The third chapter, let's see, there's Itachi, Sasuke and Naruto, and Ichiraku's. And also Sasori, Deidara, Hidan and Kisame, but Sakura didn't know them yet.

Happy reading!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO.

Start of Something

"Solo Scaping"

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At the end of her third week, Sakura finally met her fellow students.

She was exploring the school ground near the teachers' compound when she heard a loud yell and hushed voices from inside the indoor swimming pool building and she just have to went in. It's time to check the pool it seems.

Sakura walked up silently and pushed open the front door and stepped into a tall bright spacey hall. There was a splash and surprised yelp as she emerged from the other side the bleachers and came face to face with a group of guys. Five, to be exact; two were in the pool, one, a blonde, had his one leg inside the water and the other climbed out near where a red head was sitting on the edge of the pool and the last one was sitting on the first row.

Sakura took a moment and assumed none of them were staffs or teachers. How she got into that conclusion she never understood.

They were all staring at her. Three of them were un-doubtfully shirtless.

Clearly, it was not how she pictured an ideal start of a long harmonious friendship, but she took the first step boldly. "Hi!" she greeted.

When Sakura first showed herself, they all looked so surprised they paused mid whatever activities they were doing, but as soon as she said hi, like a play button somewhere had been clicked, they all resumed.

The other two were bickering in the water and the blonde one pulled himself out of the pool, annoying the red head, who smacked him.

"Shit!" he cursed, then glared at the person beside him. "What was that for, yeah?!"

The red head ignored his rant, just like how the rest of them were ignoring Sakura.

She blanched. It was definitely not going to be a long harmonious friendship indeed.

Sakura didn't move, feeling it would be rude to just left after saying hello, but not quite sure how to approach either. She stared at them, her feet glued in place. This has its perks, which is a good thing, given how uncomfortable the situation was for her. Outside of being given a nice view of three very nice and shirtless bodies (it's not checking out, it doesn't count!) she took the opportunity to take on the unnecessarily magnificent hall.

The hall was bright and tall, on one side of the wall there are bleachers facing the wide blue pool and glass wall with a clear view of the baseball pitch. She couldn't wait to swim there, but of course, not in the presence of five older (well they don't looked fifteen) strangers.

The guys, ignoring the fact that they completely ignored her sad attempt of making friends, were not half-bad. Two of them are what Sakura would call crush-material; the one sitting nonchalantly in the bleachers has long midnight hair tied in a low ponytail and dark guarded eyes. Two stress lines were apparent between his eyes. He looked athletic and lean beneath his white shirt. He came from a high-class environment; Sakura was sure, noting his posture. In spite of many of his obviously appealing physical qualities, it was his hair that irked Sakura the most. Commercial worthy, she was sure; those tresses.

The other crush-worthy was the red head, probably, because of his delicate features. He looked really pretty and Sakura usually wasn't the type of girl to call a guy pretty.

She looked down at her feet, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She was wearing her usual washed out jeans and her really old orange gingham shirt with oil and paint stains from when she tried to learn to paint. She hadn't even bothered to brush her hair this morning.

Sakura reached for her earphone and went to the bleachers. The black haired male nodded at her when she sat beside him (a good distance away, but still beside him). Sakura nodded back and they fell into a mutually comfortable silence.

"My name's Haruno Sakura," she blurted after a few minutes.

The man nodded ever so slightly and attempted on what Sakura thought was a smile but it came out more like a grimace. "Uchiha Itachi."

She could literally see the dark clouds looming over his head and mentally crossed the Uchiha Itachi name from her list of potential crushes.

"Are you a student?" she asked the guy.

After a few moments of calculated staring, he seemed more relaxed when he answered, "I'm in college, second year."

"Oh," Sakura frowned, feeling slightly uncomfortable. The silence that stretches intensified her uneasiness.

Itachi watched her for a while. "What about you, Haruno-san?" he asked. His voice was flat and there's no intonation to it Sakura wonders if it's really a question.

"I'm a freshman. I just moved here."

Itachi seemed to consider this, then he looked back at the pool, where his friends were. "I see."

Sakura looked at the rest of the guys. Three of them are bickering and water splashing inside the pool and the red head sitting on the side of the pool glanced over at the bleachers, his eyes meeting Sakura's briefly, calculatingly. "You're not joining them?" She asked.

At this, Itachi actually looked kind of surprised. He turned to Sakura and said, "No," curtly, a little defensively if she may add, and it brought a smile to her face, for some reason.

"You don't like to swim?" She asked, surprisingly at ease and feeling rather chatty.

Itachi thought about it, then "I don't feel like it," he answered finally.

Even though Itachi Uchiha wasn't much of a conversationalist and his answer left nothing for Sakura to go on, she talked anyway.

"I moved here from Ame, on some sort of academic sponsorship," she said. "It's my first time going into a boarding school like this one though."

Itachi sort of smiled and it struck Sakura how friendly he looked right then.

"Do you always live here?"

"Yes," he said flatly.

Sakura nodded absently, "my dad and I move a lot, he's a volunteer doctor, my dad," she told him. Itachi studied her as she talks and Sakura becoming more uncertain the longer he stared. "Well, it was nice getting to see new places, but it was never that great where we live. I spent a month taking my morning shower at school when we had to live in a tent."

"So you're staying here?" he asked after a while.

Sakura stared at him. "What?"

Itachi stared back passively. "You don't like moving, and now you're on a scholarship."

"Yes?" she drawled, confused.

"You have the opportunity to change your life here, no?"

"Oh," she frowned, "no, this is only temporary. I study medical so I can help my dad, so I'll probably go for Snow after high school."

Itachi looked at her thoughtfully. "Aa," he said finally, dismissively.

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"Excuse me." Sakura tapped a friendly-looking young woman who was checking her phone under the street lamp. When she looked up to her, Sakura forced herself to smile, in spite of her exhaustion. "Could you please tell me the direction to either the Central Konoha Library or The Leaf Historical Museum?" she asked in her most friendly manner.

Public transportation was confusing as hell in Konoha, or maybe it's her lack of street experience, but what should-be an exciting trip to navigate the city alone ended up in a quiet suffering disaster of getting lost in a sea of cars, impatient people and unforgiving summer sun.

The young woman smiled at her and it made her day a thousand times better. "The museum is a bit far from here, if you're walking, but the Central Library is that building." She said in a friendly manner, pointing to a circular building several blocks away. "We're looking at it from behind, so there's no indication, and it doesn't look like a library, too."

"Thank you miss, I'm really sorry to bother you." Sakura bowed.

The woman nodded. "Are you a tourist, if you don't mind me asking?"

"No, I just moved here recently." She told her.

"Oh, well, my father own a ramen restaurant near here, it's called Ichiraku's. It will be my pleasure if you visit us when you have time."

Sakura felt happy somehow, it was her first time being invited to a ramen shop. She beamed. "Oh sure, I'd love to, if you could draw me a map…" she stumbled through her backpack searching for a note and pen.

Sakura had a map drawn for her by Tsunade-shishou when she ask the older woman permission for a trip to the city, but it was hastily drawn and her instructions regarding transportations were also vague and incorrect. She suspects the woman never actually had to use public bus to travel. Shizune was worried, of course, when Sakura first told them of her intention, but Sakura managed to convinced her to let her do the solo adventure.

In the end, Shizune was the one who gave her the idea of visiting the museum and the library. The library, especially, since it was located near the Konoha Central Park where she could probably befriend people her age. Apparently it's a popular teen attraction; the Central Park, not the Central Library.

Sakura waved her goodbye to the friendly woman—Ayame was her name—and continued on her way.

Ten minutes later, she was inside the library.

The architecture was really awe-inspiring; the ceilings were see-through glass and the big marbled circular stairs were magnificent. Being used to dingy emergency tents and monochrome apartment buildings, her mind screamed overload to the vibrant but elegant modern interior. For a day, she swore being an architect was her number one dream.

That day, she also got her first library card.

Tsunade-shishou's library may contain hundreds of papered vastly important knowledge of how to save a life, and even though some of those books can never be found in Central Library, it got many other interesting things to offer; magical child, witches, and detective stories, even some really disturbing adult romance. And the architecture! Even after hours of admiring every aspect of the building, it doesn't bore her.

Shizune texted her every now and then, but Sakura got the feeling that, like her dad, or many people in her life actually, they were never bound to worry about her. She was self-reliant. It might be the fact that it's the sole image Sakura wanted to imprint and she had worked for it for most of her fifteen years of life, and she was always considered strong. It must be that according to people, whatever lies ahead, she would never get lost; she was bound to be alright.

The last text Shizune sent her was four hours ago, when she was still inside the bus that got her nowhere. It goes something like this:

You should see the dancing water fountain at night! Teenagers tend to gather there, including some that goes to our school.

And Sakura was about to leave the library and visit the ramen store when the fountain dancing began.

It was just after sunset, and true to Shizune's words, teenagers and young adults seemed to gather round the attraction.

Konoha Central Park was not like the usual park Sakura ever visited where usually only elders and children frequent. Konoha Central Park was huge, like acres of neatly architected outdoor huge. There were jogging tracks, rollerblading tracks, skate boarder basins, and of course, the big fat fountain(s).

They played some really energetic music as the fountain 'dance', illuminated by colorful lights and teenagers flocked into their groups, drinking soda and enjoying the night. Staying there and sitting alone would probably look rather pathetic, but that was what Sakura did anyway. She bought hotdogs and water, on her lap was The Little Prince.

Sakura took in her surroundings. Ten meters from her bench were a group of girls, talking and laughing and doing what most of everybody else was doing, dancing a little, pointing at the water bursts, taking pictures of themselves. A couple of distances away from the girls were two boys; a blonde and what Sakura blushingly admit to be the prettiest boy she ever saw. They were arguing or bickering, really.

After the music ended, Sakura got up, following Ayame's instruction in finding her bus. She walked briskly into the bus station and bought her tickets.

Inside the bus, she took a seat near the pretty boy and his blonde friend from the park. The pretty boy had a very grouchy expression on his face while the blonde sulked. Sakura took out her earphone to listen to some of her music and kept a very serious look on the streets.

Ichiraku's, Ichiraku's…

And there it is!

Sakura got off at the nearest station, along with the two boys.

Now, she felt kind of creeped out. Not because she suspect she just got herself some good-looking stalkers, but it's just weird that their silly bickering and loud footsteps accompanied her all the way to the ramen shop.

"Dobe, why are we eating here again?"

"Because, teme, this is the greatest restaurant where the best RAMEN ever was invented!"

Some smacking sound and lots of cursing later, the raven-haired boy and his companion took a seat on Sakura's left inside the small ramen shop. They interacted easily with the man behind the stool, or at least, the blonde did. The pretty faced grouchy baby just sat there, looking unamused at the blonde antics.

After the older man finished talking with the blonde, he turned to Sakura and smiled, looking expectant.

"Umm," needless to say, she had never ordered a ramen before, usually her dad bought her food. "Whatever's on the menu, but not anything really spicy." She added.

"Is Ayame-san here?" she said when the man served her (and the two boys) their ramen.

"Oh, my, you knew my daughter?" Sakura nodded eagerly, "she's at the back, but I'll call her for you."

"Thank you, sir." She smiled gratefully.

When she turned to her side, the blonde boy with striking blue eyes stared at her, mouth agape and blush adorning his cheeks.

Sakura felt her face flush.

"Dobe, stop gaping, it's disgusting." The black haired guy scorned his friend.

"Wha—teme! Stop calling me that!" Then, they continued to bicker over their ramen. Sakura was only slightly miffed.

"Sakura-san, you're here!" Ayame came over her, smiling. Behind her, Teuchi-san, her father, tried to stop the boys' argument.

Ayame sighed. "They're regulars." She said, staring at the commotion with a little fondness in her eyes that contradict her tired tone.

Sakura smiled at the young woman in front of her. "You know each other long?"

"Yes," Ayame turned back at her. "They're fifteen now, they've been here since they were six."

Sakura look over at the guys, feeling just a little jealous. "Nine years, huh…" she mused.

Ayame placed her order. "Here," she said, holding out chopsticks.

Sakura took them. "Enjoy your food," Ayame said.

"Itadakimasu," she said politely.

The ramen was good, indeed, and not at all like what her dad usually bought her. She thought about her dad, feeling a little ashamed to be having wonderful dinners and comparing them to what she used to have before coming to Konoha while her dad's probably had to have worse food to eat.

"Hey!"

Sakura turned to her side, face to face with a pair of blue eyes.

"Yes?" she said.

The boy flushed red and held out a hand. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, fifteen years old!"

It was a weird introduction to Sakura's mind but she put down her chopsticks and shook his hand. "Haruno Sakura. I'm fifteen, too."

He let go of her hand and scratch his neck bashfully. "How's the ramen? It's great, isn't it? I'm a regular here, with teme," he poked on the raven-haired teenager.

"I am not!" the boy scowled indignantly.

Naruto snickered. "You went here twice a week every holiday."

The raven-haired boy looked really crossed at this. "Unwillingly," he gritted.

Naruto laughed and Sakura only understand little of their inside joke—if one can call it that.

"But it's the best ramen you tasted right, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura smiled politely, "It is."

Naruto grinned widely at this and the boy beside him scoffed.

"Oy, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, "Introduce yourself, you rude!"

'Sasuke' closed his eyes at Naruto's shouting, seeming trying very hard to control his temper.

"I'm right here, dobe, don't. Shout. At. Me." He gritted venomously. Sakura had to wonder how these two could be friends for nine years—or maybe more—because despite of their constant arguing, there's a sure stand, this very obvious thing that just made people doubt that they aren't friends.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He nodded at Sakura.

Sakura nodded thinking of Itachi and how Konoha is not that big of a city. "Haruno Sakura."

"So, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned, "you're fifteen, right? That means you're going to high school right?"

Sasuke did a face-slap at this.

"Right. Of course," was Sakura's answer. "I'm admitted at Konoha High."

Naruto looked positively glowing. "Me too, we're gonna be best buddy!"

"And I'm gonna be free of you," Sasuke grunted.

And Sakura realized something. "Wait, Naruto-san, do you know Tsunade Senju?"

"Oh, Tsunade baa-chan," Sakura twitched at the honorific, "yeah, I knew her." Naruto looked sulky for once and rubbed his forehead unconsciously, "scary old lady… Why do you want to know, Sakura-chan?"

"Well, I live with her," both boys went wide-eyed at her, well Sasuke twitched but it was his best shocked expression, maybe.

"Where?" Sasuke asked her.

"…At school."

He considered this, then "Why?"

Naruto wailed, "Sakura-chan, you can stay at my house! I can't see you battered and lifeless from all the beatings she called training, the slave-driver!"

As if on cue, Sakura's phone rang. Shizune's the caller.

"Hello?"

"Sakura, have you gone home yet? You missed dinner."

It's already late and Sakura felt guilty for not informing Shizune of her visit to Ichiraku's. "Um, not yet. I met some new friends…"

"Oh, okay, I saved you a portion. When will you be back? I'll heat it up for you."

Sakura decided she didn't mind extra stuffing; she's a little too skinny anyway. "Okay, I'll get going now. Thank you Shizune nee-san, and I'm really sorry if I made you worry, and Tsunade-shishou, too… Wait, she's not mad," Sakura gulped, "right?"

Shizune sighed, "No, she got her sake, and some of her friends are here."

Sakura contemplate this. "Is it a good time for me to go home?"

"For me, yes. But for your sake, it's better to not use the front door. They're in the living room, err—bickering."

"Okay," Sakura pay for her ramen, "Thanks Teuchi-san, and Ayame-san!"

"Sakura-chan, you're going home to Tsunade baa-chan?!"

"Uh, yeah, you want to come?"

She was in no position to offer such invitation, seeing as it is not her house she invited them, too and she got no permission to bring friends, but she blurted it out, and though she regretted it as soon as she did, she couldn't help but feel that Tsunade wouldn't mind.

"Visiting granny Tsunade's not my hobby, but I'll call my mom to tell her I have to make sure you're alright, Sakura-chan! And teme!" He grab at the guy.

Sasuke slapped his hand. "What? I'm not going."

"But teme, what if I died?!"

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Can anyone tell me about high school parties? We only have prom in Indonesia...