"Uhhh… Sakura?" Ino tried her hardest to suppress her laughter.
"…yes?"
"You do realize there are no hats allowed in school."
"Yes." She shot Ino a glare worthy of Sasuke's applause.
Ino ignored it. "And you do realize that that outfit is totally ridiculous….right?"
"…yes."
"But, do you realize everyone knows who you are?" Sakura froze, her books pressing into her chest, that is, one of the three huge overcoats hiding her chest.
"I…wasn't aware of that." Sakura said in the same dignified voice (now suddenly shaken), suddenly she felt very warm in her fathers fishing coat. It was bigger than hinata's biggest sweatshirt, and still had the hooks from last years vacation (a disaster due to the flooding of the river they visited) in it. Her boots (rain boots that is) started to feel like cement blocks, and the rest of her thousands of identity-hiding accessories felt like extra sets of eyes, staring at her. Great, now she was the laughing stock of the school.
"Classes haven't started yet, you still have hope… I'll lend you my gym clothes." Ino pulled her over to an atrociously over-decorated locker and then dragged her to the girls bathroom.
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"God what were you thinking? And…" Ino pulled a pair of leg warmers out from the pile of crap Sakura had attempted to use as a 'disguise'
"Are these Lee's?" the silence form her best friend gave her the answer.
"I just won't say anything." She dropped them with a shudder, blond hair shaking with disgust. "I didn't know you hated the guy attention so much."
Sakura nodded, reminding herself of Kankuro, and the sudden eerie expression that flooded over his face. It was so creepy, she was feeling as if someone was following her everywhere. (Not just school) It might have been just in her imagination, but whenever she was sleeping, she felt almost as if someone was tracing her neck with his breath. Whenever she would be thinking, or staring into space, she could swear she saw something standing in the corner of her eyesight. Whenever it was dark, she felt as if everyone was grinning at her.
"We should get to class. You look fine in my gym shorts, now lets go." Sakura never really understood why Ino lead her around everywhere, she was normally a bossy person herself, she thought her pink hair made that statement. But the blonde would always be the leader, the one who pushed her out the door, her Celtic earrings and pagan spellcrap books. (A/N this is Sakura's opinion and not my own on the pagan religion) The one who she would always stand behind, and the one who would get her into all the right parties even if they were still underclassmen.
"Hurry, or we'll be late." Sakura smiled, and sped up her pace, forgetting completely about the huge pile of crap she and her besty had left for some unsuspecting female in the 3rd toilet stall.
Next class was Science, and even though professor Orochimaru creeped the hell out of her, it was still her favorite class. Why? Because Sasuke was in it of course. His perfect creamy skin, the way his onyx eyes darted around the room, his hair in a perfect frame around his face, deep and dark like a raven's feathers, she wanted to breathe him in.
She wanted to stand by him, connect herself with him. She wanted to be lost in his dark aura.
However, so did every other girl in the class. Even the Teacher's aid, Karin would be looking him over more than her papers.
"Sakura, What is the answer to question 5?"
"The speed is 70mph." They were reviewing Physical Science, easy stuff for her.
"Incorrect, the answer is 140mph, 70 would be the answer to the next question." So…maybe spacing off entirely was a good idea…
"Alright…..Students…." Orochimaru looked at Sasuke…my god was he oogling him too?!
"Get in pairs, and get ready for a project. This IS for a grade." Said by any other teacher that sentence would have been normal, but Orochimaru was one of those people who couldn't sound normal no matter what came out of his mouth. He sounded like slime.
However, his call for 'choosing your own partner' had caused an uproar. Sakura and Ino's hands immediately clasped, and every other female lunged for Sasuke.
The other boys just sat in their seats, a little stunned.
"Since there seems to be a dispute over…Sasuke Uchiha." He WAS oolgling Sasuke, who if he had realized the entire class's obsession with him, he was very good at hiding it.
"We'll pair him with…." A lazy finger wandered around the classroom aimlessly until it landed on Sakura.
"Her." Now Sasuke's eyes widened, but in anger.
What's so bad about me!?
"Uh, I already have a partner…." Sakura pointed meekly at Ino, who's face was hard to read.
"Well, that's too bad. Ino, you're paired with Sai. Now…..work." Everyone immediately moved, but no one really worked, considering they were all grumbling about Sakura and Sasuke.
"Ano… Sasuke…."
His eyes were like ice, and they whispered so low that no one but she could hear. "Little bitch. If you think your little playboy will get me to play the part of prince charming, you're even dumber than I thought, and your magic tricks may have every other boy in the school fooled, but not me."
"WHAT DID I EVEN DO TO YOU!?" She couldn't stand it. The one boy she liked hated her for no reason. Not even caring about her perfect attendance, or Valedictorian grades at stake, she shoved her binder to the floor and ran out as fast as she could, leaving only stares and whispers behind.
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It seemed like her tears were the only real object besides herself here. The hallways flew past, empty logos and pictures of smiling athletes were all there, but they were like foam on the waves, they had no substance to her.
Finally the door came and she flung herself through it and into nowhere.
"This is all your fault." She kept running, as if she could outrun Sasuke's words. She had liked him for the longest time, she had never tried to bother him, she only occasionally asked him if she could borrow a pencil, or if he needed to borrow one in return. Little things, yet he so cold bloodedly hated her.
"You stupid love curse." She broke down sobbing…again.
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"UZUMAKI!!" Naruto just barley flipped out of the way of a sake bottle,
"STOP FOOLING AROUND IN THE HUMAN WORLD!! You KNOW IT'S FORBIDDEN!"
"I'm not actually talking to her….."
"Of course not," Lady Tsunade was queen of the gods (and Goddesses) She ruled with an iron (or at least drunken) fist.
"Only Uchiha and Hyugas can sense you. The Hyugas don't even practise the art anymore. "
"That's not true." Naruto said. "There's a girl from that family who can see me."
"DON'T QUESTION ME!" She said, draining another bottle. "Especially when I'm drunk." She was fairly muddled.
"Anyways, If she falls in love with you, and knows you exist, you'll lose your wings and become half-human! Not only that, but…"
"Yeah yeah, cruel fate, ultimate dishonor, you live unnaturally long, your love dies, you're heartbroken, and alone, and you live for another 100 years cold and alone."
The woman glared at him through her new bottle of sake. (Which she was having a great deal of trouble opening.)
"If you know the facts, WHY do you insist on following this human girl around?"
Naruto bent over to tie his shoelace, his chuck tailors had been his fathers, and he still had no idea how on earth he had managed to make them wearable by a god. Nevertheless, they were the most beat up shoes you could ever see, and as he stood up, his fierce blue eyes brightened. "For Sakura, I would gladly give up my arrows."
"Well then, hand them over." Naruto twitched, and his grip tightened on his bow.
"You see, you can't give them up, it's just a silly crush, so leave the poor girl alone and marry a goddess, like Neera."
"Neera?" Naruto raised his eyebrows, his perfectly sculpted face twisted in disgust.
"Whats wrong with her? She's pretty, talented, and-"
"-And she's my sister." Naruto spat.
"So? Marrying sibling is customary, keeps the godlike features in-"
"Ugh, don't get it into it with me! I'm not giving up on Sakura! I'm not letting you stop me from loving her, even if she doesn't love me!" He ran on clouds, as fast as possible, for soon after, the still corked Sake bottle came flying after him.
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Briiiiiiing…..
Briiiiiiiiiiiiing…..
Briiiiiiiiiiiiing…..
Ino sighed, her cell wedged between her shoulder and ear, while painting her nails a florescent blue.
"Hia, you've reached Sakura's cell phone, I guess I'm not here right now, or maybe my phones off, but the point is that I'm not available. So please leave a short message after the beep and I'll talk to you later, Bye now!"
"Hey, Sakura…" The phone slipped and her polish crinkled on her thumb as she caught the cell between her fingers.
"I'm really sorry, I'm sorry Sasuke didn't mean whatever he said, so don't give up kay? At least Lee didn't bother you today…right?" she tried to force her smile into the phone, as if her happiness would leak through to Sakura's heart.
"Why don't you come over tomorrow, we'll have a sleep over, and watch movies and pig out on popcorn, all the good stuff.
….Anyways, call me back, speed dial #1 on your phone hun." Click
"Cheer up Sakura, when things mess up," She grabbed a cotton swab, and some polish remover, clearing the smears from her thumb and adding a new coat of ostentatious blue.
"Just start over again."