Chapter 6 – Friends

"Wake up Sakura! Or you will be late for school!" Her father's voice bellowed from the kitchen.

Sakura groaned and turned around to stuff her face in her poíllow. She gave herself a minute before she stood up and slowly made her way to her closet. Opening it and grabbing some clothes, Sakura made her way to the bathroom.

She quickly dressed before reaching for her hairbrush. Looking into the mirror she saw not the shoulder-length hair but the short pink tresses from yesterday. Sakura hesitantly brushed her fingers through her hair to style it. She was surprised that it was that easy to do that. Wow! Short hair is really something else.

Smiling, she went into the kitchen where she found some cereal standing on the table. She sat down on her stool and quickly ate her food. The thought of meeting with her (friends? Maybe?) made her happy. She was excited to show them her new hairstyle.

But as Sakura thought about it she began to worry. Will they like it? Or will they think that it's not girly enough? She flinched as a hand ruffled her hair. Looking up at her father she saw him gently smiling at her.

"Don't worry about your hair, Saku-chan, I'm sure your friends will like it." His smile broadened at her apprehensive expression. "You look cute like this." Shyly, she smiled back.

While her father started cleaning up after breakfast Sakura went to her room to get her bag. Putting all of her notebooks inside she grabbed it and went downstairs again. She took fresh bento from the kitchen aisle and with a quick goodbye to her father, she went out of the house.

As she walked down the street she noticed a few neighbours staring at her. Self-consciously she ducked her head and tried to withdraw in herself, pulling in her shoulders. Are they staring at it because they do not like it? What if my friends don't like it? Are they even my friends anymore? I left them yesterday without a word.

Her good mood from the morning vanished, replaced by slowly growing unease that made her insides twist. Somehow going to class didn't seem all that fun anymore.

Sakura trudged anxiously to the academy. With trepidation, she approached the looming gates of the academy.

As she came closer she noticed a person waiting at the entrance. Sakura squinted her eyes trying to make out who it was. Her eyes widened in shock as she noticed who it was; It's Shikamaru! What is he doing here?

She subconsciously slowed down her walk. At that moment Shikamaru turned in her direction. She gulped. Straightening himself out of his slouch, he started walking towards her. She stopped moving and stood as if rooted to the ground.

"Eep!" She squeaked (it was a dignified cry, not a squeak, okay), as Shikamaru's hand landed on her shoulder. "Where were you yesterday?"

"Umm, that…" somehow every explanation Sakura thought of on the way to the academy slipped from her mind. "Well… I went to the bathroom…"

She lowered her gaze to the floor. "And, umm… This boy kind of grabbed me and ran with me to the Hokage mountain?" Looking up, she saw Shikamarus pinched expression.

"Was his name Naruto by any chance?" Despite feeling more nervous as the seconds passed by, she managed to whisper. "...Maybe…?"

A groan escaped Shikamaru. "That idiot." He looked her directly in the eyes. "Don't do this again, you troublesome girl. Chouji and I didn't know where you went. No one knew where you were, not even Iruka-sensei."

"So…", thinking about asking this question made Sakura kind of nauseous, "are we still friends?"

He looked at her as if she was stupid. "Of course we are", he snorted, "only because Naruto is dragging you into his pranks doesn't mean we won't be friends anymore. When I say we are friends I mean it. Just tell us next time before you run off."

A sigh escaped her at the relief she felt. That means I now have three friends! It even sounds as if they know each other! Maybe we can-

"What happened to your hair?" The question interrupted her train of thought. Embarrassment flooded her at the thought of it being too boyish. Ami always tells her how she isn't girly already.

Won't Shikamaru hate it as Ami would? But he is nice to me… So maybe he won't...?

"Do you not like it?", Sakura exclaimed in a timid voice.

"Don't care. But Ino always tells me that I should say something if a girl changes her style. So... It brings out your eyes…?" He awkwardly finished.

Her embarrassment and unease turned into mirth at his awkwardness.

"Wow Shikamaru, what an eloquent compliment!" She laughed. "But thanks for the praise!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now come on, class is starting soon." With that, he turned around and started walking towards the academy. Laughing a bit more she followed him inside.

Being in the academy felt great. When before she was always alone, she now had Shikamaru. And Chouji, too, of course. Friends.

Friends that don't drop her just because it is convenient and actually listen to her when she talks. Friends that accept her as she is and don't ridicule her appearance.

The only person missing right now was Naruto. The class has already started for a while but as she looked around she couldn't see him anywhere. Maybe he just isn't in my class but one of the other ones?

She decided to ask Shikamaru about him. Looking at him sleeping on his desk Sakura didn't know at first if he would even hear her but she decided to try her luck. She hoped he wouldn't be annoyed at her for waking him.

"Shikamaru…", Sakura began. "Hmm?" A grunt greeted her in response.

"Can I ask you a question?" He opened his eyes. After yawning and blinking a few times he yawned before finally asking "What is it?"

"Do you know where Naruto is?" He looked at her a bit puzzled for a second as if not knowing what to make of the question. Just as the silence started to become awkward he sighed and pulled himself up into a sitting position.

"He probably is out pranking someone. Or just skipping classes. At least until Iruka-sensei will find him."

"Is that so…?" She scrunched up her brows in deep thinking.

After debating it Sakura wondered why she was even surprised by that revelation. It isn't as if he didn't do the same thing yesterday.

Just as she remembered to thank him for the information she saw that he fell asleep again.

Well, I guess I will thank him at lunch.

She looked in front trying to listen to Iruka-sensei again.

As she was about to immerse herself in the lecture she heard voices talking in the hallway.

"I swear I didn' do it! It really wasn' me!"

"You can explain yourself to Iruka-san but it won't help you. I saw the evidence."

At that moment the door to the classroom slid open and Mizuki-sensei came into the classroom. Behind him was a boy she was all too familiar with.

Naruto.

So... It's been like four months... Any update is better than no update, right...?

If you want to know some of the reasons why I didn't update here they are:

Writers Block, lack of motivation and lack of time are the biggest by a wide margin.

Ok, now that you know of that, I want to thank all of you for your support! Thanks for reading, giving kudos and favouriting my story! Comments are always appreciated and I read them all even if I don't reply. Most of the time I just don't know what I should reply so I just leave it be. Still, they are very motivational!

So thanks again, for all of your support!

Jay