Disclaimer: Oy Vey. . I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Goshers, everybody seems to have their own opinions on the whole Ino/Shika/Tema issue. I'll show the results later, when it is finally decided. Seeing how this is a SasukexSakura fanfic, I'll focus on them for at least a bit. Well, I think only on this chapter and the next one with an exception for the others. As for the other soon-to-be couples they will be on the next chapters and so forth. I am so sorry for keeping you all waiting. :D Oh, and, please excuse the grammatical errors. Fa'afetai (Translation: Thank you)

Note: Title for the Second Chapter: New friends, New rivals, and Those in Between.

Recap:

Lunch was finally over and Sakura had four more classes. She learned that Tenten was a senior. She made a lot of new friends in her other classes. She takes a lot of her classes with mostly the same people, this to include Ino, Hinata, and three of the four. It seems that Neji was also a senior and a cousin of Hinata. All in all, she was happy with her first day in school, with an exception of the event that had occurred during lunch.

As she made her way to her house, she couldn't stop thinking about the raven-haired that had caught her gaze. She never felt this way. It was an odd feeling that kept on tugging at her stomach. She sweetly smiled and sang 'I Write Sins, not Tragedies' by Panic! At the Disco.

Chapter Three: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

It was a quarter to seven and Sakura was tossing ans turning like a psycho patient being put into a straight jacket. She was obviously having a nightmare. It was horrible.

Dream:

Sakura's POV

Oh no! It was horrible. I was running through the halls like a mad person. I can't die, I am too young! I am cursed I tell you, CURSED! I could feels my lungs constricting, they were crying out for air. No, I can't stop.

It has been chasing me for quite a while now. PHEW! I think I lost it. I was now slowing down. I turned around and there was nothing there. Finally! I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I was strolling through the hallways.

"Sa-Ku-Ra" an unknown voice said tauntingly.

What the- I thought I lost it. I have been walking through the deserted school building for more than half an hour and it decides to show up NOW!! Gosh, where is everybody when you need them.

"Sa-Ku-Ra!"

Oh my gosh, it sounds like my mother. OH NO! I'm an orphan. That.. That thing swallowed my mother. Why? Tears were now flowing down my face.

"SAKURA!"

Oh my gosh, it gets worse by every growing minute.

"SAKURA! Wake Up!"

Wake up? What they hell was it talking about?

"SAKURA! Wake up before you are late to school! HARUNO SAKURA, get your lazy arse up NOW!"

Sakura was now starting to wake up. She took a glance at the figure that was now hovering over her. It was hard to tell its facial features, seeing how her blinds were still closed and it was standing in the dark part of the room.

"Mom, is that you?" queried Sakura.

"No, it's the boogie man and I'm here to eat you brain" replied her mother. (A/N: I guess sarcasm is hereditary. Don't you?)

"Nooooo, it is true then, you ate my mom" at hearing this, Sakura's mother sweat dropped. Her daughter can be quite the drama queen sometimes.

"Sakura, it is you mother, now get up, you are going to be late for school."

"What? School?"

Sakura took a quick glance at the watch, it is seven o'clock and she has exactly fifteen minutes to get to school. She quickly shot up out of her bed, and started to run everywhere. Her mother just sat on her bed and watched her daughter run around like a maniac.

"Oh my gosh, I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late, I'm going to be late." Sakura chanted.

She quickly got into the shower, took about a five minute rinse and stepped out. She stepped out of the bathroom to find her mother still sitting there. She glared at her mother.

"Mom, what the heck? The least you can do is help me, or pick out my clothes!"

Her mother just shrugged and exited the room. UGH! The nerve of that woman to wake me up late and then waltz out of here without even helping me, deliberated Sakura.

She quickly got a green baby-tee that went at least an inch below her waist and a pair of black below-the-knee Dickies. She put on her plain white phat farm shoes with black socks and quickly dashed out the front door. She grabbed a slice of toast on her way down, and was now out the front door.

She ran the whole way to school. She made it to the front door entrance when the tardy bell rang. Crap! I hope Kakashi is not there, thought Sakura. She ran through the halls trying to be stealthy, but it proved useless. She dashed up the stairs, and then she was about to turn when... BAM! She went flying a few feet from where she just was. She failed to see the door opening seeing how she was focusing on the steps so that she wouldn't trip or miss a step.

"Ow! What the heck was that?" asked Sakura.

She looked up to see who had opened the door, only to be met with beautiful onyx eyes. She was blinking for a few while, and then she looked and realized who they belong to. It was Sasuke, who now stood from afar, eyeing the poor thing that he, no wait, the door hit.

"Hn. What a klutz." replied Sasuke.

"Hey pretty boy, wanna say that again," replied a now furious Sakura. Even though she was a few feet from him, she still could hear him. Her heart was furiously pounding. She needed to calm down. NOW!

Okay, clam down girl. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.. thought Sakura.

"Yeah girl, geez, calm down," stated her Inner Self.

Unfortunately, her thoughts were interrupted when Sasuke said something to her, much more like insulted her.

"Never knew a klutz could be deaf as well."

"Yeah well I never knew assholes can talk."

"Who are you calling an asshole?"

"Wow! Guess I'm not the only one that's deaf."

Sakura said as she was now standing up as she was dusting off her clothes. She was walking towards Sasuke, and stood there for a second as if she was about to do something. She hated herself for what she was about to do next, but in situations like this there is only one better person. She hesitantly took out her hand and placed it on front of Sasuke.

Sasuke raised a curious brow.

"Truce?" Sakura said smiling.

Hmmm.. She's cute when she smiles, thought Sasuke.

Sasuke was about to place his hand out for her, when a horrible shrilled voice was heard from down the hall.

"Sasuke-Kun, what are you doing? Here, I'll walk you to your class" said a brown haired girl, named Daina.

Daina (dAY-Nuh) quickly took one of Sasuke's arm and placed it over hher shoulder. She leaned forward to his ear and whispered something incoherent. She, then, glared at Sakura before forcing Sasuke to walk with her. Sasuke took a long glance at Sakura, who went back to get her things that were scattered on the floor. Papers were everywhere, and books lay half open on the floor. In a way, he wanted to go and help her, but his thoughts soon vanished when the girl he was with pushed him into a classroom that was vacant at the time.

Sakura, on the other hand, was praying that Kakashi wasn't there. She stood in front of the door, trying to think of a good excuse for being tardy. She opened up the door to find no hints of the teacher whatsoever. The students were running around, paper airplane can be seen making their way across the room, and footballs were being tossed around. Sakura sighed; this was going to be some day.

She quickly made her way to her seat and started to write down a few poems. It amazed her, never the less, to see that whenever she writes them, the words would come pouring into her mind like they were waiting for her to write them. She took a glance to where Hinata was sitting, and saw that she was talking to Naruto. She had met Naruto when Hinata introduced them to each other awhile back. She had also found out that Hinata was bearing a huge crush for the loud mouth blonde. She smiled at the thought of how opposite the are.

She then turned to Sasuke's side and found no trace of the guy. She was hoping that maybe they would call it truce, but something or someone just had to ruin it. She sighed, she lost yet another opportunity making a friend. She turned to the front and glances at the watch that hung above the door, it was fifteen minutes past eight, and there was still no teacher.

She returned to writing her poems, when her attention was distracted by nothing mere than a hand. It was placed in the front of her. She started to trace the muscular hand to the owner, and found out that it was Sasuke… again. She looked at it quizzically and then at him.

"I thought you wanted truce" said Sasuke.

Sakura immediately smiled and nodded her head. She took the hand and shook it. Talk about sparkle. As soon as their hands met, something was passed on from each other. Sakura was still looking at the hand, and then quickly made a move to remove it.

They both turned to the front, Sakura was trying to suppress the blush that was threatening to show itself, while Sasuke just stared ahead. His thoughts went back to the girl that was seating next to him. The one that just shook his hand. There was an unexplainable connection there, but it made no sense. He just knew her as some classmate that took almost all his classes, and that was it! But what was it?

This action did not go unnoticed by Daina. She was fuming mad now. She quickly turned to her friends and started plotting ways into making Sakura's school life a living hell. No one touches her man, but HER!

Kakashi stood outside of his class. He can hear the on-going noises inside. He, then saw a girl peak out the door, he looked at her, and she gasped and quickly closed the door. Kakashi let out a sigh and started to countdown.

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1"

He then opened the door, and found all his student seated at their seats and all were quiet.

"Well, what a behave class I have," Kakashi seadpanned, " Now, I hope it stays this way throughout the whole school year. Well, onto more pressing matters. We have a new student today. Please introduce yourself," said Kakashi stated.

The door slowly opened only to reveal a red headed guy with baggy blue jeans and a plain white tee. He looked at Kakashi as if contemplating if he should do as he says, or just sit down. He took in a deep breathe and let out a sigh. He, then turned to face the class.

"My name's Shubaku no Gaara," he monotonously stated. And with that said he turned to Kakashi and waited for the next instructions. He honestly couldn't care less.

"Hmm… that fast. Well, let's see. Looks like I'm going to change a few seatings. Hinata please sit next to Naruto, and you can sit down next to Sakura. Sakura, please raise your hand."

Sakura did as she was told and looked at Gaara. He was handsome, alright. He looked a bit of punk-goth. He looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere but here.

He took his seat next to Sakura, and Sakura quickly looked at him smiling.

Oh great, I hope she doesn't drool all over me, thought Gaara. (A/N: Déjà vu anyone?)

"Hi, I'm Sakura"

"Great" replied Gaara.

She narrowed her eyes at him and then turned her attention to Kakashi that was babbling something about Model Student Behavior. What is with these people, don't they have any manners? thought Sakura.

The bell quickly rang, and the day seemed to pass by quickly.

It was now lunchtime, and Sakura was seating with Hinata, Suki, and Tenten. They were inside the cafeteria, and they saw a few people laughing. They were looking at the source and found out it was Gaara. They were making fun of him, and he looked like he didn't care. Sakura hated people making fun of others. So she decided that she would talk to him. As if that was going to help the situation at all.

As she was standing up, Tenten looked at her quizzically and asked her, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if Gaara wants any company" replied Sakura. At this, Tenten quickly stood up. She has gotten really close to Sakura, she even considers her as a little sister. She told Sakura that she was going to go with her just in case something gets out of hand.

They started to walk, they noticed that Ino wasn't with the whole group and looked around to where she was. However, they found no trace of her, or Shikamaru. Awkward, thought Sakura. They were almost there when Daina appeared in the front of them. She looked at them for a second. Everybody in the cafeteria was silent. They watched and waited as Sakura and Tenten were looking at a glaring Daina. She walked past them hitting Tenten really hard on the shoulders and then all of a sudden she "accidentally" fell down. To Tenten, she merely fell down, but to everybody, it would seem like Tenten "pushed" her down. As if on cue, Anko, entered the cafeteria and saw Daina on the floor.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked Anko.

"Oh my goodness, like I was only trying to make my way to my seat, when all of a sudden, Tenten pushed me down" said Daina. She was "crying" now and was acting all innocent.

"It is not true, Anko. Daina merely fell and Tenten was trying to help her up when you entered" said Sakura, she was nudging Tenten to give her the hint that she should be helping her (Daina) up.

"Liar!" screamed Daina, "She pushed me, tell her girls". Daina was pointing to her "Plastic" posse. It seemed as if Ino was no longer in it. The girls, however, nodded in return.

"And that freak helped her," Daina was now pointing to Sakura. "She has always been out to get me, like gosh, I never did anything to her, and now she just pushes me. I think she is jealous because Sasuke-kun likes me."

Sakura was trying to stifle her laugh. It was funny cause even though she thought Sasuke was handsome, it didn't mean that she liked him as more than friends…or did she?

"What is so funny, Ms. Haruno?" asked Anko.

"Well, first of all, she fell on her own. She just made it looked like she was pushed. And Second of all, hmm how do I put this, Sasuke and I are nothing more than just classmates. Lastly, it is not my place to interfere into others personal lives. So her relationship with Sasuke has nothing to do with me" stated Sakura.

"Come on, Saki, let's take her down. NOW!!" Of course her Inner Self said, no one calls her a freak and gets away with it.

"Chill, will you?" replied Sakura.

"Why I otta tear out her throat and feed it to my alligators" said her Inner Self.

"Alligators, where are you going to find them?"

"Let's just say I got connections" her Inner Self said. She was rubbing her palms together and smiling a devious smile that sould only mean trouble.

"Ms. Haruno? Ms. Haruno?!" screamed Anko.

"Huh? Oh.. Sorry.. What were you saying?" said Sakura.

"Ms. Abimaru (Daina's last name) here said that you were actually coming here to threaten her, is that true?"

"Huh? Why would I want to waste my time for?"

"Well, Ms. Abimaru has proof. She said that you gave her this letter during your first period."

"What?!? That is not true, let me see that thing?" Sakura was fuming mad. She was being framed and there was no getting out of it.

"Actually, Daina wrote that to herself. Want proof? Check her writing" everybody's attention were turned to see who said that. All were shocked, but Sakura was the most. Someone had stand up for her, but who? She turned to see who it was and found out that it was…

"Sasuke?"

"Hn."

Anko walked to a table and demanded that Sakura and Daina show her one of their notebooks. After presenting their notebooks, Anko carefully scrutinized the details. Threatening a student is against the policies of the school, and the punishment can be excruciating. Anko finally looked up and said.

"Sakura…" Everyone gasped.

"Ha! I knew it! See, I told you she wrote it" proclaimed Daina.

"Sakura, how could you?" asked Tenten. Even Sasuke was shocked to hear this, but he did not show it.

"My goodness people, let me finish. Sakura did not write this" stated Anko. Everyone gasped. Sakura just sweat dropped. Teenagers, they can be so gullible nowadays.

"Ms. Abimaru, I will see you in detention. Today, and for the rest of the next two weeks." And with that said, Anko stormed out of the cafeteria.

The bell had just ringed and everybody was starting to exit the cafeteria. Sakura just stood there. He stood up for me. Why? thought Sakura.

Thoughts crowded her head as she stood there. It seems like she was the only one left. She slowly made her way to her table and got her bag. She was quite disappointed because she did not talk to Gaara, but was happy that Sasuke, well, stood up for her. Little did she know, she was actually being watched. She turned around and immediately came face to face with Sasuke.

"Oh… uummm… well.. thanks Sasuke.. for what you said to Anko" said Sakura.

He looked at her questioningly but just shrugged in response.

Sakura, on the other hand was about to say something, but was stopped.

"Whatever. I just hate it when I get dragged into other people's problems" replied Sasuke. Forward? Yes. Shocking? Yes. More than two words? Yes!
(A/N: Oh no! It's the end of the world!)

Sakura was surprised none the less. He actually said something, and it was something actually worth listening to. Sakura smiled in return, and whispered an 'Arigatou' before exiting the cafeteria. Sasuke still heard it though, and a small smirk slowly graced his lips. He gathered all his things and exited the cafeteria.

A figure stepped out of the dark corner of the cafeteria. That person was smiling.

Hmm.. Well this should be interesting. Sasuke likes this girl, enough to stand up for her huh?

A/N: Well, finally updated. So, hhmmm.. who do you think it is? Well, about grammatical errors I am so sorry. Please R&R! Oh, and don't assume anything on Ino and Shikamaru's part. They might be just sick, coinsidentally, on the same day. I just don't want people to get their hopes up high. Come on you guys, Ino isn't that bad. I like Ino and Temari. So, sorry, I'm not going to make them into "bitches", but there will be some parts in which they can be a "major pain in you arse". SERIOUSLY. .

On the next chapter, there will be one official couple( a guy from the famed "group four"), Gaara's other two siblings will be introduced, and someone is spying on Sakura and Sasuke, but who?

Can anybody give me the name of a really sad song? Please. Pwetty Please. If not, than that is okay. Thank you all for reading.

Thanks. Faafetai, tofa soifua.

-FuNkIe FrEsH