Okay. This is shorter than the first chapter – but I'm kind of dividing it up in my own way. I want everything to flow together, so sorry if it's too short. I personally like the chapters that you can read fairly quickly.

Anyway, read and review please, and thank you for your previous reviews! It makes an author's day to hear from her readers.

Plopping down in her seat, Sakura smiled at her meal. The pizza, which this school served every Monday, looked extremely good. They apparently ordered it from Michelangelo's. She marveled at how a school could order that much pizza every week. A slightly larger kid –whose name he told her was Choji – had told her that they had KFC on Tuesdays, Chinese on Wednesday, Italian on Thursdays, and your choosing of the four on Friday.

And then there were all the side dishes. You could choose a numerous variety of fruit, grain, and vegetables, but you could also buy sweets, chips, and there were so many different drinks. You could get a slushy, milk, juice, water, flavored water, soda, coffee,hot chocolate, or tea. It was amazing.

Sakura smiled for the thousandth time that day. It had actually been a good one, to her surprise. Already, she had met about a dozen extremely friendly people, a lot of whom she had multiple classes with. Her eyes were already set on the Uchiha – she had learned that no girl had been able to ever break through his barrier; he had never had a girlfriend.

All this, she found surprising, and a bit challenging. She planned to crack that shell of his, chipping little bits and pieces while she could. Her teachers were all wonderful. Mr. Hatake, obviously, was smart, kind, and fun loving. Mr. Guy, her gym teacher, was a little strange, but so full of spirit and energy to be in a place Sakura had thought were full of stuck-up bitches and bastards. Ms. Yuhi, her English teacher, had been extremely kind when Sakura had told her she was new, and paired her with a girl who was supposed to help her catch up on things. She hadn't met her music teacher yet, but Tsunade, the principal, had told her that Shizune was great.

She jumped, shaken from her joyous thoughts, when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Surprised, she looked behind her to see whom it was, and gasped lightly. It was the same girl in her first period – and seemed to be in a lot of her other three classes.

"Hey," she nearly sang, beaming down on Sakura with pearly white teeth. "Do you mind if I eat with you, you know, chill? I thought you looked a bit too lonely for someone who's new here. Everyone here can't stand outsiders, so I thought I give a hand."

"Oh," Sakura laughed. "Sure, go ahead. Seems to be your school, anyway."

The girl took a seat, chuckled, and looked at Sakura. She raised an eyebrow, picking up her spoon and eating some applesauce.

"What do you mean 'my school'?" she asked, smile never breaking.

"Oh, I just noticed that people really seem to respect you," Sakura said, leaning down and over her plate to take a quick bite of her pizza, which tasted heavenly. "When you walk by someone in the halls, they nearly bow down and worship you. You just seem like that High School Goddess type, you know? It's a compliment, by the way, so don't take it in a bad sense."

"Oh, I know, and thanks," the blonde laughed. "I'm a bit used to it. I'm one of the cheerleaders here, not too good with grades…so…people kind of just mistake me for some superficial, airhead, blonde slut who doesn't care about anything other then her looks and her popularity."

Sakura almost choked on her food. She had just had those thoughts at the beginning of the day. She felt extraordinarily horrible.

"Right…" she mumbled, trying to think of a way to change the subject. "Anyway, you know my name, but I'm afraid I don't know yours."

"Oh," she laughed, and held out a hand properly. "I'm Ino Yamanaka. My parents run the flower shop in town, I'm sure you've heard of it. Usually, my dad just works with the financial stuff. He's good at working with customers and all that."

Sakura laughed, too, shaking Ino's hand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," she admitted, surprising herself. "I have actually heard of that shop. The Yamanaka Flower Shop, right?"

Ino nodded.

"Yeah, my dad gets flowers for my mom there all the time," Sakura told her. "His name is Ryoku Haruno."

Ino gasped and looked at her crazily.

"No way!" she exclaimed. "That's your dad? That guy is so funny! He's awesome!"

"Yeah," Sakura said, nodding. "He's not home a lot, but when he is, he's really cool about stuff. Usually, my parents let me do whatever. As long as I behave and stuff, you know?"

"Oh yeah," Ino said, smirking. "My dad hardly trusts guys. So when I want to go out, I have to give him the 'daddy's little girl' role. I'm pretty good at it, too, after almost seventeen years of practicing."

Sakura smiled and bit her lip, wondering if she should ask… She figured she might as well.

"Um…" she hummed softly, getting Ino's attention. "Do you…well… Do you know a lot about…Sasuke Uchiha?"

Ino's eyes lit up, and Sakura assumed that she most certainly did. The blonde took in a breath and looked at her food, shaking her head. She then looked up at Sakura, who was staring at her hopefully. Ino let out the breath and looked at her fully.

"He's got you, too, huh?" she asked.

"What?"

"Well," Ino said, looking for the right words. "Sasuke has a tendency to just…capture every girl who sees him. You'll have some extremely tough competition with all the drooling fan-girls just waiting to pounce on him."

Sakura giggled at the thought of the noble Uchiha being jumped by a crazed teenage girl.

"Do you like him, too?" Sakura asked, glancing up at Ino.

She really didn't want to fight over anything – especially a boy – with her new friend so soon. But to her surprise, and relief, Ino laughed and shook her head.

"Oh," Ino sighed, smiling brightly. "I used to be all over Sasuke, but I finally took the hint and left him alone. After that, I actually ended up dating one of my best friends. It's funny how that kind of stuff can actually happen, huh?"

"I see…" Sakura murmured. "So, you don't think I'll have any chance with him?"

"Well, well, someone's eager on their first day."

Sakura blushed and looked away, but she gasped when her gaze locked with onyx. She blinked, unable to look away from the entrancing lack of color, the intense stare this man was giving her. He stared at her, almost harshly, but with interest and amusement as well. His black hair slightly framing his face, she noticed him smirk softly at her, almost a gentle smile, before turning away from her, walking out of the room. Sakura, to say in the least, was bewildered.

"Um…well…Ino?" Sakura asked and glanced at the blonde, whose smile faded softly at the concern and confusion on Sakura's face. "Who was that?"

"Who was who?" Ino asked, looking over the pink-haired girl's shoulder. "Oh him? That's Neji. He's really–"

"No, no," she interrupted. "Not him. Yeah, I know. He's a senior here and is a part of the family who owns that big cooperation downtown, right? Yeah, really rich, proper, and arrogant, but he can be extremely kind and sweet when he wants to be. But, I meant–"

"How did you know that?" Ino asked, staring at her. "I thought you said this was your first day here."

"Huh? Oh… One of my best friends got in a fight with him. Neji won, surprisingly, but he helped her out after that. She goes to my old school and they've become pretty good friends, though I don't know him that well… But just a minute ago, didn't you see that man? He had dark eyes and hair, pretty tall, amazingly defined muscles, and… What?"

Sakura had turned to see Ino cracking up. Her cheeks were flushed softly and she was shaking with the laughter she was holding in. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her, and Ino took in a deep breath, obviously trying to get it together. Thankfully, she did, and stopped laughing long enough to answer Sakura.

"Well…I didn't see him, but I think I might know who you're talking about. He graduated from here about… Hmm…well…I think four years ago. He's the most gorgeous, smart, cocky,little bastard ever! But he gets more attention then Sasuke. He graduated with top grades and everything. He knows how to fight, how to flirt, and is…"

"But who is he?" Sakura asked, face now in obvious thought. "He just…he looks so familiar."

"Well, duh," Ino laughed and pointed across the cafeteria. "He's in nearly half your classes, so you've basically been looking at him all day."

Sakura looked to where Ino was pointing and her emerald green eyes widened. Ino was pointing to Sasuke Uchiha, who was currently sitting with Naruto, Neji, and a couple of other guys. He noticed Ino's accusing finger and his eyes narrowed at them. Ino waved cheerfully and Sasuke rolled his eyes and looked away. Sakura hardly noticed anything.

"No way," she whispered, knowing that Ino indicating to Sasuke had only meant one thing. "That means…"

"That means," Ino said, smirking. "That the guy you saw was–"

"Itachi… Itachi Uchiha."

Sakura fell onto her bed, staring at her ceiling dazedly. That had been, just about, the weirdest "first day of school" ever. But though everything about it was increasingly strange, her thoughts kept returning to the incident in the cafeteria. Of course Itachi would look familiar. It wasn't exactly that the two looked familiar – because if you really looked at them both, anyone would see that they looked completely different – but more so that Sakura had seen Itachi when she was eight. She had been visiting her mom on a trip to the hospital and Itachi had apparently been checking up, making sure his injuries hadn't gotten worse.

Sakura remembered hiding behind her mother's leg as the Uchiha talked to the older Haruno woman. With bright, curious emerald eyes, Sakura had looked up at Itachi in awe, with admiration. He had seen her and smiled with the exact same half smile, half smirk he had today, at school. He had leaned down, ruffled her hair, and said something about her being the same age as Sasuke himself. Sakura, of course, hardly remembered a word he had said. Even as an eight-year-old child, Sakura had been entranced by the pure loveliness of Itachi. His posture, demeanor, smile, appearance, bravery, and everything else were so entirely perfect that even naïve little Sakura had noticed it. Her mom hardly ever talked about her patients, especially when she hadn't seen them in so long, but Sakura intended on bring up the subject of "Itachi" whenever she got the chance.

It was then that her cell phone rang, and Sakura leapt for her bag. Eye twitching slightly in a sudden state of paranoia that she had no idea where it came from, Sakura whipped out her pink and black phone, opened it, and put it to her ear, not even checking the caller I.D.

"What's up?"

"Nothing much," was the excited reply, and Sakura felt her smile spread across her face.

For years, Sakura and Tenten had exchanged this little joke. Whenever one saw the other, they would start as Sakura had, the other ending as Tenten did. It had gone on for over six years, and never had they failed to remember their little greeting. It was frankly how they first met. Sakura hadn't checked the caller I.D. just because she had told Tenten to call her when she got home from school.

"God, I have so much to tell you!" Sakura exclaimed, hearing Tenten scoff.

"What?" she laughed. "Was it really horrible?"

"No, actually!" Sakura said, continuing to nearly yell. "It was wonderful. A lot, actually most of the people there are really friendly and nice. And I met – well, I kind of met – Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Sasuke?" Tenten echoed, surprised. "Isn't the Uchiha family that really big one that used to live at the north end of town? The entire estate was wiped out, right? Except his brother… That Sasuke?"

"Yes!" Sakura said. "He's so hot!"

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said, going into an explanation of his looks, personality, and overall cool.

"Sounds like an interesting guy," Tenten admitted, before adding, "He sounds a bit stuck up though."

"Well, he sort of is…" Sakura said, but her tone changed to one of awe. "And I also saw his brother, Itachi!"

"Isn't his brother, like, way older than him?"

"Well… Yeah… He graduated about four years ago. I saw him in the cafeteria and a girl I met there said that he had a big connection to Sasuke, so I only assumed that it was Itachi. God, he's gorgeous, though! I swear, you would love him! Black hair, black eyes, and the most irresistible smile ever!"

Tenten laughed, but Sakura cut in before she could say anything.

"Hey! I know I'm usually not the one to want to talk about guys, guys, and guys. But, still, he was beautiful! He had this femininity about him that was not girlish, but more elegant and graceful than gay. But his masculinity also showed extremely well, especially in his arms… He was wearing a t-shirt, and you could see only half his arms, but it was still… Wow… Oh, I saw Neji today."

"Oh really?" Tenten said, sounding more interested than she had the rest of the conversation. "Did you say anything to him?"

"No," Sakura said, giggling. "I found out that he's really good friends with Sasuke and this other guy I met named Naruto."

"Naruto…" Tenten murmured. "Sounds familiar. Anyway, I'll ask Neji sometime about him. I got to go, though. But you should really, like, come over or something."

"I can't today…" Sakura muttered, hating the fact. "But how about I come over there this weekend? We could invite Temari, hm?"

"Yeah, that sounds cool… I'll see ya then, right?"

"Right. Love ya, Ten."

"Peace, Sak."

Sakura smiled and hung up. She sighed and smiled at her ceiling when an odd thought hit and she frowned. If Itachi had graduated, then that meant she couldn't really look forward to seeing him at school. Of course, she began wondering why exactly she wanted to look forward to seeing somebody she didn't even know, just somebody she'd seen in her cafeteria. Biting her lip softly, she settled on blaming her hormones.