closing his laptop and stuffing it back into his bag. "What a drag she's turning out to be."

l

Sakura sighed puling out a plastic container and a bottle of water from her brown paper bag, setting them on her lap. puling out a fork she tossed the brown paper bag into a nearby garbage can. She popped open the lid and squired the piece of cold chicken with her plastic fork. She wasn't too found of vegetables or fruits, preferring meat to anything else, cold or cooked. Chewing on the cold meat she looked around happy to see that she was the only one outside.

She leaned back resting her hands behind her head relaxing only to hear the annoying buzz of her cell phone.

Exit light, Enter night. Take my hand,we're off to never never land.

Grunting in annoyance pushing the green button before too much of 'Enter sandman' could play. "Moshi moshi," she greeted calmly. She was a little surprised when she heard shouts of bloody murder in the background and the breaking of glass.

"Sakura!" someone screamed panting heavily on the other end of the call.

"Kankuro?" she asked, a little surprised he was calling her and panting like he was. "Kankuro what's wrong, I keep hearing screams of bloody murder in the background. Is everything alright?"

"Where the heck are you? We went to your apartment to cheek on you and the whole place was wiped out and when we went to Baki to ask about you he said you moved out without leaving any forwarding address!"

"So, what's the matter. And why is there screaming?" Sakura asked, wincing when she heard Temari scream in the background again.

"Gaara got mad when we couldn't find you and now he's throwing a hissy fit!" the puppeteer boy wailed as Sakura listened to it all with a calm, uncaring look in her eyes.

"Okay, okay, okay calm down. Put Gaara kun on the phone and I'll talk to him," Sakura replied, picking at another piece of chicken and plopping in into her mouth as calmly as if she were discussing the weather.

There was a brief moment when all Sakura heard was the blue eyed sister of the two boys yell at Gaara to calm down and a few more broken lamps before silence finally settled in. "…Sakura?" the red haired boy asked, now on the phone.

"Hey Panda kun!" she chirped in a sing song voice. "How are you doing?"

"…Sakura…you left," he stated bluntly being the man of few words that he is.

"Yeah, about that I was planning on moving then telling you so you couldn't kill me through the phone lines but I guess you found out a little earlier than I though."

"…Sakura you left without saying goodbye…"

"Panda kun I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry. I didn't think you cared that much," Sakura replied, in a gentle voice, calming the raging redhead down.

"CARE?! You didn't think I would care?! Of course I cared Sakura! I practically went crazy when I found out you left. How dare you think I wouldn't care!" Gaara cried going crazy again.

"I sorry. I hope I didn't scare you too much. I know it was wrong of me to leave without telling you but if I did do you think you would have just let me go?" Sakura waited a while as Gaara remained silent knowing the answer.

"…You could have said goodbye at least. I was worried that something happened to you when we saw your empty apartment Sakura. Why did you leave us?"

Sakura knew when he asked 'us' he really meant him. "Gaara…" her tone was now calm and serious. "…I couldn't stand Suna anymore I had to leave. I was born there and I felt the need to come back, besides I was getting tired of everything in general. I remember what Tamari said to me the night of the fight and decided to act upon it."

"What did she say?"

"And I quote "But you've dominated all of the Suna female fighters. You're the best of the best as of today. You have no one else to beat" end quote." There was an eerie silence and Sakura could practically feel the death glare Gaara was sending to his sister on the other end of the phone. "But don't blame her. It was the truth and I would have noticed it sooner or later."

"…Fine I can understand why you had to leave but I still don't forgive you for leaving without saying goodbye. That was completely unexceptionable behavior on your part."

"Thank you Panda kun," she chirped making him blush on the other line as she used his childhood nickname for him.It was an inside joke between the two of them that had stretched out to his siblings after a few days.

"But…since I can't forgive you we're all going to have to move closer to you."

"What? Gaara kun you don't have to do that!"

"I don't care we are," Gaara replied, his voice hard and firm leaving no room for further argument.

"But you don't even know where I am," Sakura protested, hoping this would stop him.

"…Konoha."

"Kuso how did you know?"

"I made my brother trace you call instead of killing him," he replied coolly.

"Your mean," Sakura huffed, knowing he wasn't lying. Kankoro was good at stuff like that.

"I know," Gaara replied with a evil tone. Sakura just knew he was smirking on the other end of the line.

"Whatever. I have to go, class I'll be starting soon. I'll try and talk to you later but I got to go now."

"...Fine," he grunted in reply.

"Ja ne Panda kun! And don't kill your sister while I'm gone," Sakura chirped before hanging up knowing she was softening his mood for his brother and sister.

Tucking her pink Razor back into her jacket's pocket Sakura continued to finish off her cold chicken before stuffing the empty container into her messenger bag and heading inside the educating building. Licking some of the balsamic vinegar dressing that covered her lunch off her red full lips she smiled enjoying the taste.

Entering the building, she didn't notice the tall red haired boy who was coming around the corner. The result was her bumping into him in a slightly embarrassing manner. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologized, not really getting a good look at his face.

He said nothing as she backed up and started to walk around him at first but eventually called out to her. "Aren't you from...Suna?"

Sakura stopped and turned around. "Yeah, I just transferred. Why?"

The red haired boy tilted his head to one side and Sakura though this made him look handsome in a bishi like way. "I'm Sasori. I've hear a lot about you little cherry blossom."

Sakura green eyes widened as he called her by the nickname she used in the ring. No one outside of the underground circle knew her by that name. Wait, he just called himself Sasori. "Wait, Sasori? As in Sasori of the red sand?"

"The one and only. I had heard that a Suna girl had transferred here, but did not know she was the leading female. It's an honor to make your acquaintance."

"You're really Sasori?" Sakura repeated a bit shocked.

"You looked surprised. Am I not what you had in mind?"

Sakura blushed lightly and took in his tall lean frame with a discreet eye. He looked like a model, not an underground fighter. "Well I truly did not know what to expect. I'm surprised to see you here of all places. I didn't expect you to leave Suna."

"Nor I you, but I can imagine why you left. Tired of the same old scene day after day?"

Sakura laughed lightly at how dead on his words were. "You could say that. So, you left Suna so you could dominate the Leaf side of our world?"

Sasori smirked and Sakura had to hold back the knot in her throat at how handsome he looked. "If I did not know better, I would say the young red fighter is a mind reader. That is exactly why I came here."

Sakura could hardly believe it. The chances of her meeting the most powerful man of the underground fighting world in a city she came to in order to escape the scene. And all the more rare, was that he was here for the same exact reason. What were the chances of something like that actually happening? She doubted they were very high.

"I have to get to class, but I'll see you around again soon. And just so you know, I'll keep an eye and ear open for you if you ever need anything," Sasori offered with a knowing look in his crimson stained eyes. "Though, I can't help but feel the urge to see you in action."

Sakura calmed herself and nodded, knowing what he meant by that. There were gangs here in leaf that could make trouble for a Suna girl. Since Sasori and Sakura both shared the same previous home, they had a honor bound duty to look out for their own kind.

"Same here. Maybe one night I'll get to see you as well, eh?" Sakura replied, keeping her smile small.

"Till then little cherry blossom," Sasori finished with a quick smile and a wave of his hand.

"I'll see you around," Sakura replied before she turned and walked away in the opposite direction, not really knowing where she was going. It was her first day here and the layout of the school is still mostly unfamiliar to her. The small blush on her cheeks was slowly fading away as she willed herself to think of other things. She can't help it if she thinks he really cute. "Don't think or else you'll get lost, Sakura. We don't wanna get lost," She mumbled to herself, knowing she was terrible with directions and had a bad habit of getting lost.

"Darn it. I'm lost." And true to her words Sakura had found herself hopelessly lost in the seemingly endless maze of hallways and rooms. She growled to herself and tried another hallway, finding it led to a set up stairs. Deciding she couldn't get much more lost, she took them. She was only slightly surprised to learn that these stairs led to the roof, where there were obviously no classrooms.

"Well I'm not going to make my next class, might as well wait it out of her until the next one. I'll explain to the teacher how I got lost on the first day. What's the worse they can do? Keep me after class?"

"You would be surprised with the level of punishment the inflict on some of us here," someone called from behind Sakura.

The pink haired boxer turned sharply to see a group of seniors sitting against the back wall. There were three with dark hair and one with what Sakura thought was white. One of the dark haired males appeared to be younger than they rest, by a year or so. The one with white hair had a pair of ear buds in his ears that he started to remove once he spotted Sakura. "So, you're skipping on purpose, even if they beat you?"

The one with dark black haired cut and spiked at his shoulders laughed. "No, they don't beat us. Just work some mind trick and try to scare us. Most kids break easy. Others don't break at all."

"And let me guess, you're one of the ones that don't break."

"Yup, my name's Tobi, nice to meet you! You're that new transfer student from Suna. Sasori said there was someone coming from his city. I didn't think it would be a girl," Tobi replied.

"Funny, I'm almost never what people expect. I get that a lot." Sakura then turned towards the second member of the group and noticed how he was staring at her. He had red eyes and long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. The creases under his eyes made him look like an older version of the Sasuke boy Sakura ran into earlier. "Excuse my asking, but you look a lot like this kid named Uchiha Sasuke."

"No offence is taken, it expected since Sasuke is my younger brother. My name is Uchiha Itachi. What do you think of my brother? You seem to just barely notice him."

"He's a rude jerk from what I can tell. Most likely spoiled, since he's an Uchiha," Sakura replied with a smirk knowing who Sasuke's father was.

Itachi returned the smirk with a small one of his own and Tobi and the last dark haired youth behind him chuckled a bit at her words. The one with white haired just stared blankly at her, as if he was racking his brain for a memory concerning her. "You have guts and good judgment," Itachi stated with a calm even tone. "It's hard to believe someone with your wit came from Suna."

"Well that's because I don't. I was born here and moved out to the desert when I was real little. I'm just coming back to my roots for a while before something else attracts my attention," Sakura commented rubbing her shoulder area where the burn mark of a leaf was engraved into her skin, forever a sign of her secret life. She still remembered the ceremonial like burning that took place when she was but a little girl.

The pale boy who was sitting in the shade behind Tobi peeked up at her statement. "Why did you move to the desert in the first place? Isn't it really hot and uncomfortable?"

"I was tired of this city and all the same old faces. I don't like staying in one place for too long a time. It's just my nature," Sakura replied, recognizing the pale boy as a junior named Sai from one of her advanced classes before lunch.

"It sounds a bit pointless if you ask me. If you are tired of this place, why did you come back?" Sai asked.

Sakura smirked not at all offended by his blunt statement. "You would be surprised at how much can change in seven or six years in a big, up and coming city like this. I didn't want to miss out on too much."

l


There it is the 2ed chapter of the NEW and improved 'Softer than Scarlet.' I hope you like the minor changes I made in the first chapter and the major ones I made in this one. I know Gaara was still here, but I couldn't loose the one scene with him on the cellphone. I think that was the only good part of the old thing.

Once again, for the pairings. I know I am redoing this and should have some sort of idea, but ...yeah. You know how it is. I don't have an idea about how I want this to turn out so I want to hear what you guys think. An yes there are other guys I'm introducing in the next chapter. And, No. I won't tell you who they are 'cause I'm mean like that. You need to review.

And I don't care how unrealistic it is for Sakura having so many men liking her, it's fiction! She has pink hair for pocky's sake!

Ja ne you guys!