The View From Here CHAPTER 1: Swing, Swing, a naruto fanfic

CHAPTER I
Do you know what it feels like being alone?

It had been a day before the breakout of a horrible news that made the whole country of Konohagakure mourn that Sasuke Hatake and Sakura Haruno had sat on one corner of an empty classroom and talked about anything that had come into their minds. Sakura, for one, would not forget that afternoon.

She was a second year high school student in Konoha Academy of the Arts and Sciences, sixteen, and was playing the role of Vice-President for the student government. Sakura did not particularly like the job, but was inwardly glad that the general population of the school thought her capable of the responsibility. She was, on the other hand, really happy that she got to work next to the student government President, Sasuke Hatake, who was then in his senior year.

Sasuke was known not only because of his aristocratic and handsome looks, but because of his genius and apparent flair in almost everything he did. Sakura really admired how he managed to capture the attention and respect of every student in the academy despite the notoriety of his social skills.

From what she had gathered in the two years that she had stayed in the Academy, Sasuke had been brought up in an orphanage since he was a baby. No one knew of his origin, and it was when he was twelve years old that someone—a teacher in the Academy, Mr. Kakashi Hatake—took him in. She concluded that the sadness of growing up with no real family was what prompted Sasuke to act coldly to the people around him, despite the case being limited to only a few people.

Sasuke could hardly be seen conversing with anyone, and Sakura really liked the fact that of all girls in the academy? He talked to her the most.

"Sakura."

Sakura was heading toward her classroom, carrying a stack of journals, when the aforementioned boy called her. School was over for the day, and most of the students had either gone to their respective clubs or had decided to go home.

"Oh, Sasuke," she greeted back, shifting the journals uncomfortably on her arms. She sent the boy a smile and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I was wondering if you have finished with the papers on the audited club fees," Sasuke told her. A guitar was strapped against his back, and he shifted it so he could help her with the journals. "I assume you haven't."

Sakura chuckled, blushing, and handed him half of what she was carrying. "Er, yeah. I'm sorry about that. I kind of had to stop by the teachers' lounge for some errands."

"Hn."

It was comforting—the silence she always experienced whenever she was with him. As they walked toward Sakura's classroom, she took note of the regal atmosphere that seemed to surround Sasuke. He stood tall and dignified and Sakura could already get why many girls liked to call him "Prince".

His eerie resemblance to the members of the royal family of Konohagakure from the Uchiha clan also tended to weird out Sakura. Sometimes, Sakura spent sleepless nights wondering: what if her upperclassman was actually part of the royal family? After all, he looked like he was part of it, only that he grew up away from them.

She shook away all thoughts about this, though, after watching Sasuke live life like any ordinary person, enjoying the freedom despite what his emotions showed.

"Here," said Sakura, telling the older student where to place the journals. She grinned up to him and continued, "Thank you for the help!"

"Hn," muttered Sasuke. He looked out the windows of the classroom, and Sakura felt her breath hitch in her throat when the orange light coming from the setting sun illuminated half of his face.

He looked so peaceful, so at ease, and so fitting to be ordinary that Sakura could not stop herself from asking him, "Have you ever wondered what kind of people your parents could be?"

Black eyes turned to look at her sharply, and Sakura, blushing already from the roots of her hair, immediately made up for the embarrassment, "It's just like a rhetoric question, Sasuke. You don't really have to answer."

Rhetoric question, my ass, thought Sakura, inwardly berating herself.

She watched as Sasuke take off the black jacket to their uniform, the Academy emblem imprinted on the left-chest side. He was left in his white polo and blue-and-silver-striped necktie. Silently, he set his guitar on the floor by the window and sat there, leaning his back on the adjacent wall.

He looked up at Sakura and patted the space beside him.

"I—uh," Sakura stammered, sending a look at the open door. When she concluded that no one could possibly see them, she took the space he was patting.

If somebody saw them together in an empty classroom, rumors could start immediately. It wasn't that Sakura did not like the thought of being together with him—she merely feared how Sasuke would fair with the irrational gossip.

She settled silently beside him, liking the warmth his body exuded.

"I know of this kid," Sasuke began, and Sakura flushed for the umpteenth time that afternoon after realizing that Sasuke was going to open up, "whose mother hardly had the time for him, and whose father hated him."

Sakura gasped. "No father could truly hate his child! Whatever the reas—"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, apparently amused at her sudden outburst. Another set of red blush crept upon her cheeks and she pursed her lips together, mimicking zipping up something.

"This kid... he was all smiles back then," continued Sasuke, now fumbling with the case of his guitar. "He would smile at everyone he knew of and he wouldn't let that smile falter. One time, he showed me a picture of his parents, and everyone who saw was apparently astounded of how beautiful both of his parents were."

Sasuke paused, and when he didn't look like he was going to continue, Sakura urged him to. "What happened then?"

"He told us stuff about his parents... about his father, particularly." Sasuke took out his guitar from its case and settled it on his lap. He absent-mindedly strummed the strings. "He told us how much he loved his father even though the father hardly regarded him. The kid said that he loved him... even though his father could not remember him."

"At all?"

"At all," Sasuke confirmed.

Sakura frowned. "But that's impossible! Why would a father forget about his own son?"

Sasuke shook his head and answered, "This kid told us that his father hated him so much that he forced himself to forget about him... and sent him to the orphanage where we met."

Sakura's eyes widened and she did not know what to say. She was not sure if Sasuke was telling the truth or making things up, but she felt like the story held a strong part of him. He had grown up with no parents at all, so this story must be something.

"Apparently, his mother could not do anything about it," continued Sasuke when Sakura did not speak. "His mother loved his father so much that she would rather risk losing the kid altogether than to lose the father at all. It was insane, but the father had a greater hold on the mother."

Sakura felt sadness engulf her. "That's... that's just morbid."

"That's when I thought that I'd rather not know about my parents at all," Sasuke concluded, giving the pink-haired girl a smirk.

That was the first time Sasuke had ever told Sakura anything—somewhat opening up a bottled up part of him—and Sakura thought that she wanted a repeat of this afternoon, that many more afternoons like this come their way. The soft smirk he had sent her way was heartwarming and made her feel like she had wormed her way into him somehow, and she just knew that she would not trade that heartwarming feeling for the world.

Sakura was not finished with the afternoon and she knew that she just had to ask, "What if one day someone claims you to be theirs? What about Mr. Kakashi? Wasn't he like the father figure to you?"

Sakura did not receive any response from him after that. He was absent-mindedly strumming on his guitar, playing a set of chords that somehow felt familiar to her. Black eyes bore on her and she grinned.

"I know that song!"

Sasuke blinked and raised an eyebrow. Sasuke knew how to play guitar—she liked guys who played the guitar. Sakura, herself, was a guitarist, occasionally playing the drums, and watching Sasuke first hand as he played the instrument—it awed her.

She only heard stuff about Sasuke being able to play the said musical instrument, but no one ever heard him play it. People only saw him carrying the instrument behind his back, but he neither denied nor affirmed about his knowledge on playing it. The students knew that Sasuke played many different instruments, though, having performed some few times in school, but guitar...

For Sakura, it said a lot.

It surprised her further when Sasuke sang. He sang while his eyes were trained on her, and he sang while his fingers unconsciously placed themselves on different strings to form the needed chords. Sakura felt that her breath was practically knocked off her.

"Days swiftly come and go, I'm dreaming of her—"

He had this handsome voice that surprisingly did not make her blush, but made her look at him. Because he was looking at her.

"—she's seeing other guys, emotions they stir. The sun is gone, the nights are long, and I am left while the tears fall."

Sakura gave him a soft smile and leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes, and joining him in singing to the song he played. She would not forget that afternoon.

The pink-haired teenager walked home happily, occasionally waltzing on her way. She ignored the people watching her weirdly because she just knew that nothing could dampen her happy disposition around that time.

The rest of the afternoon before she had decided to walk home, Sasuke had played his guitar with different songs while Sakura sang to them. She would occasionally berate Sasuke whenever he used the wrong chords, making it known to the boy that Sakura, herself, was knowledgeable in the field of music.

Sakura let a blush paint on her cheeks when she remembered what Sasuke had told her while smirking, "More afternoons like this would be nice."

Sakura giggled when she realized that they had shared the same sentiments.

She failed to realize that she forgot to reiterate her final question to Sasuke, or that Sasuke had murmured his answer the moment she decided to leave and didn't hear him.

The next day, the flags of Konohagakure everywhere in the country were raised in half-mast, signifying the mourning of all Konoha citizens. Sakura blinked as she watched the morning news, listening as it said of the death of the country's Crown Prince, Prince Itachi Uchiha.

But it was not the death that had her head reeling with thoughts. It was the fact that as she stared at the face of the royalty on the television's screen, she was vaguely reminded of a certain boy who was raised up in an orphanage.