A/N: Hello!! Thanks for reviews and enjoy!! And oh yeah, um . . . Suigetsu x OC is coming! I promise! This chapter was just for advanced plot purposes; I needed Sasuke to have a class alone with Natsumi. Don't jump to conclusions though. You'll see why I made this chapter later on. And sorry it was a little Sasuke-centric this time. It's for the same reason. You'll see much later in the story.

I felt like this chapter wasn't very good... So sorry for that. But I hope you can enjoy anyway!! :-D

Loved and Lost
By SpacePirateGirl

An Understanding

Sasuke and I walked into the classroom, him leading the way. He had an annoyed expression on his face, and I really hoped it wasn't because of me. He seemed to be looking in the direction of somebody I assumed to be Jiraiya sitting in the teacher's desk.

I looked to Sasuke for an answer. "Is that our teacher? Jiraiya?"

"Yes," he said, irritation clouding his voice.

I bit my lip, hoping even more I wasn't bothering him. Then I glanced back at Jiraiya and watched as he looked at us and wrote something down. What was he writing?

After we had fully entered the room, I noticed Naruto and Sakura coming in behind us, and once more, Jiraiya wrote something down. Again the question of what he was writing crossed my mind, but I chose to ignore it. I glanced at the many tables in the classroom, and how two chairs were at each one. Where would I sit? Sakura was glaring at me, Sasuke was annoyed for some reason, and I didn't know Naruto that well.

After a moment, I decided it didn't matter where I sat really . . . It was only a class.

Just as I was about to go take a seat somewhere, Sasuke stopped me. "Jiraiya will tell everyone where to sit when the bell rings."

Understanding, I nodded.

Leaning on a table, Sakura was talking in a hushed voice to Naruto, and she kept looking pointedly at me. I looked at Naruto nervously. Luckily he was throwing sympathetic glances at me with his knowing, blue eyes.

I smiled thankfully at him, once I realized he knew I was not plotting against Sakura by standing next to Sasuke.

Soon more of the class assembled, but I could only name a few of them. As they entered the room, Jiraiya was writing hastily on a piece of paper that I finally noticed to have rows of boxes on it. Was he writing the seating chart?

The bell rang, declaring the start of class.

The tension radiating from Sasuke's body seemed to increase as did tension from the rest of the students. I frowned in confusion. Did everyone know what was about to happen but me? Was it something bad?

Jiraiya stood up enthusiastically. "All right! I'll be telling you where you sit now!" he exclaimed, a huge grin lighting up his face.

I heard Naruto sigh. "You're such a pervert! I'm surprised they still let you teach!"

"Hey, whoa," Jiraiya argued, his grin falling. "Don't call me a pervert in front of everyone. But anyway . . . Just ignore what Naruto over there says, everyone."

Nervously I crept closer to Sasuke. Did Naruto just call a teacher a pervert? The Uchiha didn't move away from me; he was too busy glaring at Jiraiya . . . I guess I would discover everything once Jiraiya told us the seating chart.

"Naruto, you sit there," Jiraiya commanded, his seriousness almost fake, "and Sakura you sit with him."

"What?! That's not fair!" Sakura complained as Naruto cheered happily. I could tell just by looking at him that he had a crush on Sakura.

Jiraiya laughed. "It's not my fault you two walked in together."

What . . . I glanced at Sasuke anxiously and slowly stepped away from him. I wasn't a fool. I could see what was coming, but that didn't mean I would be prepared for it. He simply kept his gaze on Jiraiya.

"Neji, you sit with Hinata over there," Jiraiya continued as if Sakura had never complained.

I glanced at Hinata. She was here?

"Um . . ." Hinata began nervously.

A teenager with long, black hair continued for her: "We're cousins."

Jiraiya looked at them stunned for a moment but then laughed. "Oh, right." He used a pencil to erase on the paper he was holding and changed a few things. "All right, Hinata, you sit with Kiba."

Hinata looked sad as she glanced at Naruto, and I remembered that she had a crush on the blond. Kiba willingly sat beside her though. They looked like good friends.

Jiraiya suddenly turned to me. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Um . . . yes, I'm Natsumi."

He nodded in approval. "Right. You'll be sitting with Sasuke then."

Though I saw it coming by a long-shot, it still caught me by surprised. I felt my face heat up, and I hoped it wasn't too obvious I was blushing with embarrassment. I didn't even dare look at Sasuke due to the fear of what his reaction would be.

Suddenly I felt someone pulling me along to the table that Jiraiya had pointed at. It was Sasuke.

My head suddenly started hurting . . . On the surface I wished I hadn't discarded the icepack from this morning, but somewhere inside I knew it wasn't a headache. I just couldn't think.

After setting down my backpack beside me, I took my seat and sank my head into my arms, resting it on my desk. What would he think of me now? It wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault, it wasn't my fault. No wonder he had appeared annoyed, ever since we entered the classroom.

Jiraiya had started talking about rules and regulations as soon as everyone had sat down with the person they had walked in with. Reluctantly I raised my head to listen, only to find a folded paper sitting in front of me. A note? I glanced at Sasuke, who was sitting beside me. He didn't look at me but merely stared ahead at Jiraiya.

I opened the note to read what it said. The handwriting was very neat.

It's okay. He does this every year. Last year it happened to be Sakura . . .

I knew exactly what he was talking about—Jiraiya's method of making the seating chart. Somehow knowing that he didn't care made my embarrassment fade away.

Thanks, Sasuke, I wrote back and gave him the note. I was particularly careful this time, for now I knew passing notes could land me in serious trouble.

The note was once again next to me, and I unfolded it. What did he have to say now?

He doesn't care about notes, so don't worry.

I glanced at him in surprise, but he was still staring ahead at Jiraiya. At first, I didn't trust him—maybe he just wanted me to get in trouble—but then I remembered that he was the one who had saved me the night before.

Okay. Thanks about last night, too.

He looked at the paper I sent to him without folding it up, and returned it.

You're welcome.

The conversation seemed closed, so I let the note rest by my side, allowing myself to fully listen to what Jiraiya was saying. There were rules to each class, yet they were all in essence the same. Soon Jiraiya started going over what he would be expecting of them throughout the year.

So boring . . . I hoped the next day things would actually start happening. But I knew after homework piled up, I would be wishing it were the first two days of school again.

The class gradually passed by, and after what seemed like hours, it was over. The bell rang, just as Jiraiya finished his lesson, and everyone rose to reach the last class of the day. Sasuke had left before I could even gather my stuff and put it in my backpack. And Sakura came over to me, right when he was gone, obviously not wanting to get on his bad side.

"Natsumi," the pink-haired girl began irritably, "we need to talk."

I would be a fool if I didn't know what she wanted to talk about.

"Please," Sakura added as an afterthought.

I stood up, and she led her out of the classroom, not wanting to be late to the next class. She would begin her interrogations while we walked.

"Why were you with Sasuke?" she asked.

I vaguely felt Naruto walking beside Sakura. "Come on, Sakura-chan! Not everyone likes Sasuke."

Sakura ignored him and turned to me. "Well?"

I began cautiously, "Sakura, I have no interest in Sasuke whatsoever romantically. Okay?"

She puffed, and hair flew out of her face for a moment. "That's what everyone says." She looked at Naruto for a moment. "And yes, everyone likes Sasuke."

I bit my lip. "I thought you both hated him."

Watching Sakura and Naruto lock gazes sadly and then turn away caused me to realize the truth. No, they didn't hate Sasuke . . . Even Sasuke couldn't understand what they really felt for him. But I knew it right then. They didn't want to spurn him from friendship; they wanted him to come back to them, to change his mind.

If only they hadn't been ripped apart by whatever had happened—which was one of Sasuke's secrets. Then it wouldn't be so hard to be friends with everyone . . . I didn't want to be a mediator, but I did wish that everyone could make up with each other, give everyone a fresh start. It was wishful thinking, yes, but I still believed maybe one day it could happen.

All it would take was apologies, which would lead to more apologies. Eventually there would friendship in the end.

"We don't hate him . . ." Sakura suddenly answered. She didn't finished.

Naruto looked at Sakura and then looked at me. "We just . . ."

Smiling, I nodded. "You just want him back."

Sakura bit her lip when I answered. "Yeah. Basically . . . Natsumi, you're the only person partially on our side that he listens to these days. You and Tenten. If it's not too much trouble, can you two please help us out?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto agreed. "He never talks to us! You two could like say what we want to say!"

I laughed as I shook my head—though not in refusal. "Have you ever tried talking to him since he came back?"

Silence stopped all replies, and Naruto and Sakura seemed dumbfounded. "Uh . . ." Naruto answered, muttering a no.

I couldn't refuse to help them. I couldn't refuse to do anything for someone that hadn't hurt my feelings in the past. Naruto and Sakura were trustworthy, I could tell, and I needed to prove to them that they could believe me, too. "Next time I see him, I'll tell him you don't hate him. He'll talk to you then probably."

"Yay! Thanks, Natsumi!" Naruto exclaimed and ran off into a classroom on the next. I saw the label on the classroom. It was History taught by Asuma, which was where I was going, too. I was glad to know I wouldn't get lost.

Sakura lingered with me, though she didn't appear as if she was going to the same class as me. "I'm sorry I got mad at you over Sasuke. It's just . . . Well, it's a long story, and not one that would finish before the tardy bell rings."

"It's fine." I met her gaze squarely, keeping all emotion but honesty clear from my face. "But really, I promise I don't like Sasuke that way. I don't even know if I like him much at all really. He's . . ."

"Different," Sakura finished. Her emerald eyes showed trust, and I knew she believed me. "Sasuke's all alone now, Natsumi," she continued, looking away at the classroom Naruto had gone into. "Even his so-called friends he has now aren't really his friends . . ."

I didn't understand, but I knew she was leading up to something important.

"Even if you do tell him that we don't hate him, he probably will still avoid us. Tenten and you are the only girls I've ever seen him talk to so freely."

Freely? He still seemed very closed-up, even after what Sakura had just said.

"It's probably because you two don't love him like the rest of us do . . ." Sakura finished, a sad expression creeping onto her face.

Somehow, just by looking at him, I could tell Sasuke had no interest in Sakura at all—not yet anyway. But telling the truth would only hurt her. "Maybe one day he'll love you," I told her, trying to hold a smile. "If Tenten and I don't love him, then it's pretty obvious he can't end up with us."

She laughed. "Oh, how nice," she commented sarcastically. "Two girls down, millions more to go."

"He doesn't like the other girls either though. You'll probably end up with him in the end," I lied. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie so much as a prediction or a wild guess.

Sakura laughed. "You know, I noticed something back when you asked me for Sasuke's dorm room number."

Remembering the lie I had told her to avoid her suspecting something, I fidgeted with my fingers.

"You really just can't lie," she explained. "Well, you can, but . . . nobody believes you afterwards."

I bit the inside of my lip in surprise. She knew I had been lying even all the way back then?

Sakura began walking away toward a class adjacent to the one Naruto entered. "Well, the bell's gonna ring soon. See you later."

I entered the classroom labeled History and found a seat.

Two girls down, millions more to go, Sakura had said.

I had heard it was better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. I understood exactly what the saying meant. One only became stronger from loss. One only grew. Maybe Sakura's love for Sasuke was a good thing, even if it probably would never work out.

My cheeks turned red when I remembered whom I had grown to love in only two days . . . Now I could understand love at first sight as well. But what if Suigetsu didn't love me back?

Sakura is a lot like me, I realized.

It was better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

A/N: Oh, and Feareth the Kitty, I told you that you gave me an idea about something that happened last chapter (thanks!), but I couldn't get it into this chapter. It'll probably be in the next one though!!

And to everyone, sorry I haven't been putting previews for the next chapter. I kinda caught up with myself again, and I don't have anything for a preview. I'll try to have one next chapter or the one after!!

This chapter says goodbye to most of the Sasuke-centric stuff. :-( Goodbye, Sasuke!! LOl. See you all later!! And thanks for any reviews!!