Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Whoa, I updated. I'm surprised of myself.
Line and Sinker
Loud, heavy footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the empty hallways. Haruno Sakura had absolutely no clue what she was doing. She was just making this horrid plan up, as she went. Her morning wasn't exactly bad… She had just left the classroom without her teacher's consent, her classmates think she's a dirty little girl whose dating the school's playboy, and her best friend despises her… well, could be worse, right?
The bell rang and Sakura whirled around in shock. She cursed under her breath when she saw students, rapidly, exiting their classes and crowding the once serene hallways. Chattering, laughter, shoving, figures and pushing flashed before her light green eyes. "Damn, Damn, Damn. Stupid bastard and his lies… Argh, where's Ino?" she thought, in frustration. The hallways soon emptied, as the crowd of scholars made their way swiftly to the cafeteria. When the path became more spacious, Sakura sighed in relief. "Now, I'll be easier to find her…" Sakura thought, as she countinued her search. She glanced upwards, at the ceiling, as she began to sort out her thoughts.
She turned a corner, oblivious to what was awaiting her, and screamed. A piercing pain was sent to her ankle and her lip. She glanced upwards and saw none other than Ino; a cruel grin was plastered on her lips as she stared down at the Sakura.
"I-Ino?" Sakura asked, hesitantly. Ino said nothing and sent a hard kick to Sakura's side, making her slide against the frictionless floor, her back meeting the other side of the brick wall, in the process.
Sakura bit her cut lip, and stifled a cry of pain. She could taste her metallic blood on the tip of her tongue, and her ankle was most likely twisted from that rankled event. Her eyes filled with horror as the other slowly approached her. Ino bent down, glowering down at Sakura, who was now, frail and defenseless. Mocking laughter filled the air and Sakura could tell, Ino felt no regret at all.
A sadistic smirk made its way to Ino's lips, and she said in a bitter tone, "I should've known you were a slut from the moment I met you."
She then left without another word, not knowing Sakura, was mourning for the friend she had just lost.
Sakura warily placed her hand on the brick wall beside her for support. She stood up, slowly, and attempted to regain balance. Her knees were shaking and the pain directed towards her ankle did not cease, but she could care less.
She knew what Ino was capable of… this was only a demo. The unfortunate girl, who was caught with Sasuke, got a piece of Ino's grudge, and the poor student was so scared she fled the school and abandoned Sasuke along with it. Sasuke seemed unaffected by this since she was probably a pawn in his twisted who-knows-what plan.
Sakura cringed, at the thought of her best friend being her rival for the rest of the year, or perhaps forever. Their friendship wasn't just built on fear, of course… Sakura valued their friendship, despite Ino's vengeful reputation. She didn't want some guy she barely even knew to break that bond. They've known each other since forever! Not literally, but whatever!
She took a step forward and hissed at the immense pain. She tried to regain her footing, but it only resulted in her collapsing on the ground. She slouched against the wall, and gripped her ankle in agony. When she heard some drumming sounds approach her, her face brightened with hope, only to be crushed when she realized it was Sasuke. The boy stood approximately 7 steps away from her. He said nothing and stared at her, noting her ankle. The unbearable silence and staring-contest was corrupted by Sakura, who secretly, has a powerful urge to punch the meddling novice, in front of her, in the face.
"So, are you just going to stand their and stare at me like that? I know why you're here, go ahead." She snarled, rudely.
He remained silent and said nothing. His cold eyes were still fixed on her.
"Well? Are you going to insult me or not? Just get it over with!" she said, her voice rising a little in anger.
After a few minutes Sasuke said darkly, "You're annoying, you know that?" Oddly enough, his cold words didn't even faze her. She opened her mouth to retaliate but he interrupted her. "Are you hurt?" he asked, awkwardly. Sakura's mouth clamped shut.
"Is he actually worried?" she pondered, in shock. His next statement interrupted her thoughts, once more.
"I don't have all day, you know." He said, as he took in his surroundings. It was almost as if he was afraid someone might catch him with someone like her.
"Tch, he's still the cold-hearted bastard." she muttered, inwardly.
Sakura shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "Please share your definition of 'hurt' because apparently you seem to not comprehend my view of 'hurt.'" She snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she pointed at her ankle.
Sasuke sneered, "You could've just said 'yes', like a normal person."
He took a step towards her and she panicked.
"There is no way I am going to ask that bastard for help!" she thought, arrogantly.
He offered her a hand, waiting impatiently for her to accept it. To his surprise she slapped it away. "I don't need your help. I can get up on my own." She snarled.
A mocking smirk was now plastered on his lips, at those confident words. "Really, now?" he asked.
Sakura glared at him.
"You think I'm bluffing? I'll have you know I don't need anyone's sympathy especially yours, L-O-S-E-R." she said.
He leaned on the wall across from hers and said, with some amusement, "Now this should be interesting." Sakura placed her hand on the wall once more.
"Bring it." She thought.
10 disastrous minutes later…
Each time Sakura failed an attempt to stand, Sasuke would say, rather rudely:
"You're as stubborn as Naruto."
Or
"You're really annoying. Someone lends you a hand and you slap it away?"
OR
"And you call me a loser? It seems you misinterpreted because the only loser here looks like you."
Or
"Give it up."
OR
"Do you understand the definition of 'Give up'?"
Or
"Lunch is almost over, you know? Give up already, so I can get this guilty burden off my shoulders."
Sakura scoffed at the 'guilty burden' statement. Who knew someone so cold, could feel guilt? Our pink-haired scholar sure didn't. She groaned and clutched her head. She was getting a majour headache from thinking and being insulted way too much. Sasuke noticed this and stopped his cruel remarks, abruptly. "Look, why don't we just call a truce, for now? You know as well as I do, that ankle needs to be checked." He exclaimed.
Sakura sighed in defeat. He was right.
"Okay, you win this round." She muttered. She held out her hand and watched as he made his way towards her and grasped it, roughly. He pulled her to her feet, and wrapped her arm carelessly around his shoulder.
With Sasuke's help, they made their way to the nurse's office. She was slightly surprised that, Sasuke didn't seem to mind when she lost her footing once in a while. When the office door was quite visible from their view, Sakura could've sworn she heard Ino and Tenten's voice. She smacked her forehead with her free hand, and hoped she was hallucinating. Sasuke took a step, watched her take one with her left foot, and observed as she dragged her right. He noticed something was bothering her when her body became tense.
"Not that I care or anything, but what the hell is wrong with you?" Sasuke demanded. Sakura ignored the insult and halted. Sasuke took a step forward only to be pulled back by Sakura's arm which was still draped around his shoulders. He glanced at her in annoyance and noticed she didn't move… as if her shoes were glued to the floor. She was definitely worried about something. Fear was visible in her eyes.
"Damn, it. Next thing I know I'll be a therapist for women everywhere in need." Sasuke muttered, to himself. He took Sakura's arm off his shoulders and gripped both of hers. His nails dug into her skin, awakening her from her trance. Her eyes widened in alarm and she took a step back. She had completely forgotten about her ankle and the next thing she knew she felt herself falling. Her heart beat began to increase, hastily.
…Thump…
Thump
THUMP
Thump!
tHuMp
THUMP!
thump
...THUMP…
ThUmP
thump.
It was so quick, not even an audible sound such as a scream could escape her lips. She closed her eyes and waited for her head to meet the tiled ground.
She opened them when she realized someone had caught her. She blinked confusedly, and looked down at the ground which was very close to colliding with her head. She then stared up at her saviour… Uchiha… SASUKE?
"Whoa… what happened?" she asked, dumbly. Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. His grip around her waist tightened but he didn't pull her up like she expected. Instead, he pulled her closer to him, pressing her body to his. His lips were a mere inched away from her own, she could feel his heavy, hoarse breathing at the base of her neck.
"What happened? What happened! How stupid can you get, you klutz? Watch yourself, because I won't always be here to save you!" Sasuke screamed. His voice was filled with rage, and his once calm and controlled demeanor was no longer active. Sakura gasped when his lips moved a little closer to hers. "Understand?" he whispered, his breath tickling her lips.
Sakura felt his grip on her waist tighten again.
"I-" She didn't get a chance to answer, when a new voice faltered.
"Aww how cute… Look at the tramp, Tenten. I told you she was secretly going out with him, behind my back." Sasuke pulled Sakura up and calmly placed her arm over his shoulders again, as if nothing happened.
"Whore." Sakura heard Tenten whisper in utter disbelief.
Sasuke apparently, caught the little insult because he retorted harshly, "Look, what I said back in that classroom was true so deal with it. It's not a surprise, it's not a lie, and it's nobody's fault, especially Haru- I mean Sakura's so shut your pie-whole (A/N: Couldn't resist putting that in…) and move out of the way."
Sasuke shoved the two devastated girls aside and helped Sakura into the nurses' office. Sakura glanced back one last time at the two girls, who stared back, wide-eyed. Ino recovered from the shock first and mouthed, "Bitch, this means war."
Sakura did not even get a chance to react, because Sasuke promptly slammed the door shut. Sakura sat on a nearby chair with Sasuke's help and she sighed. Sasuke scanned the room and noticed the nurse wasn't in the office, most likely, because she was out for her lunch break.
"Ino will be after you from now on. Better watch your back." Sasuke stated.
Sakura snorted.
"Obviously. Thanks for provoking her with your 'back-off she's my girlfriend' speech." said Sakura, sarcastically.
"Look, I didn't mean for her to go this far. And that speech was incidental." Sasuke retorted.
"Then you never should've cheated on her! Why couldn't you just break up with her normally?" demanded Sakura, as she crossed her arms across her chest, and slouched into the uncomfortable chair.
"Because I wasn't the one for Ino, I knew you would want revenge, I wanted your attention… and a way to get closer to you… and protect you… and I got it" said Sasuke, in a moderate pace.
Sakura gasped, in complete shock.
Sasuke laughed. It was a teasing, mocking, cruel, laugh. "Just joking… damn, you should've seen the look on your face! Priceless I tell ya-" he trailed off when a look of hurt crossed Sakura's features.
"You thought I was serious?" Sasuke asked, bewildered. His tone was softer but it still held that cocky edge. He took the seat beside her and awaited her answer.
Sakura bit her bloodied lip, nervous, of his interrogation. "I-I… for a minute there… I thought something could actually happen with you and me… but I guess all you said back there was an act…"
Sasuke stared at her for a long moment. "You know…" he began.
He was cut of by Sakura's laughter. "Ha ha! Got ya!" she said, with a forced smile. Sasuke frowned. For some odd reason he didn't really think her and him being together was such a bad idea… too bad he didn't know she was thinking the exact same thing…
Sasuke's cold mask was visible again. "I was going to say, 'You know, you're horrible at lying.'" He said, emphasizing the word 'going'.
Sakura shrugged.
"For your safety, we should be together as much as possible, because I don't want you practically dying from one of Ino's harmful pranks, somewhere with a grudge against me."
Sakura was about to say something, but Sasuke beat her to it.
"I know what you're going to say. Why don't we just break up, right?"
Sakura curtly nodded.
"If we split, Ino will still be after you… she won't rest until you're driven out of this school… that was one of the reasons why I cheated on her by the way. She would threaten every female I talk to… I swear she threatened my own mother."
Sakura stifled a laugh even though this was a serious matter. She felt so relaxed around Sasuke. That didn't mean she was falling for him, of course.
"We'll try to confront Ino together and if it doesn't work we'll just have to fight the war and win it. It'll most likely be a sick war… watch your shoes… she'll fill it with mustard when she gets the chance… it happened to the girl I cheated on her with... and Naruto." Sasuke explained, monotonously.
Sakura took a deep breath and took this all into thought, still surprised she's working with Sasuke. Sasuke! The school's heartthrob who almost kissed her, saved her, and defended her? Well, the defending part was a lie… but what about the kiss… was she going to be his next victim! "Nooooooo way… he's just an ally and we're just acting. We are not together and I will never fall for a slimy bastard!" Sakura thought. "Fine… but no touching!" she said, swiftly in reality. A weary grin graced Sasuke's lips.
"But darling, we have to make this realistic… don't we?" he asked. Sakura kicked Sasuke lightly and playfully with her uninjured foot. Sasuke chucked. "Don't worry it won't be too intimate." He said.
Sakura grinned. "Good." She replied.
"So, truce?" Sasuke asked, offering his hand out again.
"Truce." Sakura said, taking Sasuke's hand in hers and shaking it vigorously.
Let the sick prank war, commence!
A/N: Ouuuuuu (Pronounced as 'you' without the 'y') who's going to win the prank war? This is dedicated towards CrazyGirl47 for inspiring me to write a prank fic. Her fanfiction was absolutely brilliant.
Ramblings…
Sasuke you bastard! –Sighs- Sakura was actually hurt by those words but she didn't want to show Sasuke weakness so she pranked him back… sad, eh? Anyways, I'm planning to add some humour! It will be Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata and Naruto v.s Ino, Tenten, Shikamaru, and Neji. (Neji will make some excellent pranks for such a silent boy, and of course Naruto will dominate them all…) Ummmmm... The pranks will be silly, I guess. In the end something weird will happen… and yes, there will still be intense love/romantic scenes. Tune in next time… please review :)
Thanks for reading!
LimeQuartz.