Song of a Cherry Blossom
by Diana-san

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 10

The next day was a foggy day. Gray clouds had covered up what used to be the clear blue sky and signs of a storm approaching were quite clear. The weather certainly matched Sakura's mood that day because she was not happy.

It had taken her a whole day to finally find her way out of the large mansion the day before. It was not until late in the evening when Sakura finally reached her small apartment house. By then she was already starving to death since she hadn't had any food except for the large breakfast which had extended out to also be her lunch. Feeling to lazy to cook anything much less make anything that's edible anyway, Sakura boiled some water and had instant ramen for dinner. She went to bed feeling not the least bit full and tossed and turned in bed all night. So to imagine how she felt the next day when she rolled out of bed, the cherry blossom was not the feeling the least bit cheerful.

Sakura slowly trudged into her classroom where the usual morning buzz of gossip was going around with the girls and the guys who were tossing a football around to each other. Sakura stomped to her seat and dropped her bag to the floor before slumping down on her seat. She didn't even bother to see if Sasuke was sitting behind her so that she could strangle him. Sakura rested her head against her arm and closed her eyes as she tried to get back the few hours of sleep that she lost the night before.

"Sakuuuuraaaaa-chaaaan," a sing-song voice sang out.

Sakura buried her head even deeper between her arms when she heard Naruto's voice sang out. She grunted some sort of inaudible reply and hoped that would tell Naruto to leave her alone.

It didn't.

Naruto began prodding at Sakura to see if she would move. Sakura emitted out a low growl from her throat as Naruto continued to poke her. After hearing that, Naruto decided to back off. Sakura smiled as she continued to resume her sleeping.

"Alright, let's all turn our pages to 890."

Sakura groaned loudly. Of all the days for Kakashi-sensei to pick to actually teach something. Sakura buried her head even deeper as she tried to scream out a muffled scream.

She could feel a stick being poked at her. "C'mon Sakura. No time for sleeping," Kakashi-sensei said as he continued to nudge Sakura with the yardstick.

What is with people today and their constant poking? Sakura complained inside her head.

Sakura reluctantly raised her head up and set it resting against one arm. Feeling satisfied with at least being able to see Sakura's face, he moved on to his next target while ignoring the blatant glares from the pink-haired teenager.

Kakashi-sensei stood in front of Sasuke's desk and pounded the yardstick against his hand repeatedly as he tried to think of what to do with the Uchiha boy.

Sasuke had his eyes closed and his feet propped up on top of his desk. On his lap was his mp3 player and a set of earphones plugged in his ears. Kakashi-sensei stuck his yardstick out and gave a single hard poke to Sasuke's head. The ebony-haired boy opened his eyes in annoyance as he glared up at the person who did that to him. Kakashi-sensei smiled down at him. The silver-haired man extended his hand out and motioned for Sasuke to hand the mp3 player in. Sasuke sighed as he pulled out his earphones and dropped the mp3 player in his teacher's hands.

"You can have it back after class," Kakashi-sensei replied.

Sasuke yawned. "No need. I'll just buy another one."

The fan girls began squealing. "OH! CAN I HAVE IT?"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I WANT IT!"

"NO! IT'S MINE!"

Sakura gritted her teeth as the constant cries and squeals awoken her from her three minute sleep during the time Kakashi-sensei had moved on to bug Sasuke. Damn it Sasuke. You can even annoy me without even trying to.

She looked back at Sasuke who smiled smugly at Sakura. The cherry blossom gave him a frustrated glare before turning back around to face the front.

Kakashi-sensei had a book opened and began a long lecture on the importance of history. Sakura groaned. I am going to be so history before class ends.

Sakura stared at the clock and watched the thing that counted the seconds moved slowly as it completed one circle. The minute hand was one minute away from twelve and Sakura could swear she was going to die if the red second hand wouldn't move any faster. It seemed to have stalled ten seconds away from the twelve as if it was trying to annoy Sakura. Finally, it touched the twelve and the bell rang, signaling the end of class and the start of lunch. Sakura grabbed her things and rushed out of the class.

Sakura ran happily down the hallways of the school as she skipped into the cafeteria. She didn't had time to fix a lunch so she decided to get the school lunch. Sakura got in line and waited as the line moved up. The cherry blossom began rummaging through her school bag as she looked for her student ID so that she could present it up at the front of the line when she got there.

"Damn. Where is it?" Sakura muttered as she felt around the insides of the bag for any plastic card. "I know I had it here somewhere," Sakura grumbled.

"Um," a small and feeble voice called out.

Sakura turned around to the back of her and looked up from her bag. A pale girl with blueberry colored hair stood holding an ID card with Sakura's picture and name printed on it.

Sakura's face brightened up at the sight of her student ID. "Thank you!" Sakura said happily as she took the card from the girl's hand. "I would have died if I lost this," Sakura said.

The violet-haired girl smiled shyly. "I-it's n-nothing."

Sakura looked at the girl closely. "Hey, aren't you in my class?"

The shy girl nodded. "Uh-t-that's r-right."

Sakura smiled as she stuck her hand out. "I'm Haruno Sakura."

The violet-haired girl took the hand and shook it gently. "H-Hyuuga Hinata," she said softly.

"It's nice to meet you Hinata. You know, you have a slight resemblance to this guy I know."

Hinata smiled shyly. "Oh, do you perhaps mean Neji-san?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, that was the guy."

"H-he's my cousin," Hinata responded.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Wow, really?"

Hinata nodded. Sakura laughed. "What a small world after all," she remarked.

The line began to move up and Sakura grabbed a red tray. "So, do you want to sit together?"

Hinata gave a small smile. "I would l-l-love to. It would be such an honor to sit with someone like you Haruno-san."

Sakura laughed. "Please. Just call me Sakura. Haruno-san makes me sound so old."

Hinata nodded. "Okay. S-Sakura?"

"Yes?"

Hinata blushed. "Oh. I was just seeing how it sounds like."

Sakura smiled. "Then can I call you Hinata?"

Hinata nodded. "Y-yes!"

Sakura reached the front of the line and handed her student ID to the cashier at the front who glanced at it and then entered some keys in the cash register. An amount showed up on the screen in front of Sakura and Sakura pulled out some money from her wallet and handed it to the lady. The cashier lady handed the card and the change back to Sakura who took it with her free hand as she balanced the tray in the other hand. The petal-haired girl waited as Hinata paid for her lunch.

"So where should we sit?" Sakura asked as soon as Hinata was done paying. Sakura glanced around the school cafeteria for any free seats. She spotted an empty area in the center of the cafeteria and pointed with her free hand so that Hinata would know where it was. The violet-haired girl nodded as she followed Sakura who took the lead.

Sakura placed her tray down and plopped down on the chair in front of it. Hinata sat down in the chair beside Sakura and gently placed her tray down. Sakura yawned as she rubbed her eyes.

"Sakura-san? Are you okay?" Hinata asked with a worried expression.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I'm just a bit sleepy."

The pink-headed girl dropped her hand and smiled. "Anyway, let's eat."

She glanced at the plate of spaghetti in front of her and gave a disdained smile. "I don't care what people say about the food here. No matter how prestigious this school is, all schools are the same when it comes to school lunch."

Hinata laughed out loud and then covered her mouth in embarrassment as her pale face turned a shade of pink. Sakura laughed. "You know Hinata, you should laugh more. You will look prettier if you laugh often."

Hinata smiled softly. "Is it because you laugh so much that you are so pretty, Sakura-san?"

Sakura gave a chuckle. "Please, I'm just a small bud amidst a field of blooming roses in this school."

Hinata shook her head. "No that's not true because one day when the bud blooms, it will surely be the most beautiful and unique flower of them all."

Sakura looked at Hinata. "And what would that be?" Sakura challenged.

"A beautiful cherry blossom amidst a field of roses."

The cherry blossom girl smiled. "In time we'll see."

Hinata nodded and picked up her fork and began eating. Sakura thought over about what Hinata said as she twirled a forkful of spaghetti on her fork. Beautiful and unique? That is highly unlikely. Or is it?

"Hey! Did you guys hear about what happened Saturday night at Sasuke-kun's house?"

Sakura's thoughts were broken when she heard someone talking behind her about Sasuke and Saturday night. Oh my god! Don't tell me that this has already spread to the entire school?

Sakura turned around slowly to peek at whoever was talking. It was a bunch of girls that Sakura recognized as girls from her class. Among the group of girls was Sasuke's girlfriend, Ino, sitting in the middle with her back to Sakura.

Sakura turned around slowly and stiffly as she tried to not look out of place. She took a peek out of the corner of her eye as she listened in on the conversation going on behind her.

"What about Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked with a bored voice.

A brunette girl set her tray down and slid in the chair beside Ino. "Well, I was shopping on Sunday at the new mall that just opened over the weekend and overheard some ladies talking about how some girl spent the night at Sasuke-kun's house."

Ino scoffed. "Please Aoi, no girl has ever spent the night over at Sasuke-kun's house. Not even I yet. You must have just been listening to some gossip started by people with too much time on their hands."

Aoi shook her head. "I am positive about this. Those ladies weren't just anybody. They work at the Uchiha mansion as maids."

Ino raised her eyebrow. "Maids?"

The brunette girl nodded. "Yeah. They must work there. One of them was complaining about cleaning windows or something but anyway, the even bigger thing was that the girl goes to our school."

Ino took a sip of her drink and set it down. "Oh really now?"

"Who do you think it could be?" one of the girls asked.

"I bet it's one of those quiet girls who never speak in class. They are always the most sneakiest of them all. They pretend they are all innocent but deep down they are boyfriend stealers," Aoi remarked.

Murmurs of agreement were heard from each girl sitting in the small cluster around Ino. Aoi tossed her hair to one side. "I'm pretty sure I know who it is too."

Ino crossed her arms as she crossed one slender leg over the other. "And who do you think it is?"

The brunette gave a sly smile. "You know that Hyuuga girl? The one who sits in front of that Naruto? I always catch her looking behind her. She must be looking at Sasuke secretly when she thinks no else can see her."

Sakura glanced over at Hinata who was biting her lower lip and playing with the hem of her skirt. Sakura knew that as well as Hinata was trying to hide it, the violet-haired Hyuuga was in fact listening to the conversation going on behind the two of them.

"That Hyuuga chick acts all sweet and innocent that no one would ever think that she is such a slut deep down."

A single tear slid down Hinata's cheek and dropped on her lap. The girl was trying so hard not to cry and put up a brave front. Sakura frowned as she looked at the fork she was holding with anger. She couldn't stand seeing someone hurt because of gossip between some stereotypical girls. Especially someone she already considered a friend. Sakura threw her fork down on the tray and slid her chair out as she stood up. Hinata glanced up at the pink-headed girl in surprise and shock.

"S-Sakura-san?" Hinata whispered in confusion.

Sakura picked up the tray of spaghetti and walked over to the group of girls behind her. She gently tapped the brunette girl on the shoulder who's back was to Sakura. Aoi turned around and before she could even say anything, Sakura dumped her tray of spaghetti on the brunette's head.

Aoi shrieked and jumped up from her seat. She began screaming at the top of her lungs as she flailed her hands as if that would make the spaghetti go away. Sakura winced as Aoi's piercing screams echoed throughout the entire cafeteria.

Many people sitting in and out of the cafeteria began to stare as if they hadn't already. There would have been an eerie silence if it weren't for a certain brunette girl's loud screams. A crowd was already starting to form around the group with Sakura and Aoi facing off each other.

Aoi stopped her screams and gave a deep glare at Sakura as if her gaze could penetrate through the pink-headed girl and split her into tiny pieces. Aoi raised her finger and pointed accusingly at Sakura. "YOU!" she cried out.

Before Aoi could say or do anything, the crowd had started to form a small entryway as the principal of the school walked through.

The old man sighed as he placed his arms behind him. "What is going on around here?" he asked plaintively.

Aoi stamped her feet as she pointed at Sakura. "SHE dumped her disgusting lunch on me!"

Sakura smirked. "Well, I thought it suited your personality."

Aoi glared menacingly at Sakura and looked as if she was going to attack. Sakura glared back at Aoi and the tension between the two increased. As if on cue, they both started to lunge at each other's throats but were held back. Two guys grabbed hold of Sakura's arms and Aoi's friends held Aoi's arms tightly.

The principal sighed. Never in his thirty years of teaching has he ever seen such a thing happened at the highly prestigious school. He glanced at Sakura and noticed her unusual pink hair that stood out from the crowd of students. He gave a small chuckle as he walked over to her. He stood in front of Sakura and shielded her view of Aoi's face which she had loved to send to the next planet over. Sakura glanced up at the old man standing in front of her and her eyes widened. She had never met the principal of the school before but she knew that it was because of him that Sakura was able to attend the number one school in all of Konoha.

He gave a slight smile towards Sakura. "Miss Haruno-san is it?"

Sakura nodded slowly. He gave a slight nod as he beckoned for the two guys to release her. The two guys immediately dropped their grasp on Sakura's hold and Sakura almost toppled over. The roseate haired girl regained her composure and straightened herself out. She cleared her throat as she glanced down at her shoes and avoiding looking into the principal's eyes.

"Please come with me, Miss Haruno-san," he said as he turned away and began walking.

Sakura looked up from her shoes and glanced at the back of the old man. She slowly began to follow him as all eyes watched her.

"WAIT A MINUTE!"

All heads in the cafeteria turned to look at Aoi who was still heaving with anger at Sakura. The pink-headed girl sighed and crossed her arms and tapped her feet impatiently.

"What?" Sakura asked in a bored voice.

"I think you owe me an apology for your gorilla-like behavior!"

Sakura blinked her eyes. Gorilla-like?

The roseate haired girl glanced up at the principal. He cleared his throat. "I'm sure that Miss Haruno-san will prepare a public apology to you once we have this matter settled."

Aoi gave a harrumphed. "Well, she better."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well, she better," Sakura mimicked in a high pitched voice.

The principal closed his eyes as if in deep thought. "Let's go now Miss Haruno-san so we can discuss your punishment."

He glanced at the crowd of students surrounding the area. All the students began to scattered as if they saw nothing that happened during those fifteen minutes.

"Let's go," he said.

Sakura followed after him and they walked out of the cafeteria doors. Hinata clasped her hands together as she watched the cherry blossom walk away.

"Sakura-san," Hinata whispered. Thank you.