I GOT THE SMEXIEST PAIR OF COMBAT BOOTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!!!
Dedication: To music, dancing in the dark, singing soprano, school plays and the best friends you didn't realize you had.
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.
"He steals from the poor, and gives to the rich… STUPID BITCH!!!" …I have been watching waaaaay too much Monty Python lately…

…---…

So they say you're troubled boy, just because you like to destroy all the things that bring the idiots joy. Well, what's wrong with a little destruction?!

…---…

Sakura was sprawled out on her bed, her arms spread at odd angles. She heaved a great sighed, and closed her eyes happily. There was a recording of Hinata playing the piano playing softly in the background, and Anko had already yelled at them.

It was times like this when Sakura didn't want to be anyone else. When it was just quiet, and there was no school and no parents and no drama and nothing stupid to worry about, that was when Sakura enjoyed being herself.

Actually, she always enjoyed being herself. It just manifested the most when she was alone. Of course, being alone never lasted long, not when Karin was sharing her room again, and the others had no reason to be in their rooms.

"Sakura, wake up, stupid!"

And then her peace and quiet was shattered in a half-second, as she was attacked by both Ino and Tenten. Hinata was sitting at the foot of her bed, dragging a comb through her shorn locks, and Temari was leaning against the doorframe, Karin standing next to her.

"Oi, get offa mee!" Sakura was not pleased with this development.

"Ha, you wish." Ino smirked out, her arms wrapped around Sakura's waist. The aforementioned girl was struggling to get out of Ino's death grip.

It wasn't working so well. "Ino, you bitch, lemme go!"

"I repeat: ha, you wish."

Sakura gave up, and let Ino and Tenten curl up under the covers with her. Temari and Karin came and sat down, too, and then the six of them sat there, looking at each other, grinning in that way that all good friends have.

And then Anko came in. She flicked off the music, and smiled crazily at them all.

"So, guess what, girlies?" Anko's voice had that happy-hyper-you-all-are-totally-screwed-because-I-said-so quality to it. Damn.

"Is this some sorta trick?" Ino was suspicious.

"Not really. But it is kinda hellish. This is Anko we're talking with, here."

"True." Sakura raised an eyebrow at Temari, and Temari looked grim. She'd already been through this once…

"Well, you girls remember that friend of mine, right? We went to see him a few weeks ago…"

They all caught on. "NO. YOU SAID WE COULD BE NORMAL!!!"

"Anko, that's unfair!!!"

The girls continued (minus Temari, as she'd already known) in this vein for quite some time. It wasn't getting them anywhere, and they were beginning to get on Anko's nerves.

"This argument isn't getting any of you anywhere. So you might as well just quit it. We're going, on Friday night. And you girls will get along with them, and you will make a good impression, and Sakura, you will not cause them bodily harm. Do you understand me?"

The girls went dead quiet, and they nodded with a gulp. And an angry Anko was a scary thing indeed.

"Yes, you highness," they all mumbled, and Anko smiled happily.

"Good. Karin, I was just wondering, you parents…?"

"Don't care. Foster parents, anyways. My real parents are locked up and dead, one because of the other." Her voice was quiet with something like repressed grief. And, of course, she got glomped by five other people, and Anko smiled at her sadly.

"I'll talk to them about getting you taken out of the system."

Karin whipped her head up. "But I'm technically an orphan. I have no relatives. I can't get out of the system, not unless I… not unless I get adopted."

Anko smiled again. "Exactly." And then she vanished through the open door, closing it with a thump. A second passed, and nothing moved, nothing breathed.

Karin's eyes were shining. "Is she… is she serious? Is she going to adopt me?"

Sakura shrugged. "Highly plausible."

Tenten grinned. "Dude, that means Saku and I get another sister!" she crowed out happily.

Temari and Ino and Hinata all glared at her. "That means we all get a new sister."

"It also means Anko has another teenager to torture. Damn."

"True that."

It went quiet again, and Temari flicked the radio on, for the second time that night. Some crazy country song came on, about a bunch of flowers, a dead dog, and a… birthday cake? What the hell?

"Gah, Tema, change that shit. It's killing my ears." Tenten was cowering into Sakura, and the rest of them were rigid with fear for their poor ears. Temari managed to change it, and they were all relieved.

They had come out of listening to weird-ass country, and without brain damage, as well! It's a bloody miracle!!!

"Here." Karin tossed Sakura's iPod to Temari, and she plugged it in. Temari spun the dial, and flicked through Sakura's music, until she found a song they all could live with.

+44's Make You Smile blared through the speakers, and the girls sighed in satisfaction, in unison. +44 was wonderful.

The last time I saw you, you turned away
I couldn't see you with the Sun shining in my eyes
I said "Hello" but you kept on walking
I'm going deaf from the sound of the freeway

The Last time I saw you, you turned away
I couldn't hear you with your voice ringing in my ears
Do you remember where we used to sleep at night?
I couldn't feel you, your always so far away

Sakura started humming the lyrics, and the girls hummed along with her. Soon, the whole car was filled the soothing hum of life.

The first time I saw you, you turned away
I couldn't see you with the smoke getting in my eyes
I said "Hello" but you kept on walking
I'm going deaf from the sound of the DJ

The first time I saw you, you turned away
I couldn't hear with the noise ringing in my ears
Do you remember where we used to sleep at night?
I couldn't feel you, your always so far away

I don't, don't wanna take you home
Please don't, don't make me sleep alone
If I could, I'd only want to make you smile
If you would stay with me a while

The next time I see you, you'll turn away
I'll say "Hello" but you'll keep on walking
The next time you see me, i'll turn away
Do you remember where we used to sleep at night,
I couldn't feel you, your always too far away.

Sakura could feel her eyelids drooping, and most of her family was curled up comfortably on different parts of Sakura way-too-big-to-be-normal bed.

They slept.

I don't, don't wanna take you home
Please don't, don't make me sleep alone
If I could, I'd only want to make you smile
If you would stay with me a while

…---…

"Wake up, bitches, we're half an hour late!!!!" Tenten's never-failing inner clock woke them all the next morning. They looked at each other, and shrugged. If they were already late, they might as well make the best of it.

Tenten was rushing about, trying to salvage the lateness, but the rest of them were all kind of going slow, just to spite her.

"Tenny, chill. We're already late, and I know you hate it, but we've got homeroom first. That means Kurenai, and she could care less whether we're there or not. She's always high, remember? So slow down a bit, and make yourself pretty. Your hair is all over the place."

This was true. Her hair was in two buns, as usual, but one seemed to contain three-quarters of her hair, and the other, less the a quarter. The rest was falling all over her face.

All that meant was that her head looked lopsided. Temari burst out laughing when she saw the bun-haired girl, and Tenten glared at her.

"Hinata, fix it!!!" Tenten wailed.

So Hinata fixed Tenten's hair. When it was once again equal, Tenten rushed back into Sakura's room, to make sure everyone was up.

Tenten nearly screamed when she saw that Sakura had yet to get out of bed. She grabbed the still half-asleep Sakura, pulled her out of bed, and shoved her into the bathroom, leaving with a threat of "If you are not out and clean when I get back, bad things will befall you, understand?!" and then she rushed off again.

Sakura stared at the shower, amused. Tenten was so funny when she was late. Actually, maybe 'funny' wasn't the right word. Sakura though 'rabid' might work better, considering the circumstances.

After her five-second shower, Sakura plodded back into her room, and stared at her floor, looking for her favorite Billy Talent tee, her bright purple skinny's, and her knee-high combat boots. Fuck tradition, she felt like being a freak today. Her hair was still wet, damnit!

Ten minutes later, Anko was driving them (including Sakura and Sakura's wet hair) to school. She had slept in, as well, so she wasn't berating them for oversleeping. Hey, it happens to the best of us, right?

"Homeroom. Tenten, I hate you. We could have had the entire day off, but no-o-o-o-o, you have to be a good girl. Go die in a corner."

Tenten smirked. "You just don't wanna see the fanboys. 'Specially after last night's performance. Methinks they got even more rabid."

Sakura smirked right back. "Rabid. I used that word to describe your hatred of being late this morning. Co-inki-dink? Methinks no."

"Stop copying me, you annoying person."

"Thanks so much for that statement. Temari, you first."

"Why always me?!"

"Haven't we been through this? You scare people into staying quiet."

"I don't think that's a compliment."

"Doesn't matter either way. Get going."

"Bitch. I hate you. But then, apparently, we all hate each other. How are we friends, again?" Temari took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.

Before she had done this, the room had been noise. It had been noisy enough that, even through a sound-proof door, they had been able to hear it. As soon as Temari pushed the door open, the room had gone dead silent, and it seemed like the students had stopped breathing.

And then came the BOOM.

"BOOM!" yelled Ino, and scaring the living shit out of everyone in the room. Ino and Tenten and Hinata and Karin were on the ground laughing. Sakura and Temari were rigid, both having just had their ears blown out. Damn, that hurt…

Kurenai just looked at them, slightly confused, and still utterly high as a kite. "Go to your seats girls… ummm… at the back? I think…?"

"Yeah, sure Ms. Kurenai. At the back." Sakura looked at the indicated seats. They were the same as yesterday but, well, the bastards were there.

So the girls went and sat in the back of the class. Right next to said jerks, all of whom were smirking like there was no tomorrow (that wasn't entirely accurate, Hinata thought. One of them, the one named Naruto, if she remembered correctly, with blonde hair and shockingly blue eyes, was smiling sunnily. She felt herself blushing).

"He-llo there." Dark hair, pale skin, bottomless eyes, and a baritone voice (it was one of those over-the-top, unimaginably perfect, shouldn't-exist-in-real-life ones, too. Damn him).

Sakura turned, and looked at her girls. "Girlies, do you hear anything?"

Temari's slow smile caught one of the boy's eyes. "All I hear is the mouse sitting in the corner, chewing on a piece of cheese. What about you, Tenny?"

"I dunno what you're talking about, Tema. I don't hear anything at all."

And so it went, for the remainder of the class. The boys trying to talk to each individual girl, each individual girl completely ignoring said boy's existence. By the end of the period, Sakura had had enough.

"Ladies, I think my education quota for the day has been just about filled. What about you guys? Also, I think we've been neglecting our boards. Mine's been looking a bit lonesome."

Karin took off her glasses, and rubbed her eyes. She had spent the entire class asleep. "I haven't really had 'schooling', but I'm all for getting out of here."

"My brain feels like it's gonna explode."

"Ino, your brain always feels like it's gonna explode. It comes with the 'blonde' territory. Get over it."

Ino growled, and led the way out of the classroom, ten minutes early. "I want to go see that new skate park, the one just off Center Street."

"Hey, has anyone else ever wondered why they call it 'center'? I mean, it's no where near the center of the city."

"…Hinata, you think about the weirdest things."

Hinata glared at her. "I do not! So I happen to think, Ino. I know it's a foreign concept, but, please! It's not my fault your brains are fried from all that bleach!"

"Hey, why is everyone picking on my intelligence today?! I'm totally not appreciating it here!!! And my hair is NATURAL DAMNIT!!! How many time have I explained that?!"

"Aww, don't worry hun, we love you just the way you are, fried brains and all." Sakura crooned at her, as the six of them dashed down the halls.

They had managed to snatch lockers together, and Karin had switched lockers, so now she was sharing with Ino. It also turned out that while Karin was not into having friends, she was impeccably good at knowing about good, secluded boarding places.

"The best place is at school, after hours. Where else is a better place, honestly? As much as we may hate it, no one around here is bound to bother us."

"Chick has a point."

"But what about right now?!"

"Easy. Community parking lot. No one ever goes there, and since it's hidden behind trees, the teachers can't see you from there. That's how I used to speed a good three-quarters of my day, during the fall and the spring, and the early summer. And now I'm stuck with you guys. How did that happen?!"

"Oh, come on babe, admit you love us."

"Sad, but true. Now come on, I am in no mood to get caught skipping."

"Oh, like they care."

But they hurried anyways.

They didn't realize they were being followed.

…---…

"They're leaving."

"Should we follow them?"

"Are you seriously asking me that question?"

"It was a rhetorical question!"

"Shut up, dobe. You don't even know what 'rhetorical' means."

"Fuck you."

The boys followed them at a safe distance, careful to avoid detection. Getting out of the school was easy. Not getting caught by suspicious teenage girls… now that was an entirely different story.