Chapter 11

"Sairana?" said Sakura. "Why are you here?"

"You seem distraught" said Sairana.

Sakura looks down at the ground. "I see."

Sairana looks at the red mark on Sakura's cheek that she keeps holding her hand over.

"Did Sasuke slap you or something?" asked Sairana.

Sakura quickly turns to Sairana. "Oh no no nothing like that." said Sakura nervously.

Sairana gets an annoyed expression. "I know when someone's lying Sakura. Naruto would never do something like that and Menma's been with me until about a minute ago."

Sakura lets out a huge sigh and looks down at the ground. "I made Sasuke mad."

"Not surprising when you force yourself on him the way you do."

"I don't force myself on him."

"Yes you do. You and Ino and Aylana have been competing for Sasuke's attention for as long as I can remember. You always try everything to get his attention even growing your hair out. Despite all that, he doesn't even look in your direction or give any of you a second look. A smart person would just take the hint and move on."

"That's not true. I understand Sasuke doesn't like me. That's why I will make him like me. I will woo him into seeing the real me then I'll have him all to myself."

Sairana looks at Sakura and shakes her head in disappointment. "Are you really that dense? Do you even realize what Sasuke is trying to tell you? You tried wooing him and got slapped for it."

"But I…"

"If you really want Sasuke, maybe you should consider changing yourself."

Sakura looks at Sairana in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Naruto"

Sakura got a disappointed look in her face. "You too? Why do you keep pestering me about Naruto. I don't want to be bothered by that annoying…"

"And that's your problem. You don't want to be bothered. You find him annoying. You make these accusations about Naruto but don't take the time to get to know him or even talk to him. Maybe if you start with changing how you act towards Naruto, you can actually earn Sasuke's respect." Sairana gets up. "Think about it." Sairana walks away leaving Sakura on the bench.

Sairana continues walking trying to find Menma when she feels a hand tap her on the shoulder. She turns around to see Aylana behind her.

"Finally found you" said Aylana. "Listen I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" said Sairana.

"Aren't you annoyed?"

"Annoyed?"

"Clearly the Hokage made a big mistake teaming us both up with Menma. I mean the demon of the academy teamed up with the two smartest girls in the class, Clearly He's going senile in his old age."

"I don't think it's a good idea to bad mouth the Hokage like that."

"Why not? I mean it's been twelve years since the fourth died and he still hasn't chosen a fifth? Why hasn't he done anything about that? He's had plenty of time to think about it. All the other nations have young kage. Why can't the leaf village?"

"I think you're forgetting the stone village has and old Tsuchikage."

"And the mist village has a young Mizukage. Did you know he was our age when he became Mizukage? I bet you they are really strong now."

Sairana place her hand on her face rubbing her eyes. "If you're done we should head back to the class room." Sairana starts walking away.

"By the way… what is your deal with Menma?"

Sairana stops and glances over at Aylana. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it's clear you're being held back by him. A problematic child with anger issues being friends with a genius Uchiha I mean the fact that you're an Uchiha means that you are born to be strong. Hell, you've had your sharingan since you entered the academy and just by that alone it's obvious that you're stronger than Sasuke and yet Sasuke has the best scores in the class. If you ask me you're the genius while Sasuke is just an overrated person that the other girls find appealing."

Sairana looks at Aylana in shock. "Wait, I thought you liked Sasuke?"

Aylana starts laughing real loud then suddenly goes quiet. "That's because I like to annoy the hell out of all the girls especially Ino and Sakura who's friendship was strained because they both like Sasuke. I swear it's the stupidest thing to end a friendship over a guy. In all honesty, I think all the girls give him too much credit. They only care about him because of how he looks. I on the other hand, don't have that same desire that the girls have. I prefer someone little more…." Aylana becomes silent as her eyes look over scanning Sairana.

"What, what's wrong"

"Nothing, just going to keep that little detail a secret for now. Can't have you learn all my weaknesses right?" Aylana walks past Sairana gently placing her hand on her shoulder as she goes. "See you back at the class room."

As Aylana leaves Sairana turns and watches her go. Aylana glances back smiling before turning back around and continuing her walk.

"That was weird" Sairana thinks to herself.

Back with Sakura, she's looking on deep in thought.

"Now I see" she thinks to herself. "Naruto must feel this way. If I'm going to be on the same team as him, I should be a little nicer. Next time I see him…." Her thoughts are interrupted when she sees Naruto walking over to her holding his stomach. "Naruto" she thinks to herself. She does her best to force a smile then gets up.

"Hey Naruto" says Sakura. "Why don't we go back to the class together" she gives a nervous laugh.

Naruto looks on dumfounded then immediately gets annoyed.

"I know you're trying to cheer me up Menma but this is pushing it. For you to go so far as to transform into Sakura just to make me feel better is annoying."

"Annoying?"

"Anyway you don't have to come I'll be fine going back to the classroom myself." Naruto walks by Sakura who's kind of dumbfounded by what just happened. "By the way, next time you may want to do a better job at being Sakura. That laugh and smile are so obviously forced." Naruto walks away and Sakura is left alone by the bench.

"Di-Did he just reject me?"