Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I was forced to choose sides when Neji and Sasuke got into a fistfight over the last piece of sushi. Sasuke and I are not currently on speaking terms, but I'm hoping this batch of tomatoes will solve the problem in time for me to be able to go to school without with fear that I'll come home and find everything drenched in blood…

Dedication: To looking back at every person you thought you could trust, to every lie you ever swallowed, and realizing that while you will never forgive the traitors who hurt you, in some small way, you owe them everything for showing you how to move on and survive on your own.

Chapter Two – Both Eyes Open…

I hate to say it but it has to be said – you look so fragile as I mess with your head…

Sakura was fairly certain she was dreaming.

It wasn't because there was a white fuzzy border around her vision, nor was it because she forgot any sensation of touch, sight, sound, or smell in the instant after it vanished.

No, the reason she knew she was dreaming was because she was running… And she didn't have any idea why. All she knew was that her nerves were singing, screaming warnings to her with every flying second, urging her aching body to run faster…

She was in a dark forest, the surrounding landscape painted in rich blues and purples. The trees were like huge clawed hands, black and silver in the cold moonlight as they seemed to reach out of the ground to snare what light they could. Shadows danced across the ground, creating cold patterns on Sakura's skin.

From behind, she could hear what sounded like the footfall of some four-legged animal coming steadily closer. She tried to run faster, but she was already out of breath, and her muscles screamed for her to stop and rest. At some point, she started screaming, too, crying out in an animalistic mixture of fear and frustration – why couldn't she run any faster?!

Suddenly, there was a shock of red-orange light up ahead, it's rays shooting spears of warmth into the frigid night. Encouraged, Sakura sped up, ignoring the screaming in her calf muscles as she raced towards the only hope she could see for miles…

»»««

On Tuesday morning, the sun rose in a sky painted shades of gold and red – a bad omen for those who knew the old adage sailors used. One such sailor started running back and forth on the street, screaming, "Repent!!!" as he did so. He was quickly taken down by the nice people from the psycho ward.

At the Yamanaka house, however, things were very calm and peaceful. Ino had her head buried in her pillow, with the latest issue of People magazine sprawled across her stomach. Mr. Fluffers (who had initially tried to chew his way out of the stupid crib the psychotic blond female had put him in) was sleeping, too, although that may have had something to do with the clog Ino had finally pitched at him when his escape attempt had lasted for more than an hour.

Ino's room was typical for a hyper, eccentric teenager like her, painted hot pink (even brighter than peppermint Pepto-Bismol) with black accents, the floor covered in shoes, clothes – both worn and newly-cleaned – magazines, school books, movies, and anything else she was too "busy" to put away correctly. Her cell phone lay next to her hand, a clear indicator she'd been texting with any poor fools who had been foolish enough to give her their cell numbers. The bed she claimed to sleep on every night was crowded with three magazines, Ino, her cell phone, twenty pounds of cat hair from "brushing" Mr. Fluffers (though with the bows and hair clips he usually ended up sporting afterwards, Sakura thought "torturing" was a better term for it), a movie, two DVDs, and a Within Temptation CD.

Across the hall, Sakura's room was a much different and calmer sight. The walls were sea green, a shade just a little bluer than her eyes, and the trim was white. Her bed was neat and orderly, and her white carpeted floor was nearly spotless, save for the shoes she'd kicked off before turning out the light next to her bed. Her laptop, for once, was on top of her bookshelf, possibly chatting with her Stephenie Meyer and Tamora Pierce books. Across the room from her bed was a work desk littered with sketches and rough drafts for her story.

The peace in both rooms was so lulling, so nice after the usual chaos that reigned in the household…

Beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… beep… bee-CRACKSMASH!!!

…So utterly shattered when Sakura destroyed yet another alarm clock for going off at a time that seemed far too early for her sleep-deprived mind. Slowly, she began to wake up, the memories of last night's nightmare still fresh and vivid.

Golden light was just starting to stream in through her window when she finally sat up and stretched, drawing out the last traces of dormancy before padding to her dresser and pulling out a pair of stressed blue jeans and grabbing a long, lightweight asymmetrical shirt that was charcoal grey at the bottom and faded to almost-white at the neckline. The shirt was longest at the hems, and very subtly arched up in the front and back, so that at its shortest, the shirt still covered the majority of her jeans zipper. With her outfit, Sakura wore her white clogs, both of which had an intricate wine-and-leaf design made from tiny circular and football-shaped holes across the part of the shoe behind the toes.

Once dressed, Sakura went downstairs to try to find something to eat, hoping that Ino hadn't tried to cook anything and blown the kitchen up.

Ino was already at the dining room table, eating a couple of Pop Tarts and reading another of her magazines while Sakura rummaged through the refrigerator for the milk.

The blond was wearing dark blue flare jeans that hugged her thighs, a loud orange shirt with yellow, red, and white designs the looked like vines and flowers, and her black and red thongs (sandals, damn perverts). Her hair was still a little wet – though how she'd had time to shower was beyond Sakura. Ino stayed up even later than her sister, and yet she somehow was able to wake up before dawn and shower, dress, and get breakfast, all without falling asleep even for a moment.

Perhaps she'd drunk so much coffee over the years that she was simply in a constant state of wakefulness. Or it could be the bleach – Sakura was fairly certain Ino's hair didn't "spontaneously lighten up" every other year.

"We have Freshman Orientation today," Ino sighed as Sakura sat down with her bowl of cereal. "We'll need to leave in about fifteen minutes. Oh, and you're paying for your new alarm clock this time. I bought the last one."

"Sure," the rosette said around a mouthful of Cheerios, "I'll find one that's bulletproof."

She swallowed, then continued, "Orientation's today? I thought it was on Friday…"

"They sent me an email two days ago," Ino responded, "They had to move the date because a lot of the parents with freshmen were complaining that it was 'too close to the first day of school', and that their children would be overwhelmed."

Sakura just stared at her sister for a few seconds before a single "wow" left her mouth.

"I know, pretty stupid, huh?" her sister said, getting up and throwing her Pop Tarts wrapper away.

"Wait, how come you got an email and I didn't?" Sakura said, swiveling in her chair to watch Ino pad into the living room.

"Oh, I told them you'd be too busy writing emo crap to check your email very regularly, and that since I was always emailing people they should just use my address instead."

"Brat."

"Yeah, but you still love me. Now hurry up – we wouldn't want to be late, right? Besides, we'll need to find all of our classrooms, too." Ino turned and winked at Sakura before charging upstairs.

"Mr. Fluffers! Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, chugging the leftover milk from her cereal down before following Ino, screaming, "Run, Mr. Fluffers, run!" as she went.

»»««

"I really don't think that cat likes you, Ino-chan," Sakura said as she brushed her pink hair out in front of the bathroom mirror.

"Aw, he's just a grouchy widdle kitty-witty, oh yush, he is."

Mr. Fluffers was currently getting squished by Ino's trademark death hug, shooting Sakura a very frantic, "HELP ME!" look. However, since Sakura wasn't looking at him, she didn't see the look he gave her, and so the torture continued.

"You should put him down, I think," Sakura said, leaving the bathroom, "He keeps making weird choking noises – I think you're killing him. And hurry up with your hair, Ino Pig! We'll be stuck in those horrible lines some of the seniors were complaining about yesterday at Starbucks."

"Alright, alright," Ino grumbled, dropping Mr. Fluffers (who lay on the floor, gasping for air) and grabbing her Bag of Horrors, which was filled with such torturous objects as hairclips, hair ties, headbands, and – gulp – extensions.

Sakura, who never did anything more than brush and occasionally clip one side of her hair behind her ear – as she had today with a black alligator clip – ran like there was a ghost chasing her, grabbing poor Mr. Fluffers as she went. Once downstairs, Mr. Fluffers refused to stray more than three inches away from Sakura, and pretty much stayed curled up on her lap, too traumatized to move. Sakura was fairly certain the poor tom would need a kitty therapist if Ino didn't settle down soon.

The two watched Animal Cops Houston, hissing and growling at each new case and purring – at least, Mr. Fluffers purred while Sakura cheered – when the bad guys went to jail or got fined and the abused animals found new homes. The end credits were rolling when Ino thundered downstairs, heading straight for the front door. Her hair was tied in a ponytail that rested almost at the top of her head, tied with one of those frilly hair ties that have triangles of cloth and strands of beads – in Ino's case, orange cloth and red beads – hanging from the band itself.

"C'mon, Forehead, we'll be late!" she screeched, wrenching the door open and charging outside. Sakura got up off the couch and kissed Mr. Fluffers on the head, promising to grab him some fresh salmon on the way home.

As soon as the pink-haired female had closed the door, Mr. Fluffers settled back down on the couch and pawed the "up" button on the remote until the television flipped to Spike. He wanted to watch 1,000 Ways to Die so that he could learn some ways to kill the blond one without getting the pink-haired one in trouble…

Muhahahaha…

»»««

"Ino, I don't think I can do this," Sakura muttered, fidgeting with the hems of her shirt. "We'll be in two separate lines!"

"Too bad, Forehead!" Ino growled, shoving Sakura towards the "E-H" line, "You've gotta learn how to be independent at some point in your life!"

Sakura turned to complain, but her sister was already headed towards the "Y-Z" line, stranding the nervous rosette in a line full of people she'd never even seen before today. What did these people do all summer, hide out in shadowy crevasses and sleep in coffins? How had she'd not seen this many people around town?!

She turned back to the line, moaning quietly to herself as she moved to stand behind a red head in skinny jeans and a tank top. At least her line wasn't horrendously long – she felt pretty sorry for the people in the "A-D" and "I-L" lines, both of which had barely moved at all in the last fifteen minutes.

The red head moved away, and Sakura gingerly stepped up to table, anticipating some rude remark about "punctuality" or "self-confidence" from a prune-faced old hag with an evil eye.

She was very, very wrong.

Instead of the creepy-looking old hag she'd pictured, Sakura found herself face-to-face with the dark-haired boy she'd seen at the Starbucks just yesterday. He was wearing a white button-down shirt, again with the top button undone, black jeans, and his bondage belt – unless this was one of several he owned. Best of all, he hadn't looked up at her yet, so she had time to compose herself before she asked for her schedule.

No need to make an utter fool of herself in front of this incredibly handsome boy.

…Or the other students…

"Name?" the teenager droned – the poor boy had obviously been here longer than he felt he should be.

"Haruno," Sakura said, managing to get the single word out without her voice trembling over the syllables. What was he doing here?!

The boy sighed and flipped quickly through the schedules, stopping when he found hers.

"Here," he said, handing it to her with what was probably supposed to be an automatic, cursory glance. He paused when he saw who she was, but before he could say anything Sakura hurried away from the table. The boy watched her go for another second, his dark eyes following her movement through the crowd of freshmen before he turned back to the next soon-to-be student.

Sakura went straight towards the bathroom, locking herself in the nearest stall once she'd arrived. The bathroom was totally unoccupied – well, it had been – because it wasn't the nearest one to any of the stations for schedules, pictures, or whatever else she would need before she left.

Perfect for anyone who needed to hyperventilate for a few minutes.

It was his eyes again – smoldering with the same dark intensity that had both terrified her and peaked her curiosity yesterday. At least then she'd had a reason to look away, had something to hide behind. Today she'd been able to hold the contact longer, but then what did she do?

She'd run, because apparently she was no better than the idiot girls in the horror movies she liked to watch. And even they had good reasons to run away.

And now she was hiding in an empty bathroom, trying to calm the nervous shudder that rippled along her spine. She was absolutely pathetic – enough so that she was still trying to sum up the courage to stop making the girls in the horror movies look brave.

It was a view more minutes before she was able to leave the bathroom, though her fingers were still shivering a little. She walked back into the gym, looking everywhere but at the table where the dark-haired boy was still sitting as she went to get her picture taken.

This time the line was huge, stretching out into the tri was the photographers fought with the students who didn't know how to follow directions. Within a few short minutes, Sakura was glad she hadn't worn makeup – she would have sweat it all off by now. And did the people in front of her have to wait so damn long to move three inches?

After about the fifth time she growled under her breath at the morons in front of her, she heard someone chuckle under their breath. The hair on her neck started to go up, even though it wasn't the smooth, cold voice of the dark-haired boy. This boy sounded almost primal when he laughed.

"The idiots in this line probably won't hear you growling at them," he said behind her, "They're all too busy with their iPods and cell phones."

The rosette whirled to face a surprisingly childish-looking teen with a red triangle on either cheek, tan skin, and brown hair. His black eyes danced wickedly at her as he took in her expression.

"Startle you?" he asked casually, "Sorry about that. My name's Kiba Inuzuka."

"Sakura Haruno," Sakura replied calmly, "Nice to meet you, Kiba."

Suddenly, a little bump in Kiba's sweater started moving up and around to the back of his head. A second later, a little white dog with brown ears appeared on the boy's head, barking and waging its tail.

"That's Akamaru," Kiba explained, jabbing his thumb at the fuzz ball, "He says he's happy to meet you, too." When Sakura gave him a questioning look, he explained, "Ah, I can talk to dogs. Or at least to Akamaru – I've never actually tried with any other dogs. Pretty weird, I know, but what can I do?"

Sakura smiled – at least Kiba seemed friendly enough, unlike a certain other handsome, truthfully frightening boy… She absently glanced at the "E-H", only to look quickly away when she realized the boy was still there.

"Checking out the Uchiha kid?" Kiba asked slyly.

"Is that the dark-haired boy at the e-through-h table?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Yep. Sasuke Uchiha, one of the two who survived that really ugly car wreck five years ago. His brother, Itachi Uchiha, attends the community college just outside the city limits. He could have gone to any university he wanted, but he stayed close to home so he could look after Sasuke until the twerp turned eighteen." Kiba's voice turned bitter when he said Sasuke's name the second time, peaking Sakura's curiosity.

"Twerp?" she asked.

"Kid thinks he's so important just because his family used to own Uchiha Corp.," Kiba explained, "When his parents died in that wreck, the corporation was shut down until one or both of the two kids decided to start it up again. That means Sasuke and Itachi still have loads of cash coming in just from their parents' wills alone. Hey, look, the line's moving up."

Sakura turned and hurried to make up the seven inches of free space before some morons decided to cut ahead of her. Now there were only a few people in front of her.

"So he acts like some big, important douche, and the teachers swallow it down because he's got the money and power to fire them if he wanted to," Kiba continued as if nothing had interrupted their conversation. "Seriously, if he mouths off to a teacher, they take it. If he starts one kid yelling because he called them stupid, the teachers tell the other kid to shut up. He could probably snort crack off his desk in front of one of his teachers and they'd pretend not to notice."

Sakura felt her eyebrows knit together. Sasuke didn't seem like the type of guy who took advantage of his wealth or power – he seemed unwilling to talk, sure, and he probably wouldn't do anything he didn't deem absolutely necessary, but she didn't see any of the corruption Kiba was accusing him of.

"It's you're turn, Sakura," Kiba muttered suddenly, a grin pulling at his lips. She yelped and hurried over to where one of the two camera operators was waiting with an exasperated look on his face.

"Gomen," she muttered timidly when he sighed at her harried approach. She sat straight and tall, trying to force the image of Sasuke's burning eyes out of her head as the woman behind the camera gave her instructions.

"Okay, now give me your best smile, sweetie," the woman said, just as Kiba made a sudden noise that sounded like an incredibly disgusting wet fart.

Sakura's self-control was tested as she fought to keep from bursting out in laughter, and the grin caught in her picture was as natural and amused as the woman had hoped for. Sakura managed to hold her laughter in until she caught the look on Kiba's face when it was his turn for his picture to be taken – the egotistical smirk, combined with his fart noise, made her control falter, and her laughter echoed off the auditorium walls.

Kiba was laughing with her as he walked away from the booth, and little Akamaru yipped and wagged his tail as if he was laughing, too.

"Looks like the mutt finally got himself a girlfriend," a cold voice said to the left. The hair on Sakura's arms stood up, though this was not the smooth, deeply potent voice of the dark-haired Sasuke Uchiha. This voice was eerie in its own way, cold and full of malice that seemed to b targeted at everything its owner deemed "unworthy".

She turned to see the long-haired boy that had been with Sasuke and the blond kid at Starbucks the day before. He was still going with the yin-yang theme, but today his hair was left loose, cascading down his back and around his shoulders like a curtain of deep brown satin. His eyes were cold and mocking, and seemed to appraise Sakura without ever leaving Kiba's face.

Beside her, Kiba growled low in his throat, a sound even more feral than his laughter.

"I'm surprised you're coming down from above to talk to us lowly humans," he snarled, turning to the boy. "Don't you have some poor, defenseless freshmen to be mortifying right now, Neji?"

Neji only smirked and made a low sound that was sort of like a mix between a grunt and a low chuckle. Then he locked gazes with Sakura, trying to intimidate her. Since his eyes were full only of disdain, it was much easier for the rosette to glare at him, a small snarl forming on her face. Much easier than even looking at Sasuke's eyes – whether he looked back or not.

The staring contest didn't last long – Neji broke off about a second later with a sniff, as if he was still utterly disappointed.

"She's definitely your type, Kiba," he sneered over his shoulder, "Right down to the growling."

Growling? Oh, that was the last straw. Fuming, Sakura took one step towards Neji…

…And was immediately tackled by Ino, who squealed like a little three-year-old who'd just found their long-lost teddy bear. The two girls ended up flying forward; in an attempt to save herself, Sakura grabbed onto Kiba's arm, pulling the poor boy with her as they toppled right into Neji. In the ensuing avalanche of bodies, several other students-to-be were sent flying, but no one else was trapped under Kiba and Ino, unlike… poor, unfortunate Sakura and Neji, for example…

"Ow," Kiba growled, rolling off the pile of Poor, Unfortunate Bodies. "Okay, what the hell just hap… pened…?"

Ino leaped up a second later, stifling hysterical laughter in the hopes that acting like she was totally mortified for Sakura would save her from the thrashing Sakura would give her once they were home.

Neji had somehow landed on top of Sakura, who was turning a very interesting shade of red as she stared up at the equally-mortified and infuriated expression on Neji's face.

"That was totally Ino's fault," Sakura said defensively, "I was only following the momentum. Honest."

Neji very obviously didn't buy that, if the icy, I'm-going-to-make-your-first-day-of-school-hell glare he was giving her was any indication of his mood. He stiffly got to his feet, not even bothering the offer to help her up before he walked away – or maybe flounced was a better word for it. It was a very graceful and dignified stomp, in any case.

"Nice going, Blondie," Kiba laughed as he offered his hand to Sakura. She waved it away, leaping nimbly to her feet in a move she'd picked up from some obscure movie or television show she used to watch.

"Like it was my fault Icicle Boy was standing right in the way of our crash course," Ino said with mock indignance. "He was just being a poor sport, anyway. He's probably the only guy who doesn't want to land on Saku- Ow!"

Sakura stomped away, growling under her breath as Ino clutched her now-broken nose in pain. Kiba and Akamaru very wisely decided not to stick around Ino – she seemed to cause trouble, and they didn't want another incident that involved running into – or falling on top of – Neji Hyuga.

»»««

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, a fact for which Sakura was grateful. After having the hell terrified out of her by Sasuke Uchiha, meeting the loud and feral Kiba Inuzuka, and being insulted, squished, and flounced-away-from by Icicle Boy, sh was about ready to pass out on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, she and Ino still had to walk home, so she would have to try to stay awake for another two or three blocks.

Just don't think about your nice, soft bed, with the nice warm blankets and big fluffy pillow… she thought drowsily. A lazy smile spread across her face, and her eyelids started to droop…

"FOREHEAD!"

"WHAT?!" Sakura screamed, startled out of her state of almost-sleepwalking by Ino's loud screeching in her ear.

"Look at the hottie over there!" Ino gushed, pointing off towards a black Camry with slightly tinted windows. Sakura let her eyes adjust to the darkness off the glass, then felt the air whoosh out of her lungs as she got a look at the driver.

He was probably in his late teens, early twenties, but he had the face of a supermodel. His long black hair fell around his shoulders, barely tamed by an extremely loose hair tie – what was still held in place by the elastic band hung limply over his left shoulder. His black eyes flicked from face to face to face, seeming far too observant for his otherwise laid-back expression. there were lines under both of his eyes, as if he was prone to worrying or over-exerting himself, and his shoulders were deceptively lean, as were his neck and arms. One incredibly delicate hand lightly rested on the steering wheel – the other was at his lips in a thoughtful gesture, his elbow resting against the bottom of the window.

She would have said it was an older version of Sasuke, but there was more maturity and cunning in this man's eyes than there were in Sasuke's – or perhaps they were the same, and she had only ever noticed the intensity in Sasuke's eyes because that was how he'd been feeling both times. This man was more beautiful though – more elegant, calmer than Sasuke.

And then his coal-black eyes settled on her face. Sakura could feel the blood leave her cheeks as she quickly turned away.

Intensity or not, Itachi Uchiha's eyes gave proof of his kinship to Sasuke.

A/N: Yes, chapter two is up! Woo hoo!

The lyrics are from "I Almost Told You That I Loved You" by Papa Roach. "Mess" should be the "f" word, but I'm trying to keep the rating at PG-13. It's the same either way, honestly…

Yes, I do happen to think Itachi is hotter than Sasuke – because he is. AND HE'S NOT DEAD; HE'S JUST IN A MEDICALLY-INDUCED COMA. *sniff*