A/N: So here's the 2nd chapter. I hope you like it!
Thank you for the reviews!
To my relief, Karin was gone when I woke up. I didn't think I could handle her at the moment.
Sasuke slouched in the corner, probably wrapped up in his own thoughts.
I began to stretch out my legs -- which had begun to fall asleep -- but stopped when I ran into something hard.
It was a dusty clay plate. Resting on it was a small sliver of bread. I guess it was taking longer than expected to capture Naruto.
I devoured the morsel of food greedily.
My stomach made strange gurgling noises as it hit. It didn't feel as good as I thought.
I noticed Sasuke eying me from his corner of the cave. I scowled at him.
Right next to where the plate been, sat a glass of murky water. I drank that slowly, enjoying how it rinsed out the stale taste in my mouth.
I sat in silence for a moment, not content, but not dying anymore. Sasuke had left, I was now alone for the time being.
I started to pace around the small cave, stretching out my sore muscles. The ceiling was high, I could stand up straight without injuring my head.
I walked around in circles, until I heard footsteps.
Desperately hoping that it wasn't Karin, I slumped back down against the wall. Maybe if I pretended I was weak, I would have some chance of escaping.
"Guess what everybody!" A pink-haired girl ran onto the playground. I think her name was Sakura.
"What?" one of the girls asked.
"I like Sasuke!" she exclaimed.
I sighed, nothing new. I wondered why I had even bothered to come here. Playgrounds were stupid and pointless.
I watched Sakura's face fall as she realized that almost every other girl was infatuated with him too.
I had seen Sasuke on my way to the store. He was sitting alone on the dock that was part of the Uchiha estate. He looked alone. Like Naruto did sometimes. It was funny that they weren't friends, since they had so much in common.
I watched him for a few minutes, until he saw me staring and glared at me.
What did the other girls see in him?
It was around that time that we started training at the ninja academy. A landlord was kind enough to let me have my own apartment next to Naruto, in exchange for sweeping the floors every day in his daughter's shop. Iruka-sensei was nice enough, but some of his lectures were tedious. I often fell asleep during those ones. It was also around that time, when Naruto developed a crush on Sakura.
"Hey," Naruto whispered loudly after one lengthy lesson on the history of the leaf villiage, "See that girl? The one with the pink hair?"
Right in front of us, was Sakura Harano. Probably the smartest girl in class.
"Yeah." I said suspiciously, "What about her?"
"I think I like her." he said, his ears were turning pink.
I snickered, "What, do you want me to tell her?"
His face turned even redder, "No!"
A few years later, it was time for our graduation. I had managed to pass the exams barely. My hand signs needed some work. I was better at throwing things -- like kunai knifes.
Naruto failed, he still couldn't master the shadow clone jutsu. It was just too hard for him.
Or so I thought.
One of our sensei's -- Mizuki -- had tricked him into stealing a scroll from the Hokage. One that had all of the secrets of the Hidden Leaf Villiage. In exchange, he said, Naruto would become a genin.
It ended with Naruto saving Iruka-sensei. With the multi shadow clone jutsu.
My arms were sore. The old man's daughter had me restock the shelves over and over until everything was straight. It was driving me crazy!
"Yei!" said Naruto loudly.
"What?" I said tiredly. And then I froze.
Gleaming on Naruto's forehead, was one of the leaf villiage headbands.
"You're a genin?!" I said, barely containing my excitement, "But, how--"
Naruto told me the story so many times, that my ears ached whenever I heard it.
He was so happy.
"You will be put into groups of three..." Iruka said, I was barely paying attention.
"There's no way I would be put into a group with you!" Ino hissed behind me, she was obviously hoping to be in the same group as Sasuke.
"Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi."
I heard Ino make a disgusted noise.
"Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka."
I could see Hinata blushing a few seats ahead.
"Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto's eyes were shut tightly, it looked like he was praying, "...Sakura Harano..."
"No!" Sakura whispered, Naruto perked up immediately.
"...and Sasuke Uchiha."
Naruto groaned, and Sakura rejoiced.
"Hey! Why does a loser like him have to be in the same group as me!?"
"As I recall Naruto," Iruka said, "You had the lowest scores in the class."
I was put into a group with two idiots. That was the only way to describe them. I can't even remember their names.
One was another Sasuke fangirl. I think she dropped out of ninja school to work for her uncle. The other was almost as lazy as Shikamaru, but not as smart. He was killed in a battle a few months ago.
It was inevitable that we would fail. My teammates were egotistical and weak, and I was convinced that I didn't need their help.
Apparently, that was the exact opposite of what we were supposed to do.
"It's too bad." Shikamaru -- somehow we had become friendly with each other, "You'd be much more useful that Ino."
I never minded being "rejected", I could always try again later.
And I was tired of fighting.