Chapter 4

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"Sakura! Finally, how was the date? I'm dying to know." I jumped slightly at the sound of Ino's voice and nearly laughed at the eager and excited expression on Ino's face. Hinata and Tenten stood at her side, they too looking eager. I didn't even properly walk into the classroom yet and here she was bombarding me with questions. Dropping my bag on my desk I took a look around the deserted class. It was quite early for us to be at school but Ino kept calling me in the night and insisted we come early so I could tell them about the date. Ino's eyes sparkled as she waited for my reply.

"Good M morning, Sakura." Hinata smiled at me.

"Yeah Yeah! Enough with the formalities. So how was the date?" Tenten wiggled her eyebrows as she pulled me down unto a chair. I laughed at how eager they were.

"Let's just say it was the best night of my life. We went to Le Bistro." The girls eyes widened slightly. "Let me tell you, the food was awesome and Sasuke was so gorgeous. Well there was this waitress, she kept trying to get Sasuke's attention."

Ino gasped. "Witch."

"Yeah she was but he didn't pay attention to her, it was like she was never even there. He told me about his family, he's not as bad as everyone says he is."

The girls, even Hinata gave me a look that said yeah right!

I giggled. "Okay maybe he kind of is but that's just what makes him who he is. Anyway I have something to show you guys." I grinned and removed my left hand which I was hiding up until now from my lap. I placed my hand on the desk in front of me so they all could see the ring on my finger.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!Oh My God!"

There goes my hearing. I squinted until Ino's scream died down. Tenten and Hinata's jaws were hanging and their eyes wide.

"Look at the size of those rocks!" Tenten said touching the stones gently as if she were afraid she'd damage it. "It's b beautiful." Hinata gasped.

"Oh my gosh! Looks like you need a crane to lift your finger. I so envy you!" Ino looked at the ring with longing in her eyes. She turned my hand over and made a sound in her throat when she saw the writing on the back. "How cute! And It even has his family symbol. He had this specially made for you." Ino's eyes suddenly narrowed suspiciously. "Wait. This is a ring, don't tell me he asked you to-"

"No!" I pulled away my hands and shook them in a 'no' gesture. "He didn't ask me to marry him, he just wanted to make me his girlfriend officially." Ino pouted. "Too bad. I mean if that's the girlfriend ring I wonder how the engagement ring would look like. I can't wait until I get married." Ino suddenly sighed dreamily and her eyes glazed over. Me, Hinata and Tenten looked at each other. It seems as if Ino had forgotten we were in the room. Tenten smirked, "I think she's dreaming of her wedding and becoming Mrs. Nara."

I laughed as Ino suddenly snapped out of her daze and glared at Tenten who smirked right back at her. Hinata caught in the middle tried to ease the tension. "Tenten it's n not n nice to tease Ino."

"I know but it's fun."

"Just for that I won't help you with Chemistry homework." Ino folded her arms across her chest looking smug knowing that Tenten literally sucked in chemistry. "Yeah well, I won't help you with your Economics." Tenten countered sly fully her fingers playing with the top of her red sleeveless blouse. Ino groaned and muttered a 'fine'. Tenten smiled and dug into her bag for her Chemistry book frowning when she didn't see it in her bag.

"M Maybe it's I in your locker." Hinata offered. Tenten flew up from her seat nearly throwing her bag unto the floor. She replaced it on her desk. "Maybe! I'll go check." she said turning on her heels and jumping over a desk before running out the door.

"Sheesh! All she had to do was walk around." Ino shook her head.

………………………………

Damn. My locker just had to be on the other end of school. I ran and turned a corner and ran down a flight of steps occasionally jumping some. Reaching the end of the stairs I turned a sharp corner and proceed to run to the end of the hall where my locker was situated. Suddenly I collided with something hard and started to fall backwards. I braced myself for the fall I knew was to come and would probably leave my butt sore for a couple of days. I felt arms enclose around my waist before the impact came and I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a very muscular chest. What caught my eye was the long, dark brown and soft lock of hair that was laying against his chest.

My breath hitched and I once again closed my eyes, dreading the inevitable. I opened my eyes and slowly looked up hoping and praying that it wasn't Neji I had run into. I guess I didn't pray enough. I licked my lips nervously and as his cold white eyes seemed to be assessing me. I noticed that his eyes had a light lavender hue. His skin was flawless and -- oh god I was just standing here gazing at him like some love sick fan girl. I felt s arms slowly drop from my waist and he stepped back.

"You should watch where your going." His cool gaze and emotionless attitude made me grit my teeth. "I was!" I snapped.

"Yeah, you were. I suppose it's because you were paying attention that you nearly fell on your ass."

"I. . you . . .It was your fault! You weren't there when I turned the corner then you suddenly just appeared." I fought to keep the blush from rising to my cheeks. The nerve of this guy.

His perfect right eyebrow raised slowly. "My fault? Well I guess I should have just let you fall on your ass." His arrogant gaze mocked me and I suddenly wondered how Sakura put up with Sasuke. He and Neji were almost alike. "I- you. . .I hate you." I raised my chin defiantly and shoved my way past him but his hand enclosed around my wrist and tugged me a little closer to his side.

"You keep telling yourself that." He let go of my hand and walked off. Just walked off! I spun around to face his retreating back. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?" I shouted furiously. Just what the hell was he implying? I stomped my foot and stormed off to my locker nearly ripping the door of its hinges in the process. I collected my book and rushed back to the class relieved to see that Neji wasn't in there, only a couple other students that may have just arrived. I approached my friends and dropped my book unto the desk and dropped sit down in my seat scowling.

"What took you so long?" Sakura asked looking up from her book.

"Whoa! What bit your ass?" Ino asked when she saw the irritated look on my face. I groaned. Ino always worded everything perfectly for the right occasion, not!

"Neji, that's who! He's so arrogant!" I looked around to see if anyone might be listening but the other few students in the class were to engrossed in their conversation to even hear us. I turned back to my friends and recited the whole event. "Can you believe that guy?"

"What did he mean by 'you just keep telling yourself that?'" Ino wondered aloud. "The cute and emotionless guys are always the hardest to read. I mean reading guys like Neji and Sasuke is like opening a blank book and trying to read the pages."

"Hinata, he is your cousin. Any idea why he's like. . .he is?" Sakura turned to Hinata. Hinata shrugged, "Neji does n not really l like people. . . I m mean he isn't a person t to be nice or sociable. He's j just like that b but he's not a bad person." Hinata tried reassure us.

"Could have fooled me." I muttered under my breath. I found it hard to believe that Neji wasn't a bad person. The guy always treated me like crap and I never did anything to offend him. Until today I've never even spoken to him. Why am I wasting my time thinking about him. I huffed and opened my Chemistry book, "Ino I need help with numbers 2-15. Please?"

Ino took my book and looked over the assigned questions. "Tenten numbers 2-15 is everything!" she replaced the book in my hand and raised her brows. I shook my head, "No it's not all. Number one-" I started to object and pointed out the number in the book.

"-is an example. It's already done."

I grinned sheepishly and placed the book on my desk. "Well I guess we have a lot of work to do."

"Don't w worry. I'll help you too." Hinata offered. Sakura was just busy staring at her ring with a dreamy look, occasionally moving her hand to see how it looked in a different angle. I snapped back to attention to see a worried looking Hinata and a pissed off Ino watching me.

"Sorry." I leaned forward and listened to everything Ino and Hinata explained to me knowing that by the end of the day I would completely forget it.

………………………………

Why the hell did I decide to come to school so early? I turned the knob on the giant school doors and opened it walking into the deserted school building. My body felt tired and heavy like lead from lack of sleep. I went to sleep around two in the morning because of the stupid idiot, Naruto. The fool decided to drag me out with him and Kiba last night for a late night snack claiming that Sasuke said he had somewhere to go.

Curse the Uchiha. He ditched the blonde which resulted in me having to be his replacement. I refused but the fool actually started to cry. I could have drowned in all the tears he shed while he bawled that the 'weekly ramen night was ruined.' I felt sorry for him and went along just so he would stop his annoying bawling. I regretted it the moment we stepped into the ramen shop. He and Kiba ordered every kind of ramen on the menu and had an eating competition. After they both ate about thirty bowls each and the bill came I noticed both of them were looking at me expectantly. When I asked them what the hell were they looking at me for the claimed, 'It was Sasuke's turn to pay the bill.'

I left the damn shop with an empty wallet with two fools behind me once again arguing about sponge bob.

Never Again will I go anywhere that sold ramen with Naruto or Kiba. Scratch that. Never again will I go anywhere with Naruto or Kiba.

I rounded a corner and a flash of brown caught my eye before the object collided with me. The 'object' I noticed was a girl with brown familiar buns in her hair and she was started to fall backwards from the impact and I quickly held her by the waist before she could hit the floor.

She kept her eyes closed for a while before she slowly looked up at me. Her eyes held a strange look as she gazed at me. I took this time to study her. Soft brown hair which I've never seen in anything but buns. There was a light shade of pink dusted across her cheeks and - - I slowly dropped my arms from around her waist not liking where my trail of thoughts were leading to. "You should watch where your going."

I looked at her coolly and unfazed and I could see her gritting her teeth. "I was!" she snapped.

"Yeah, you were. I suppose it's because you were paying attention that you nearly fell on your ass." came my sarcastic reply. Damn, I didn't mean to be an ass but it just came naturally.

"I. . you . . .It was your fault! You weren't there when I turned the corner then you suddenly just appeared."

Wait, was this girl blaming me for her actions? I was perfectly minding my own business when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere like some kind of wild barbarian and ran into me and I wasted a few seconds of my life to be considerate and catch her before she fell. I could see light blush starting to trail up her cheeks from anger and embarrassment. I raised my eyebrow slowly. "My fault? Well I guess I should have just let you fall on your ass." I mocked her even though I knew that I wouldn't have let her fall. If it were someone else I would have left them to fall flat on the floor without a care in the world but I wouldn't have done that to Tenten. That's what irked me. Maybe I just felt guilty for the way I treated her. This is what I tell myself anytime I found myself staring at her or wanting to actually do something nice for her. I refuse to believe that it was anything but guilt that drove me to think of such things or wanting to do such things. It was the only logical explanation I could come up with.

Her eyes flashed angrily. "I- you. . .I hate you." Something inside of me went off and when she pushed her way past me I clasped my hand around her wrist and tugged her a little closer to my side. I turned my head and bowed it to speak into her ear. "You keep telling yourself that." I let go of her hand and walked off. She shouted what the hell did I mean to my back but I ignored her.

I shoved my head in my pocket and proceed in the direction my locker. When she said she hated me something inside of me just felt weird. I didn't like to hear it, not coming from her. It pissed me off. Not only that but I was getting pissed at the fact that I was pissed when she said she hated me. Why should I care what a girl that walks around looking like Minnie mouse says to me?

……………

"Sasuke! Oh man, you should have been there. You missed it. We bought lot's ramen and Kiba and I had an eating competition." Naruto jumped and sprang his fist up in the air and I shifted to the side to dodge his wildly falling arm. I shook my head. That's what they did every time we went out for ramen so I was pretty sure I hadn't missed anything.

"Where did you go anyway Sasuke?" Naruto turned to look at me with suspicion.

"Out." My answer didn't seem to satisfy the idiot because he started to huff. "Come on! 'Out' could mean anywhere. What was soooo important that you had to miss ramen night?"

"I went out with Sakura." I proceeded to walk even though I heard Naruto's footsteps had ceased. Soon I heard thunderous and loud footsteps running behind me. Naruto almost practically jumped on my back. "What did you say, Teme? Did you go on a. . .a. . .a date?" Naruto said the word as if it were forbidden his eyes widening.

I gritted my teeth and paused with my hand on the class' door handle. "Yes." God this guy was annoying. How the hell did we become friends and why the hell was he on my back?

"So that's why you weren't abe to make it to the annual 'ramen night.'" I turned my head in the direction of Neji's voice behind of Naruto's head. I raised a brow noticing that he looked not right. Those were the only words that I could use to describe the way he looked and the aura that was radiating off of him.

"Because of your absense I was forced to be your replacement." his eyes narrowed. A small smirk started to form on my lips as he continued his sentence watching me with a frown on his face. "And it was your turn to pay."

My smirk grew wider and turned into a grin. "Nothing a Hyuuga such as yourself couldn't handle." Neji frowned and shook his head. "Those two eat like cows."

"Cows? I don't eat like a cow." Naruto objected. I opened the class door and walked in trying to shove Naruto off my back. It seemed he was hell bent on annoying my soul out of me. "Get off, Naruto!"

"Not until you tell me about- -NO!" Naruto flew from behind and off of me into the far corner of the class. "Not the ramen key ring Sasuke!" He held his 'precious' bowl of ramen shaped key ring which I was about to yank off his bag in his palm.

"Weirdo." I turned to see Tenten watching Naruto cradling his keychain and Ino deep in a book, hitting Tenten and telling her to pay attention. My glaze then clashed with Sakura's emerald one and I couldn't help the small smile that came to my lips when I saw her blushing face. She said a soft good morning and immediately looked down into an open book in her lap. I saw Neji standing slightly rigid from the corner of my eyes. To anyone he would have looked the way he normally did but I knew better. There was a very slight tense to his shoulders and he was usually more relaxed.

I followed the trail of his gaze and saw that he was staring at Tenten. Nothing new there. He stared at her all the time. I noticed this a while back, I would always see him staring at her with something between and annoyed expression and a possessive one. Like the time one of our classmates had approached her and started to laugh and make conversation with her. Neji's glare was so heated and powerful that the boy had started to fidget and looked back, shivering when he saw the death glare Neji was sending him. He instantly got the message because he then left Tenten alone. Then there were times he just looked like he wanted her to disappear from the face of the earth but today there was something different about the way he was watching her now. It was more intense. Maybe something happened between them to make him act. . . Not right. I shrugged and walked to my desk, Naruto darted to the other side of the class grasping his key ring before opening his bag and stuffing it safely inside and inner pocket. What an idiot, all this dramatic behavior for a key chain.

I walked to my desk and took my seat kicking up my feet on the desk and looked up on the chalkboard to see the work from yesterday still on it.

"Shit! errm stupid . .troublesome chicks grgehd." Shikamaru suddenly came stumbling in the room lazily with his clothes looking like he'd been through some kind of tornado but I guessed from his grumbling he was harassed by the opposite (crazy) sex. He muttered a morning and dropped to sit in his chair without an attempt to fix his appearance. "Ha Ha What happened to you!" Naruto burst out laughing and pointed at Shikamaru who looked up at him annoyed. He put down his head on his desk mumbling something about sexual harassment and jail.

A couple minutes later little by little students started to file in the class and I scowled when a girl with short black hair sat behind of Sakura effectively blocking her from my view. Why did she have to sit there out of all the other seats in the room? I growled when Naruto suddenly dropped to sit beside me in his seat with a loud bang. Unfortunately, it seems like today is my turn to endure the blonde's insistent and pointless babbling. If only we had assigned seating's and Naruto sat way at the other end of the class. Maybe then-

I blinked once and twice when I noticed that another obstacle was blocking the view of the other obstacle that was blocking my view from Sakura. The obstacle seemed pretty close because I could feel their breath on my face and it smelled like . . . I didn't know what the hell it smelled like but I didn't want to keep smelling it. I pulled back and frowned in annoyance when I saw that the red haired girl that tried to jump me a couple of times smiling widely, her eyes lighting up mischievously behind her glasses. I still didn't understand why some boys in the school wanted to go out with her. She looks like a psychopath to me. I dressed back a couple inches more and raised a brow. "Is there a reason that your face is up in my face?" I spat out trying to make her notice that I didn't enjoy or appreciate her unwanted company or interference in my normal and daily gazing at Sakura routine.

"Good Morning, Sasuke." I scrunched up my nose and pulled back some more as another rush of air came rushing to my face. Did she think that talking all breathy made her sexy because she sounded and looked like a wild hog. "Your spoiling my view."

"In other words." Naruto quickly equipped from my side. "Move." The girl whose name I couldn't remember stood up to her full height and folded her arms across the chest while glaring at Naruto. "Excuse me!"

"Your excused." Came Naruto's comeback.

"I came here to talk to Sasuke not you, you stupid, blonde idiot." Naruto puffed up and narrowed his eyes at her, he never did like the girl. He said she seemed fake and looked like a plastic voodoo doll. I couldn't agree more. I could hear the class had fallen silent and was watching the scene with curious stares. Damn nosy fools.

"Who are you calling an idiot you doubled eyed-fire head freak!" Naruto eyes almost looked like they were shooting lasers through the girls head.

"Shut up you good for nothing, lazy and stupid fool. Why don't you go get a life? Nobody cares about you. That's why you have no family or anyone who will ever care about you because your stupid." I could see Naruto tense up and opened his mouth to make a comeback but I stopped him.

"Enough Naruto! Don't start a fight with her." Naruto clenched his fists and the red head shot him a triumphant look. She must have thought I was on her side. She turned to me and smiled. "Sasuke! I-"

"Shut up! Don't talk to Naruto like that again. He may be an idiot but he's not stupid." Her smile immediately turned to a frown and her face turned red as she started to talk but only stuttered in the process. "But I . ..he you. . ."

"He's my friend and I don't appreciate you insulting him especially since your no smarter than he is. You say that no one cares about Naruto but why don't you look around. . .who the hell likes you?" I really hated this chick. I knew Naruto was an idiot and all but he wasn't stupid. He was far from it and on top of that he's my best friend and I hated when people always thought themselves better or higher than him because of how he grew up and the fact that he grew up with no training because his parents were dead. That was probably one of the reasons we were such good friends, I understood how he felt and he understood how I felt. Even if I did feel like ripping out and tearing up his guts at times he is my best friend and I appreciate him. He was the first friend I'd ever had.

I looked up and raised a brow. "Your still here?" Her eyes widened and she turned around and walked quickly out of the class. "Talk about total humiliation." Tenten suddenly burst out and Ino joined in on the laughing. "Hey." I turned to look at Naruto who dug me in my shoulder. He grinned, "Thanks." I nodded.

"She deserved it. What she said to Naruto was completely and utterly disrespectful. Bitch." My brows shut up and I turned my head in Neji's direction as well as the class. He was sitting back in his chair, arms folded across his chest wit his eyes closed. That was something I didn't expect coming from him, it must have pissed him off as well at the way she spoke to Naruto. Not even the dobe deserved to be spoken down at like that.

After the initial shock of Neji's statement died down the class returned to it's normal state. I sat throughout the day awaiting when the bell would ring so I could get out of this prison. When the time finally came for school to end I was so frikken ecstatic that if I weren't Sasuke Uchiha I would have been jumping up and down. When the bell rang I went outside the school building and waited for when Sakura would pass through the door.

I shook my head to myself, I couldn't believe that I was actually waiting on a girl. That was something I'd sworn I'd never do for any girl but here I am waiting on a girl. I sighed and leaned back against the wall and suddenly there was a shadow blocking the light from the sun in front of me. I gritted my teeth when I saw that it was the same red haired girl from before. She stood before me slightly hesitant but determined.

" Your blocking the light."

"I err, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I said-"

"Don't apologize to me." Why the hell would she apologize to me about something she said to Naruto. I mean wouldn't it make more sense to apologize to Naruto. It seemed like she was the stupid one.

"Okay, I just wanted to ask you. . .if your free um can we go out?"

I took a deep breath and bit back the rude comment that was on the tip of my tongue. "No."

Her eyes widened in shock then she regained her confident and determined look. "Sasuke, I know we got of -"

I blinked and slightly shifted the direction of my eyes behind her head when I saw a flash of pink. Sakura was exiting the school doors with her friends in tow. "I have a girlfriend."

"WHAT?" I cringed at her sudden loud outburst and everyone else turned to look at her. Why did she have to be so obnoxiously loud? I saw Sakura and her friends turn and I locked gazes with her.

"Who? I demand to know who this. . .this girl is!" I snapped back to attention when I heard Karin's angry yet distressed voice, I had forgotten she was there for a moment but I answered her question because I knew she wouldn't stop harassing me until I did. "Sakura."

Karin including the nosy student body watching with unashamed interest gasped. I looked back at Sakura and saw her blushing red like a tomato. Even Hinata was blushing though I couldn't find a reason as to how she felt affected.

"Haruno!" Karin's voice came out as a high pitched squeak and I irritatingly pushed my way past her and headed in Sakura's direction. Although she was still blushing she smiled as I approached her and ignored everyone else staring.

"Alright, Sasuke! Way to break a gargoyles' heart!" Naruto jumped up and down beside Kiba and screamed, glad that Karin once again got shut down. I shook my head and pulled Sakura to my side once I reached her. Ino pat my back happily and shot a filthy look over her shoulder towards the baffled and angry Karin. Karin ignored this.

"But Sasuke, I love you!"

I only pulled Sakura closer when she attempted to look back at Karin. Tenten gave her the finger and laughed. Neji who was crossing paths with her scowled, "Rude."

Tenten spun to face his retreating back. "Why don't you just shove it!"

He kept on walking as if he never heard but Tenten as well as the other children nearby didn't miss when he said, "Only if it's in you." Tenten's jaw fell slack and her eyes widened. "What d did he say?" she sputtered as Ino took hold of her hand and dragged her out the school gate. "I was going to ask you the same thing, I'm in shock here." Ino looked back at the long gone Neji.

"Tch Tch." Sai, one of the school's most talented artist shook his head. "Sasuke has made it clear that he doesn't like you. You made it even worse when you insulted his best friend. You should just give up, frig face."

Karin kicked a pebble at Sai but it narrowly missed him. "Who the hell are you calling frig face you white-faced ghost!" She folded her arms under her breasts and hissed before throwing them up in the air and letting out a frustrated scream. Everyone dashed out of the way as she fiercely made her way out the school's gate, her footsteps echoing thunderously on the concrete.

"There is no way I'm loosing to that pink-haired nerd. No Way."

"I will win Sasuke back." her voice was heard beyond the school gate.

Sai made a tch-ing noise as he watched the lunatic exit the school gates. Taking out his drawing pencils he proceeded to examine his art book and touching up his work.

"You never even had him."

Author's Note: Well, I know. It took long and I'm really sorry but I had a LOT to do and I just managed to squeeze in a little time to get this done. I'll try harder to update the other chapter earlier. Sorry it this has too many grammatical errors but I tried my best. I hope you like this chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!!