A/N: Hope you enjoy! And I promise it'll get better!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Nartuo series…unfortunately :..(

Italics like this mean its thoughts in a characters head

A New Life

ShikaIno: 3

InoChou:

InoItachi:

InoKiba: 6

InoSai: 2

:) ShikaTema: 6

Ch. 10 Tension

Hinata stared sadly at the clock; she was worried about Sakura. Sasuke sent a text saying he'd take care of her and that she needed to take notes for them but still…She jotted down a few things the teacher said; she hated the elders even more for doing that to her friend. The elders always acted so respectively to her because of her clan name but she knew they were vile people only set out for themselves. She gave a small sigh, everyone else at the lunch table was concerned too; they didn't like being uninformed.

Naruto groaned staring out the window; he wanted to knock those elders to hell, out, and back again. Taking away his ramen was a big enough crime, which he was now in trouble for, but harming his friend for no good reason was unforgivable. He glanced down at the two extra briefcases belonging to his friends lying under his desk; it wasn't like Sasuke to skip school either and he could tell Sakura was the kind of person to never miss a class. Naruto narrowed his eyes noticing the pink flower key chain hanging from her briefcase; it reminded him of her hair. His mouth curled downward, the same hair the dumb elder got mad at. He growled under his breath; he really wanted to kill those elders.

_at the Uchiha residence_

Sakura widened her eyes in alarm as Sasori was abruptly pushed away from her and he stumbled backward. She turned in bewilderment along with Itachi to see Sasuke's scowling face. "Back off!" Itachi blinked a few times and gave an amused smirk. And he hasn't even realized it yet. Sakura stared eyes wide at Sasuke's angry expression with confusion running through her head, "Sasuke…kun?"

Sasuke breathed heavily as Sasori tried to gain his balance. His sudden temper began to fade as he looked at all the expressions being stared at him with. Realization finally began to come over Sasuke at what he just did. He took a step back, he had no idea what came over him; before he knew it he slammed Sasori away with an uncontrollable anger overpowering his mind. Sasuke fumbled for an explanation as he stared at Sakura's beyond confused face. He clenched his jaw unable to think of something as there was a dead silence in the room. Sakura opened her mouth to speak but Sasuke ran off before she had the chance, "Sasuke-kun!"

Her shoulders dropped as he ran to off to somewhere in the large house. Her expression furrowed as her eyes swirled with confusion and sadness; she didn't know what to think. Sasori brushed off his clothes and gave a scowl towards the direction Sasuke ran off, "What the hell is his problem?" Itachi patted his hand on Sasori's shoulder, "Please forgive my brother, he's…trying to sort out his thoughts." Itachi noticed as Sakura turned lightly to him with a dim gaze unsure of what to do. Itachi gave a light encouraging smile at her, "Sakura may I show you something?"

Sakura's hesitated trying to shuffle through her confused mind and gave a light nod. Itachi patted Sasori's back and began walking towards Sakura, "Sasori I'll be back in a bit; you know where everything is." Sasori gave a small pout as Itachi silently led Sakura away. Sasori watched them till they were out of sight and let out a small groan before heading towards the basketball court. His arms were crossed as he walked further through the house; he was tempted to look for Sasuke and ask him what the temper was all about but knew Itachi would kill him if he did so. Sasori gave a light sigh as he walked onto the court and picked up a ball. I was just flirting with her…It's not like she's his girlfriend

Sakura lightly glanced back and forth trying to figure out where Itachi was leading her; honestly, she just wanted to go home now. She still had a headache, she still didn't know why Sasuke wouldn't look at her, and now her mind was tossing and turning over Sasuke's reaction to Sasori hitting on her. Sasuke hadn't shown much of a sign of interest in her and he just didn't seem like the person that cared about love so she didn't know what to think. Her eyes narrowed; she didn't know how to face him now. Itachi looked down at Sakura's face with a light smile; he knew she was troubled now but he believed it would all work out in the end. Believing in that, he knew it wasn't his place to say what Sasuke would soon discover he felt.

Sakura looked up as she and Itachi faced a glass door; she tried focusing on the blurry green. Itachi's smile became brighter as he slowly opened the door, "I thought you might take some interest in this." Sakura's jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. She slowly walked forward in awe; it was the largest and most beautiful greenhouse she had ever seen. Itachi slowly followed behind her amused by her reaction, "It's something my mother is quite proud of." Sakura gave a light nod twirling her head around at flowers of every color you could imagine and a small built in stream curving next to a stone bench. She slowly walked to the bench and placed her hand on the blooming tree hovering over it, "It's a cherry blossom tree…"

Itachi smiled looking at the buds beginning to flourish, "My mother always loved it. She and Sasuke used to spend all their time here when she was home." Sakura turned lightly to him, "Why is he acting so strange?" There was a tense silence as Itachi glanced the other way, "At the moment he doesn't know himself and it's driving him crazy…but if you act as always he will soon understand and everything will be worked out."

"Understand what?" Itachi finally looked back at Sakura's hurt and confused face. He gave a small sigh, "That isn't really for me to say…but it shouldn't be long for him to figure it out." Sakura's expression dulled a bit but she gave a light nod.

_a few hours later_

Sakura tapped her pencil on the last page of her homework staring at the moon through her window. Itachi took her home after seeing the garden and her father didn't come home till late so he was unaware of the situation from school. Hinata had emailed her notes and homework. She emailed Hinata she was fine but the truth was she was still conflicted; she didn't know how to act near Sasuke tomorrow. Itachi told her to act the same as usual but she didn't know if she could. She sighed laying her head down on her homework, tomorrow was going to be a long day.

_the next morning_

Sasuke irritatingly rolled over to the sound of his alarm clock; he hardly slept. He skipped dinner and avoided everyone for the rest of the day yesterday and he still didn't know what was with him. He slowly got up with a light groan and turned his alarm off. He gave a dull look around his room and headed for his bathroom. He eagerly got in the shower letting the hot water hit his tense body as he rested his forehead on the cool tile; he didn't know what to do. Sakura probably wouldn't speak to him without wanting an explanation first and he didn't have a clue of what to say.

He sighed as he got out of the shower, drying himself off, and putting on his uniform. He looked around as he walked down the stairs; Itachi went back to college. He sighed throwing some toast in the microwave; every minute he got closer to see her he dreaded his actions yesterday even more. He knew he was going to be in a bad mood all day. He scowled as he bit into his toast; today was going to be a very, very bad day.

_at school_

Sakura fidgeted at her desk as her two female friends went on about how much they hated the elders. Sakura's heart was pounding; her nerves were going wild waiting for Sasuke to walk in. She hardly slept unable to relax from all the confusion and unsure of how to act towards Sasuke. She jumped as her briefcase was placed on her desk. She looked up to see Naruto's worried smile. "You okay?" Sakura gave an uneasy smile at his honest blue eyes, "Yeah, thanks for grabbing my stuff." Naruto quickly gave her a tight hug happy she was alright and gave a cheesy grin, "No problem, and don't worry, I'll beat the crap out of those elders next time I see them.

Sakura gave a light laugh; his positive aura made her relax a bit. She watched as Naruto looked over at her two friends and gave an awkward blush at Hinata who was doing the same. "Oh, uh…thanks for tutoring me yesterday." Sakura cocked an eyebrow as Hinata gave a light nod looking like she was going to faint. She recalled they were going to study together yesterday. What exactly happened?

Sakura froze as Sasuke walked into the classroom. She lowered her gaze immediately unsure of what to do. "Hey Teme!" Sasuke nodded in response sneaking a small glance at Sakura. He frowned seeing her avoided gaze. Yep, today was going to be absolutely wonderful. The bell rang but the friends continued to talk for a few minutes knowing Kakashi would be late again. Sakura finally gave a light glance in the corner of her eye at Sasuke as Kakashi walked in the room and everyone took their seats. Her eyebrows furrowed wondering what she should do. "If you act as always he will soon understand and everything will be worked out."

Sakura frowned recalling Itachi's advice. Would that really work? She gave a small sigh and began to watch Kakashi lecture; even if it did she would have to wait till the class was over to find out. Sai curiously watched Sakura and Sasuke noticing the tense atmosphere. Sai saw what happened yesterday and despite his bad past with Sakura he wasn't too happy about what the elders were doing to her. He was even more displeased to see Sasuke leave with Sakura and then they never came back. He tapped his pencil frowning at the memory; he had yet to reveal his real reason of coming to Kohonagakure but he sure as hell wasn't going to let Sasuke ruin his plan.

Hinata sighed at the slow clock; class was only half over. She glanced to the side and hid her red face after seeing Naruto. She felt like her heart was going to pop out of her chest

_flashback_

Hinata set down some textbooks and gave a light giggle at his horrified face. They went to his apartment since Neji would beat the living daylight out of him if he saw them together. "W-were just going to study a little of each." Naruto groaned despite her encouragement, "I hate learning." Hinata gave a light smile and sat beside him at the kitchen table; she opened up a history book knowing it was his best grade, "We'll start with the easy stuff first." It took a lot of time through Naruto's lack of motivation but Hinata managed to teach him a little.

Naruto's eyes widened staring down at the page, "I…I got it…" Hinata's face brightened as a grinned formed on his face. He turned to her with his biggest smile giving her his tightest hug, "Hinata-chan you're amazing! The way you explain it is so much easier!" Hinata's face burned as he swayed back and forth holding her extremely close. She stuttered as her face matched Sakura's hair, "N-N-Naru-" She was cut off as Naruto swayed too hard and she screamed as they fell out of their seats. Hinata winced lightly as her back and head slammed to the ground. She hazily opened her lavender eyes feeling a heavy weight on her.

Her eyes widened realizing Naruto had fallen on top of her. Her face turned a million different shades of red as he shifted on top of her. Naruto groaned at the fall mumbling as he tried to push himself up. He blinked a few times wondering why his hand was against something soft. He looked up causing his eyes to bulge realizing he was squeezing Hinata's chest. There was a tense silence as Naruto watched Hinata turn the darkest shade of red…then, she screamed.

She instinctively pushed him off as hard as she could as he slammed Naruto into the back of a chair. Naruto rubbed the back of his head trying to fight off his own burning face, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Hinata swayed back and forth as she became dizzy. Naruto-kun grabbed my chest…Naruto-kun grabbed my chest…Naruto-kun gra- And with Hinata's frantic mind; she fainted. Naruto rose in alarm as Hinata toppled to the floor with her face still bright red, "H-Hinata-chan!" He kneeled in front of her grabbing her arms and shaking her nervously, "Hey! Hinata-chan!" The color drained from his face. Neji is going to kill me!

He softly laid her down and ran around the room in panic. He looked back at Hinata and pulled out his phone. He quickly dialed a number and prayed to god for an answer. "What'd you do?" Naruto gave a nervous laugh at Tsunade's accusing voice, "Heh…N-nothing! R-remember how you told me only to call in an emergency?" Tsunade's voice became lightly nervous, "Yes…" Naruto roughly rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, uh, you see…H-Hinata-chan and I were just studying and uh stuff happened and she fainted."

He could hear Tsunade's voice fall hard, "What stuff?" Naruto cringed, maybe he shouldn't have called her, "Well we fell to the floor and I sorta fell on top of her, ON accident! And I was trying to get up and…I, uh…" He traced off into silence giving Tsunade all the time she needed to play out the scene in her. "You idiot! You're just like your perverted guardian!" Naruto cringed as she groaned over the phone. "Just lay her on the couch; she'll be fine! You just freaked her out." Naruto nodded, thanked her, hung up the phone, and did so.

He nervously glanced at her resting on the couch. Now what? He pulled over a kitchen chair and sat backwards on the chair watching her. His face brightened as she shifted and murmured, "H-Hey Hinata-chan!" She opened her lavender eyes and stared at him for a moment wondering why she was on the couch. Her face turned red as it hit her all over again. She screamed pulling the blanket on top of her closer to her body. Naruto stood in alarm as his cheeks flamed as well, "I-I'm sorry! Please stop screaming, I didn't mean to!"

Hinata stared nervously at him as her face felt like it was on fire. She watched his honest eyes and glanced down covering her eyes with her bangs, "I-It…it's okay…it was an accident." Naruto smiled at her embarrassed whisper, "Really! Thank you! I promise it won't happen again!" He glanced around wondering what to do, "Oh you must be thirsty!" He ran for a glass of water besides Hinata's kind protests. He brought back a large glass walking slowly with it. Hinata gave a light smile letting the blanket sit on her lap as she reached for the glass. Naruto however handed it out further to her colliding their hands together and making half the glass splash on Hinata.

Naruto froze paralyzed looking at Hinata's also frozen face. He was unable to avoid himself from looking down as he took notice that the water had soaked her white school blouse. His face slowly became red as he stared at and extremely viewable cleavage and a purple lacy bra. This time blood dripped from Naruto's nose and he fainted. Hinata screamed as her face took on another deep shade of red and she watched Naruto fall to the ground. She trembled in confusion trying to cover her chest and shake Naruto awake, "N-Naruto-kun!" Her hands shook as she looked down at her chest. She quickly pulled the blanket around herself and continued shaking Naruto, "Naruto-kun!"

_end of flashback_

Hinata's buried her face in her hands trying to forget yesterday. She eventually woke him up but everything was extremely awkward and she soon left after receiving an oversized orange sweater for her to wear home. Her face flamed in her hands knowing she couldn't look at Naruto anymore without her face burning red and/or fainting. She groaned lightly to herself. What am I going to do?

Ino looked back and forth at Hinata's burning face, Naruto groaning to himself, Sakura rubbing her temples, and Sasuke scowling at the board with his arms crossed. She gave a deep frown. What the heck did I miss yesterday! She groaned to herself feeling totally left out; she heard about the elders' situation but she was clueless why everyone was acting so odd. She crossed her arms and gave a defiant "humph" angry at the situation. She glared at the clock; seven minutes till the next class.

Sakura jumped as the bell rang and Kakashi left the room. She froze staring at her desk as the classroom began to chatter but her and Sasuke sat perfectly still with a tense silence between them. She slowly tilted her head a fraction of an inch and glanced at him. Sasuke tensed as he saw her part her lips prepared to speak in the corner of his eye. He grinded his teeth as she couldn't find anything to say. Sakura shifted in her seat. What do I say? "Um…" Sasuke shifted his gaze towards her voice. "Thank you for giving me a ride yesterday." Sasuke cocked an eyebrow confused as he turned slightly more towards her.

She gave an awkward smile trying to find something else to continue on, "It helped me out a lot…You always seem to save me from trouble." Sasuke's eyes widened a bit in surprise; this is not how he was expecting her to act, "Yeah…" Sakura's face brightened a bit at him speaking, "Tomorrow's Friday so maybe we could work on our project together." Sasuke's mind twisted in confusion as he stared at her smiling face. He gave a slow nod as that strange feeling tightened his chest and his expression loosened a bit. He continued to watch her as she turned back to Ino's whining. He leaned back in his seat feeling some of the pressure wash away. Maybe after Friday I can figure out what the hell is wrong with me.

The next class soon started and the pinkette and Sasuke started to return to their normal behavior. It was soon lunch where everyone but Naruto and Hinata carried on as usual despite the lack of ramen. Afterwards there next class quickly passed by and everyone filed into the locker room for gym.

Ino pulled her shirt down and stared hard at Hinata who was pulling her hair up, "What exactly is going on with you and Naruto!" Hinata squeaked nervously at the question and cast her burning face downwards. She fidgeted with her fingers, "W-What are you talking about?" Sakura watched, tying her hair up, as Ino ranted about her strange behavior. Hinata cowered back in nervous fear, she really didn't want to talk about it noticing other girls in the locker room listening in, "C-Can't we talk about it later?" Ino frowned and put her hands on her hips, "No! I wanna know!"

Sakura sighed shutting her gym locker, "Ino, give her a break or she'll faint." Ino quickly turned around and pointed her finger at Sakura, "What about you, huh! What's with you and Sasuke being all awkward!" Sakura's eyes widened as the entire female population of the locker room stopped what they were doing and silently stared. Sakura gulped at some of the intense glares at the mention of Sasuke, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. Nothing is going on between us." She added that last part for all the girls staring. Ino groaned flinging her hands in the air, "Fine, fine, fine! Don't tell me, but I'll find out eventually!"

Sakura frowned as Ino stormed out to the gym and all the girls were still watching her. She sighed glaring at them till they dispersed, "Come on Hinata, let's get away from all the tension." Sakura's ears perked as she heard yelling. She picked her pace up a bit till she got in the gym; she cocked and eyebrow watching a crowd of students cheering in front of the exit to the track. She nervously walked towards it having a bad feeling. Her eyes widened hearing Naruto's voice above everyone else's. "Come on Teme! Take him down!"

Sakura ran at the shout with Hinata behind her as she pushed through all the students to make her way outside. Her face froze as she saw Sai's and Sasuke's fists collide into each other's cheek. They both stumbled a few steps back and glared into each other's coal black eyes. Sai wiped a line of blood from his jaw, "Give up." Sasuke glared back, "Not gonna happen." Hinata pulled Sakura towards Naruto who was encouraging Sasuke at the sideline, "Naruto-kun what happened?"

Naruto looked at the girls forgetting the incident with Hinata because of all the commotion, "I don't know, the stupid asshole suddenly came up to Sasuke when we got into the gym and punched him in the face claiming you were his." Sakura's eyes widened, "What…?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders as they watched Sasuke collide his fist into Sai's gut, "He said you belonged to him and Sasuke punched back and they've been going at it every since."

Sakura stared eyes wide as the two dark-haired boys' battled it out gaining hits on each other one after the other. She clenched her jaw gripping her hands together. They're fighting about me? She took a sharp breath as Sasuke was knocked to the ground but quickly got up and tackled Sai to the ground. Then this is my fault… She frowned watching them repeatedly injure each other; it's like they were trying to kill each other, "Stop it…" Hinata turned at Sakura's light murmur. Sakura grinded her teeth together taking a step forward, "STOP IT!"

She ran at them as they barely heard her voice over all the screaming. The two boys growled angrily at each other aiming another punch. Both their eyes widened as Sakura jumped between them with her face forward to Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes quickly widened at her tortured expression and froze his fist inches away from her throat. He quickly lowered his fist but widened his eyes as Sai didn't stop in time plummeting his fist into her back. Sakura winced giving a small sound of pain as she was rocketed into Sasuke's arms and Sasuke fell back holding her in one arm and using the other to stay sitting up when he landed.

Sai stood frozen watching Sakura tremble lightly from pain in Sasuke's arms as all her friends gathered around her and Sasuke. What did I do? Sasuke looked at her nervously in horror ignoring all the pain from his body as she rested her forehead in the nape of his neck with staggered breaths. Naruto leaned down beside them, "Sakura-chan, are you okay!" She took a slow breath and shifted her face towards him letting all her weight rest against Sasuke, "Yeah…I'm fine." Everyone narrowed their eyes knowing she was lying.

The class watched in suspense as there was a tense silence and Naruto quickly stood. He stood there for a moment and shot a deadly glare at Sai and ran straight for him. Sai was so wrapped up in shock at what he did he didn't notice Naruto till the blonde was two feet from him. Sai blinked right before Naruto hurled his fist into Sai's jaw. The rest of the class gasped as Sai was sent tumbling backwards through the dirt. "Touch my friends again and I swear I'll kill you!"

Sakura watched with dull eyes as she rested in Sasuke's arms. She watched as Sai struggled to sit up feeling a slight amount of sadness but then rested her cheek against Sasuke's chest. No…I'm done with you. Sasuke looked down at Sakura's dull expression and frowned. She slowly cradled her into his arms and stood as everyone watched him. He could tell something was wrong by Sakura's lack of complaints and his eyes dulled a bit. He looked towards his friends, "I'll take her to the nurse." Everyone nodded watching him walk way and Gai happily jog past them in a green track suit.

Gai froze for a moment turned back watching him walk away with Sakura in his arms. He then gave a clueless look around at his students and Sai sitting beaten on the dirt, "What happened to you kids?" Ino scowled and stood before him, "You call yourself a teacher! What kind of teacher leaves his class alone for the first fifteen minutes? Sure, Kakashi-sensei is late but at least he's not leaving our class alone where nobody is nearby to hear what's going on!" Everyone outside watched stunned at Gai's shocked face and Ino's scowl before she turned and left back into the school.

Sai watched curiously as the blonde's hair floated behind her as walked away in rage. He blinked impressed at her actions and turned to face a large group of classmates watching him with death in there eyes. I really screwed myself over this time…

_authors notes_

Yes, an update two days in a row. I'm going out of town tomorrow so I wanted to finish before then and I kind of left a cliffhanger. I hope you liked the chapter and thought the NaruHina flashback was amusing. There should be a good dose of SasuSaku in the next chapter. So please tell me what you think! It helps me write faster :)