Sakura woke up and stretched her arms. She rubbed her eyes cutely and sighed, "The first day of school again." She got up after she kicked her blanket of her long ivory legs and walked towards the bathroom. She bathes and wore her clothes after she dried herself. She remembered that her clothes had been replaced with new ones. She grabbed a long white dress with black ruffles at the end that reached her hips, followed by black skinny jeans. She also pulled out a black cotton sweater that stopped at her torso. The clothes hugged her curves cutely as Sakura brushed her hair and wore her choker.

She had stopped using the fake glasses and tight denim vest last year, on her last day as freshmen and the first day of summer vacation. After renewing her wardrobe with the help of her parents and best friends, Sakura showed her cute and beautiful true self to most people and she had gotten many fan boys. Too bad Sakura is pretty much oblivious about it.

Sakura grabbed her bag and ran downstairs. She grabbed an apple, bags of dumplings and flowers and ran out of her house but not before locking it. She entered a graveyard where she presented a plate of dumplings and a bouquet of flowers to her parents' grave. She placed her hands against each other and prayed for her parent's who were now in heaven. 'May your soul live peacefully,' Sakura prayed. She got up and exited the graveyard. She looked at her watch and her eyes widened.

"I'm late for school!" Sakura's cute voice shrieked and she ran towards her school. 'I can't believe I woke up late again!' Sakura thought, tears were forming on her eyelids. She head towards the train station as fast as she could.

At school, Hinata kept glancing around; hoping to find her shy best friend but not a single pink hair was seen. Then, the bell rang, signaling the students to head for their first class. Hinata, not wanting to get a detention slip and get an earful from her father, she walked into her class. She was almost on the verge of tears. 'Sakura-chan hasn't arrived yet. Where could she be?'

To the Konoha, Naruto grinned as he patted Sasuke's back. "So, guys, how was summer vacation? Did something awesome?" Naruto asked his friends. "Me and Itachi went to the beach with our family," Sasuke said, sitting down next to Gaara and Shikamaru. Sai turned his chair and listened to the gang's conversation, ignoring the 'Welcome Back to School as sophomores' speech by their slightly perverted teacher, Kakashi Hatake. Neji wasn't with them because it was obvious Neji was a junior this year since he's a year older than the rest.

"The beach, how boring," Kiba said. "In Hawaii," Sasuke smirked, making both Naruto and Kiba chocked on air. "Why the hell didn't you invite us?" they both asked. "Hn, because you guys are annoying," Gaara sighed as he watched Shikamaru slept, bored already.

"Okay. Roll Call," Kakashi said, holding a clipboard in his hands, "Ami."

"Here."

"Gaara Sabaku."

"Hn."

"Hinata Hyuuga."

"H-Here."

"Ino Yamanaka."

"Here."

"Karin."

"Here."

"Kiba Inuzuka."

"Here- Arf!"

"Maka."

"Here!"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Believe it!"

"Sai."

"Present."

"Sakura Haruno."

No one answered. Kakashi called out again, "Sakura Haruno!" Still no one answered. As Kakashi almost wrote 'absent' on Sakura's name, the door slammed open, revealing a cute yet flustered girl. The girl was flawless. She had short cherry pink hair and bright emerald green eyes. She had a face of a cute angel and the body of a goddess.

"Sorry I'm late, Kakashi- sensei!" the pink haired girl bowed deeply and gracefully as her dress swayed a bit. Not too soon, a yellow and orange blob tackled the girl to the floor. "Aw, you're so cute!" Naruto exclaimed as he rubbed his cheek against the girl's.

The pink haired girl struggled to escape from Naruto's hold, but did not succeed. She raised her leg to push Naruto away from her person. However, she accidentally kicked him in the stomach but she didn't know.

Naruto howled in pain and unknowingly released the girl underneath him. The girl scrambled up and ran towards Kakashi; afraid that Naruto might do something worst.

Gaara sighed as he and Kiba strolled towards Naruto. "Are you fine now?" Kiba asked as he watched Naruto rub his now reddened stomach.

Gaara tilted his head as he closely eyed Sakura. 'She looks familiar,' he thought.

Sasuke shook his head and turned to watch the pink haired girl, talking to Kakashi; telling him the reason why she was late. Kakashi smiled apologetically and gave her a detention slip. The girl pouted cutely and strolled off towards her seat.

"What's your name?" Kiba asked, grinning at the same time he tried to pull the girl towards him but she refused. "Sakura Haruno," the girl said as she glared at the boys.

"What?" almost the whole class yelled. "Geeky Haruno?" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at her. "Forehead girl?" Ino squeaked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and nodded. She went to sit down beside Hinata but was stopped by Sai and Shikamaru. "Tell us, what happened to you? Did you ask your doctor for plastic surgery?" Sai mocked.

Sakura shook her head and glared at the pale boy, "For your information, I wore fake glasses and a tight denim vest last year. I threw them away last year too. If you want more information, ask Hinata or Temari."

"Liar," Shikamaru said. "It's true! Temari and I were the only ones who knew!" Hinata said sternly. The boys instantly believe the blue haired girl, since she was not good at lying.

Sakura managed to get away from the boys and sat next to Hinata. Kakashi clapped his hand, instantly earning all of his students' attentions. "Can we continue with our little game?" Kakashi asked as he held the clipboard tightly.

Homeroom went by smoothly, with the boys of Konoha directing stares at Sakura.

"Ugh! We need to tell the others about this!" Karin said, pulling out her hand phone and called the leader of Sound and the leader of the Akatsuki as well as Neji.

Homeroom ended not too soon, with the Akatsuki members, Sound members and Neji waiting outside of the Sophomore Homeroom class.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Pein asked. "It's about Sakura," Ino said. "We already know. Sai sent a message about it to us earlier. He also sent a picture of her. I'm quite surprised to say the least," Nagato stated.

"I'm not." Sasori replied. "I figured out she wore fake glasses last year. I had been wondering what she looked like when she wasn't hiding anything. Still it's a bit mind blowing that she actually looked like that the whole time." 'Now I'm wondering why she made herself look like a geek when she may as well be Aphrodite.'

"Yeah well I bet she's still the same nerd on the inside and I'll prove it!" Tenten exclaimed with frustration.

Neji sighed, exasperated. "Tenten what are you up to?" Lately Neji had been seeing less and less of the girl he had dated and more than enough of a rather vicious, shallow, vain, and rather slutty girl who practically molested him every chance she got. He had a feeling he was starting to see the real Tenten.

'It's about time for a change. I think I know just the girl too.' Neji thought with a gleam in his eye as he remembered Haruno's picture. 'Even if it doesn't work out, Tenten's reaction alone should be more than worth it.'

Meanwhile Itachi and Pein were having internal arguments with themselves. Picking on Haruno never did sit well with them especially when she cried. She would take off those thick glasses and show the angelic face beneath. Her face (to them) had always been naturally pretty. It was a face that would make many women jealous, a face that would have women everywhere pouring makeup on themselves to achieve.

Yes they had noticed it. Picking on women had never sat well with them even if the woman was an outcast. They went along with it so they didn't appear weak. Now that Haruno was transformed they weren't sure they could go through with another harsh prank.

Kiba and Kimimaro weren't paying attention. Kimimaro had heard voices in the classroom and recognized Haruno's. He had decided to listen in to see if he could find out what brought about this drastic change. Kiba on the other hand had seen Akamaru go into the classroom and heard the serious conversation then.

As he listened he became more and more shocked at what he was hearing. "Sakura-chan, I am so sorry for the loss of your parents. If you need anything you know where to find me." Kakashi told Sakura.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei it means a lot to me. Try not to be sad though. They wouldn't want that for either of us. I'm sure they want us to be happy," Sakura responded.

"Arf!" Akamaru happily barked, wagging his tail at Sakura. Sakura pouted when she saw the white puppy.

"Oh no, I have to go Kakashi-sensei. If Akamaru is here Kiba-san shouldn't be far behind." Sakura explained when Akamaru whimpered at being ignored. Sakura couldn't resist petting Akamaru a bit. As she did her face melted into a gentle smile which had Kiba's eyes going wide and his heart pounding.

It was after all the first time he had seen her smile.

The boys saw the discipline teacher scouting the area, in search of something or someone. The boys hid quickly, not wanting to get detention, again.

Sakura got out of the classroom, waving at Kakashi. She then stopped when she saw the discipline teacher; Ibiki Morino.

Ibiki stopped when seeing her too, and smiled at the pink haired girl. Ibiki hated almost everyone. He was ill-tempered, impatient and harsh. But somehow, he held a soft spot for Sakura ever since she walked into this school.

Ibiki never once yelled at her, but gave her flowers and candies and made sure the girl is happy.

Sakura waved back to Ibiki as she walked away, not wanting to be late for her next class. She passed the boys without a second glance as she jogged towards her next class.

The boys walked towards their next class too; History. When they arrived, they saw Sakura carrying a very large stack of books without any help. Her eyes showed fear; fear she might drop the books she was currently carrying.

Yahiko walked towards her and took half of the books from the pink haired girl. Sakura saw him and looked away; afraid of him. She didn't say a word, not even a 'thank you'. She placed he books on an empty table and waited until Yahiko did the same.

After Yahiko placed all the books onto that table, he looked at Sakura. Sakura still didn't look at him; this made Yahiko scrunch his nose. Sakura bowed to him and walked towards her seat.

Yahiko kept staring at Sakura, who was trying her best to ignore the stare that Yahiko was giving her. Yahiko then shrugged and walked towards his seat.

Konoha, Sound and the Akatsuki all had History together. That was the only class they often see each other.

Sakura made sure she was far away from the three groups as possible. The G.G had another class to attend, so Sakura was grateful they weren't here. Sakura pulled out her textbook and a notebook and started to write some notes about the history lesson they were learning.

The class soon ended and Sakura quickly grabbed her books and walked towards the door, but bumped into Yahiko's chest. Sakura fell down a bit, her books dropped onto the floor. Yahiko frowned and kneeled down in front of Sakura.

He picked up Sakura's books and gave them to the girl. Sakura looked at him and Yahiko's eyes widened.

To Yahiko, Sakura's beautiful. But now, when he looked into the girl's eyes and saw her face in a close range, his heart was beating faster and faster. Yahiko gulped and shoved the books in Sakura's hand.

He stood up and walked away, not even sparing Sakura a glance. When he got out of the classroom, he clutched his shirt. 'What was that feeling?' he thought, his eyes were clouded.

Sakura looked down, 'Figures he wouldn't even want to look at me. To him, I'm just a pink haired freak.'

Sakura got up and walked towards the door. "Bye, Asuma-sensei!" Sakura waved as she exited the classroom. When Sakura was finally in the hallway, she sighed. Sakura walked toward her next class; Language Arts with Anko.

She noted that Anko had told her she had language arts with Naruto, Ino, Shino and Ami. Oh, how she dislike them all.

The bright side, she had language arts with Hinata too! Sakura walked towards her class, and entered it. When she stepped into the place, she was tackled to the floor. "Sakura-chan!" a purple haired woman was on top of her.

"Anko-sensei, you're choking me!" Sakura said, trying to escape from the older and much taller woman above her. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to choke you, Sakura-chan!" Anko said as she released the pink haired girl.

"I heard Jiraiya is going to be the new health teacher for this year. Is that right?" Anko asked and Sakura nodded; a response to Anko's question.

"Man, who would want that pervert to teach in this school?" Anko whispered but the students heard it, except Sakura.

Sakura stood and sat next to Hinata, curios what Anko had said earlier. They all were bored to death as Anko lectured them. Class went by boringly as Sakura yawned, tears forming in the corner of her eyes, already sleepy.

The bell rang not too soon, and Sakura wiped the tears away cutely. Anko squealed in delight when she saw Sakura's actions. Shino stared at Sakura for a very long time, while Naruto started to calculate one of his -idiotic- plans to woo Sakura. "Hey Shino-kun, should we pull another prank on her?" Ami asked, scooting closer to Shino with a blush on her face.

Shino on the other hand, tried to scoot away from the girl as he continued to stare at Sakura with a calculating gaze. Ami pouted and looked at Ino who was texting Sasuke and try to ask him on a date but she didn't succeed.

The bell rang and the students got up and left the classroom, Sakura and Hinata chose to stay in the classroom and help Anko a bit. Shino sighed as he walked towards Sakura who was holding a stack of books, unaware that the rosette was in front of him.

Until, they bumped against each other. Shino fell on top of Sakura with a grunt. Shino raised his head and looked into Sakura's emerald eyes, his heart pounded quickly. Naruto helped Shino up as his hands brushed against Sakura's right arm.

Naruto blushed and hurriedly helped Shino to stand. "You okay, Shino-kun?" Ami asked, glaring daggers at Sakura. Sakura frowned, and stood up. Shino kept on watching Sakura's retreating figure. His eyes were clouded with an emotion he can't describe.

Anko smirked and thought, 'This will be an interesting year, indeed.'

Hi there! Sorry if I hadn't updated for a while. Busy, busy, busy... Anyways, hope you'll enjoy this chapter. Read and Review! Oh, and a big thanks to dragontamer ri-chan for helping me with this chapter!