Ok, since people want to get straight to the story (at least I like to think so...), I'm gonna do the review stuff (whatever it's called...) at the end of each chapter.

When I own Naruto, I'll be sure to let you know. Until then... I don't own it!

AU - Alternate Universe

Chapter 2

Kakashi-sensei's Classroom

On the way to Kakashi's classroom, Neji was thinking about what Sakura had said to him: "The truth." 'The truth? What does tht mean?' Neji thought, looking over at Haruka. 'I don't know if she'd trust me enough to tell me, but I might as well try.' "Hey, Haruka?" She acknowledged him with a nod. "What did Sakura mean by 'the truth'?" She suddenly paled, and looked away, tightly closing her eyes and clenching her hands. He gently put a hand on her shoulder, and she whipped her head towards him. "I'll - I'll tell you after we get in class." She whispered. He nodded, not wanting to push her. They went inside Kakashi's classroom, and stood in a straight line, waiting his orders.

"Ok, you can go ahead and choose your seats. As you can see, there is enough room at the desks for two, so go ahead and find a friend to sit with. Choose carefully, the seat you choose will be yours for the rest of the schoolyear." While he was talking, Neji was whispering a plan to Haruka, who smiled deviously. They went over to Naruto and Hinata, who were looking for someone to sit by, and started pushing them to a seat.

"Woah! Neji! What are you doing?" Naruto asked/shouted. "Haruka, wha-?" Hinata asked in a surprised tone. Neji and Haruka merely chuckled evilly, and pushed Naruto and Hinata to a table. Naruto and Hinata blushed fiery-red when they saw what their friends had in store, but didn't fight them. They sat down, still blushing, and started talking together. Neji and Haruka seemed proud of themselves, and sat in the seat next to them. While they were getting situated, they properly introduced themselves.

"Uh, how about we ask questions about each other? I'll ask you one, then you ask me one, ok?" Haruka suggested. "Hmm, fine by me. You want to go first?" "Sure." Haruka paused for thought. "Uh, how old are you, Neji-san?" "I'm 15. I assume you're the same age." She nodded. He thought about his question. "Why do you call me Neji-san?" Haruka tilted her head. "Do you not want me to call you Neji-san?" "Oh no, it's alright. In honesty, I...enjoy it. Thank you. But, why do you? I mean, I'm 'Branch Family', so that honorific title is never included in my name." She thought a moment. "Because, I see you as fit to carry that title as any other 'Main Family'. And I know how you feel about being a Branch member, I'm a Branch member, too." "Really? But, I don't see you marking. Don't all Branches have it on the left side of their forehead and aren't allowed to cover it?" "Well, yes," she admitted, "but, mine was placed...somewhere else, so it would be more painful." Neji's eyes widened. "What?! Where?" She blushed, raising the bottom of her black shirt so it showed part of her abdomen. Neji blushed slightly, but stared at the marking on her stomach. It was almost the same as his, with a line or two missing or added. She lowered her shirt as he raised his eyes to meet her dark pink ones. She answered his unspoken question. "They allow me to cover it because it can be considered illegal, and they did it so I would feel the utmost pain without dying. It was...Sakura, who decided where to place it, and she also placed it there." "What did it feel like?" He couldn't stop the question from coming. "Imagine having a kunai thrown into your stomach," He nodded as he had felt it before, "now imagine twenty kunai going into your stomach, at the same time, in the same place. That's how painful." He flinched when he heard the undertone of hatred in her voice. He reasuringly put a hand on her shoulder, as comfort. She leaned into the touch, then looked up at him. "That was two questions, by the way. I get to ask two now." He nodded. "Um, why are your eyes like that." She pointed at one of his pearl-white eyes. He smiled sadly.

"My mother was attacked by some beast that gave her blindness. At the time, she was two-months pregnant with me. She cried for weeks of knowing that she would never see me. Some kind of demon named Kyuubi appeared before her one day. She couldn't see him, of course, so he didn't disguise himself. He asked her, 'woman, why do you weep?' She answered, 'I am blind, as you can see, and am now three-months into my pregnancy. I will never see my beautiful child.', and here she started weeping again. Kyuubi took pity on her. 'I will give you back your sight, but the pearl-white colored eyes you have now will be given to your son, though, he will not be blind.' My mother was hesitant. 'I will give you one day to decide. Tomorrow, at this time, I will be back, and your decision must be made.' Here, he disappeared. My mother was silent the entire night, not uttering a sound. During her sleep, she had a vision. I was in it, though I was a shadow, she couldn't see me. She talked to me, asking me if I would hate her for giving me these eyes." He pointed to his eyes. "I told her no, and she wept, holding me, though I felt like air, the entire night, until she woke up. That day, she stayed in her room, waiting for Kyuubi. He came at the same tima as yesterday, in the same spot. 'Now woman,' he said, 'what is your answer.' She bravely stared at the general area she heard his voice in, and said, 'Yes, I agree. Give me my sight and my son these pearl-white eyes, if it be your pleasure.' He nodded his head, snapped his fingers, and disappeared. For a moment, my mother only saw the same darkness. Then, gradually, she saw light, the fuzzy images, then they came clearer, and finally, she could see everything clearer than she could before she lost her sight. She thanked the Kyuubi, kissing the floor he stood on - she could see where he stood because there were claw markings on the floor. She then left to join my father, who rejoiced when he saw that my mother's sight was back." He smiled, seeing her pay rapt attention to him, absorbing every word he said and filing it in her mind. She slowly nodded.

"That's amazing, Neji-san. Ok, second question. Do you...want to know what Sakura meant?" Neji faced her and nodded solemnly. She turned her head to the side, "I just want you to know that you don't have to keep being nice to me after I tell you what hap - hap - happened." A tear ran down her face when she said that. Neji's eyes softened, and he wiped away the tear with his thumb. "Haruka, I promise I won't. You're...my friend." She smiled gratefully at him. He didn't know why, but he felt so strange when she was crying. Like he would do anything to see her smile. He shook off the feeling. "I used to live in a regular branch house, like the one I saw on the way here. Hmm, I wonder who's that was..." She trailed off, murmering to herself. Neji raised an eyebrow, and she blushed, hurridly continuing her story. "Anyway, when I was living in the Branch House, I was a slave to Sakura. You don't know how much I hated referring to her as 'Sakura-sama'." She stuck out her lower lip, pouting slightly. Neji stared a moment, unable to help himself of thinking how cute she looked. She continued, "We -my family and I- moved somewhere else. At the time, I was 10. We finally stopped at an Inn after moving non-stop for 24 hours. That's when Sakura's father's ninja caught up with us. My father told me to run with my mother, while he stayed to fight the ninjas. We did, but the ninja's easily defeated my father, as he was not trained in the ninja way. This time, my mother stayed behind, and forced me to run. She was defeated as well, the ninja's came after me and caught up easily. They knocked me to the ground, but before they killed me, the leader stepped forward, stopping them. He turned and chastised them, picking me up and wiping the dirt off of me. During his entire lecture, I stayed silent. He looked at me rather proudly, seeing as how I didn't cry or anything. He waved for the other ninja's to follow, which they did, without hesitation. They, too, were uneasy about killing a ten-year-old. He sent me off on the next carriage which happened to be coming to Konoha. After making sure the driver would make sure I got to Konoha safely, they let me go, the leader of the ninja's saying a blessing over me and my dead parents." Her eyes watered, and she wiped them angrily. Neji stared sorrowfully at her, and she shook her head when she saw him. "Please, Neji-san, I don't want any pity." He nodded and closed his eyes, facing the front of the room, but his head was tilted a bit to the side to show he was still listening. "When we got here, I was put in an orphanage until I was thirteen, the age when children are mature enough to live alone. I had to work hard those two years to be able to afford to come here this year. Even then, I could only afford to come because Tsunade-sama was kind enough to help me by providing my meals and such. And...that's pretty much it." She smiled sadly.

Neji comfortingly smiled at her. "Uh, so, I guess it's my turn, huh?" She nodded. "Where do you live?" Neji blushed hearing Naruto laugh. Haruka blushed as well. "Umm, to be honest, I don't really know." She played with her fingers, showing that she was embarrassed. "I have to keep moving, because the landlords keep kicking me out. It's not that I can't pay, it's because other people would be willing to pay more than me. I was going to look for an apartment to, hopefully, stay in for a while." Neji looked deep in thought. "How about you live with me? My apartment is big enough for two, and I don't have any roommates, so it gets kinda lonely." He offered, looking to her for approval. She thought a moment, cutely sticking her tongue out a bit. Neji inwardly chuckled when he saw that. She nodded. "That could work. Of course, I'll work to pay you back for it. And yes, I'm going to, and no, you can't stop me." She added when she saw him about to argue. He sighed. "Fine. I won't even try to argue. You look like the kind of girl that would never give up, which is a good thing." She smiled at his praise, before turning to the front of the class when Kakshi started speaking.

"Ok, we're going to start off by introducing ourselves. I'm Kakashi, known to you as Kakashi-sensei. We'll go down this row and up this one." He pointed to the rows. Sakura and Ino were the first, so they stood up. "I'm Sakura Haruna. No relation to her." She shot a cold look at Haruka, who matched her look childishly - as in sticking out her tongue and pulling down her lower eyelid. Sakura hmph'ed, sitting down while the class chuckled. "I'm Ino, the better looking of the two." She smirked while looked at Sakura. Sakura shot up. "Wanna say that again, Ino-pig?" "Bring it, Billboard-Brow" Ino growled back. "Ok, enough. Sakura, Ino, sit down." Kakashi ordered. They huffed, but obeyed. Next was Naruto and Hinata, then Kiba and Tenten. In the next row, Haruka and Neji were first, Sasuke and Shino second. They introduced themselves, then settled down, ready for their first lesson.

Ok, thanks for reviewing: RasenganFin. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!