A/N: Ohwow. I was not expecting such a good turnout, seeing as I published at what, midnight? But thanks for all the reviews. Love you all~


Reason Two: Naruto

It was a well enough known fact that Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were rivals.

And, unfortunately for Sakura, this added to the reasons as to why her and Uchiha Sasuke must never, under any circumstances, date.

After all, Naruto was one of her very close friends. Sure, he was loud and annoying at times, but he had a good heart. Sakura appreciated that more than anything. Sure, Naruto might have also possible loved her, but she knew that as soon as Hinata had the courage to actually tell Naruto about how she felt, the two were sure to get together.

Anyhow, that was a whole different point. Now that Sasuke was infatuated with her as well, the two were sure to become more and more competitive over her, and while most girls might've found this flattering, Sakura knew it was only a matter of time before it became down right annoying.

Frankly, she wouldn't be even remotely surprised if she ended up not being able to speak to them for weeks.

---

Sakura closed her locker and leaned up against it, hoping that today wouldn't turn out the same way as yesterday's 'Itachi Incident.' She looked up. No seniors appeared to be in the hallway or anything. She breathed a sigh of relief, wondering for a second why she never met up with Ino at her locker. She supposed it had just become habit after a certain point.

"Sakura!" A voice called from down the hallway, followed by an orange blur shooting down it. Naruto caught up with her, and she looked down at his hands. He was carrying... flowers? That was... odd. "Sakura! I brought these for you!" He exclaimed, blushing.

Sakura blinked, that was strange. Naruto normally didn't bring her stuff. Heck, he could barely even remember his own lunch most days, forcing Sakura to buy him ramen from the cafeteria. "Oh! Uh... thanks?" She replied, taking the bouquet of, what appeared to be, flowers from the Principal's garden.

The blond replied with a smile before bolting back down the hallway.

Sakura shook her head, depositing the flowers in her locker. Whenever days started like this, it was not a good sign.

---

There had to be no class in the entire school as boring as freshman Math.

Yes, gym with Maito Gai might've been disturbing at times, but it wasn't boring at any time. Not with the teacher going off with rants about the 'Youthfullness of today's Youth'. Science with Orochimaru wasn't boring. Creepy? Yes. Not boring. All the other classes had at least one redeeming quality to it. Freshman Math did not.

It always started with the same thing, the teacher being late. Mr. Kakashi never seemed to bother showing up even close to the bell. Although, should one student even be a minute or so late, Kakashi seemed to be on class right on time to give the poor student a late slip. Many students, mainly Naruto, had tried numerous times to just show up fifteen minutes late, the normal time Kakashi showed up, and were all sent to detention by their suddenly on time teacher.

Even more unfortunate than this was the fact that one classroom wall was shared with the science classroom. Orochimaru didn't tolerate any noise coming from the neighboring classroom. He'd come over and scream at them, threatening detentions if the classroom got even loud in the slightest. As a result, all students sat in their seats, doing yesterday's homework, completely silent, while they waited for their chronically late teacher.

Sakura sat in a desk around the middle of the classroom. Ino had opted to sit with her friends, Chouji and Shikamaru, for this class, leaving Sakura alone.

Or at least, temporarily alone, as Sasuke sat down in the desk to her left, and Naruto sat down in the one to her right.

That wouldn't have been abnormal in the slightest, normally, except for the way they did it. It was almost as if they were racing for a spot beside her. She blinked, looking at both boys now sitting on either side of her.

"Hi Sakura." They both said in synchronization, glaring at each other. They both stood up and walked to either side of her desk, leaning on it while continuing glaring.

"I was here first, dope. Maybe you should find another seat?" Sasuke said.

Naruto shook his head, "Bastard, I was here way before you."

"Uh... guys? There are two desks, you know. You both can sit here..." Sakura tried explaining, she was promptly ignored.

The glare-off continued. Neither guy seemed even close to budging, until the unthinkable happened.

Suddenly, a guy bumped into Naruto's back, who, due to his concentration on glaring at Sasuke, topped over.

Some girls took photos, some gasped, and all boys were thanking every god and goddess alive that they weren't the ones involved.

For on January 17, 9:31AM, Uzumaki Naruto had the misfortune of tripping in such a way that his lips connected with the one and only, Uchiha Sasuke.

Almost immediately, both boys parted and began scraping off their tongues as quickly as humanly possible, running away to desks on the opposite sides of the classroom, cursing one another under their breaths.

Sakura bent over her desk and began laughing hysterically.

---

Sakura admitted, lunch time with their mentor had the slight potential to be awkward.

Naruto and Sasuke still refused to acknowledge one another's presence. They sat on opposite sides of her and simply stared at the wall, pretending they were anywhere and with anyone aside from the boy sitting to the other side of their pink haired peer.

Sometimes boys had such a flair for dramatics.

Kakashi entered the office and placed his Icha Icha Paradise book, something which Sakura was almost positive was pure porn, onto the desk. He looked at Sasuke, then at Naruto.

"Did something happen I should know about?" He asked. On cue, Sakura began laughing once again.

---

"Hey... Sakura." Sasuke said as the trio left the office. Eventually Kakashi had dropped the subject on what had happened between Sasuke and Naruto. They then went on to discuss boring things such as college and futures. In all honesty, Sakura had spaced out.

The pink haired girl turned her head towards Sasuke. "Yes?" She asked.

With that, the black haired boy shoved a red rose into her hands, not going unnoticed by the blond boy on her other side.

"Hey Bastard! What are you trying to do with my Sakura?" He shouted, giving Sasuke a shove.

"Your Sakura?" Sakura muttered under her breath, going unnoticed by the two boys.

"I was just giving her a flower Dope." Sasuke replied, giving a shove back to Naruto.

Naruto shoved Sasuke. Sasuke shoved Naruto. Then, Naruto threw a punch. That's when all hell broke loose.

It quickly turned into a fist fight, which Kakashi was forced out of his office to come break up.

Sakura sighed. This was a reason why she could never date Sasuke. It would cause too much tension between her and Naruto.

Sometimes, the pink haired girl wished Sasuke could see these reasons.


A/N: Well, there's another chapter done. I'll be trying to update weekly to bi-weekly, but I'm fairly slow when it comes to writing, so it may take longer.

Reviews are loved~ Suggestions for reasons are also welcome, though I have a fair amount already decided. If I choose to use one of yours, I'll give you credit.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I make no profit from these writings.