-High School AU-

Warnings: N/A

Rating: T


I know Ms. Senju paired us together just to torture me, Sasuke thought as he gave the teacher's desk the evil eye. His new lab partner would not stop talking, even while she leafed through the booklet they were given and grabbed a pencil to begin taking notes.

The pinkette had been relatively quiet throughout the entire year of Anatomy, answering questions when asked and keeping to herself and her notes. It was hard not to notice her, despite this - her soft-pink hair could always be seen right smack in the middle of the front row, a pop of color in a sea of brown and black and blond, either bowed while she scribbled or ramrod straight, paying rapt attention.

He never realized she could be so... chatty.

"-and so I'll be taking care of the colored map of the body," she continued, tapping the diagram in the book with her eraser. "I've got a foolproof method of transcribing it. You can highlight the most important things of the chapter from both your notes and mine..."

Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes with a quiet huff from his nose. It wasn't like he was jealous. Far from it, if he said so himself. It really wasn't like he was envious that she always got top marks and never failed a single test or gotten a homework assignment in late. He certainly wasn't jealous that she got peace and quiet every single day during lunch whereas he was crowded with the rest of the guys in their year, hearing them talk and laugh and carry on. He would never leave, and they knew so, because Naruto was there and Naruto was his best friend and his only source of peace in a chaotic turbulent room.

Really. He wasn't.

His family was wealthy enough to send his brother to college on a full ride, his father was police chief of the county precinct, his brother had the most academic achievements out of everyone in the school's history and was even studying criminal justice. He himself was not stupid, either; he consistently ranked in the top five of their grade, as well as top ten in the school.

He was smart.

Yet apparently not smart enough.

He couldn't count himself jealous of Shikamaru, who was his competition for top marks all through elementary school. Poor guy had enough on his plate, what with being a child genius and graduating hella early - with all the extracurriculars and AP courses and college prep, it was no wonder he allegedly spent his lunch periods napping in the campus library. Besides, it wasn't like he was disliked, either - despite graduating years ahead of himself and going to university to study - what was he studying again? Law? - he was apparently revered by his older classmates.

So that left his only competition: Haruno Sakura, just a plain shopkeeper's daughter, a regular civilian who seemed unfairly blessed with an amazing memory and good studying habits.

He blinked as she moved into his line of sight, her brow creased on confusion and a tinge of worry. Oh. She'd stopped talking.

"You alright, Sasuke?" Her voice, soft as ever, hit his ears merely a second before her hand - seriously, why were her hands so soft?! - cupped his forehead. "You don't feel warm..."

He jerked away, face burning with embarrassment and frustration, and he shook his head. "I'm fine," he snapped, pointing to the book. "Let's just... finish these notes and study already."

Why had Ms. Senju paired them together? It was no secret she wasn't exactly the fondest of him, but he thought even teachers had to be impartial when it came to students and their individual temperaments.

He also knew Sakura was her most favorite - it was obvious she saw the girl in a kinder light than most, and even her own teaching assistant was known to talk fondly of how much she liked the girl in the break room. She consistently called on her whenever she knew hardly anyone else had paid much attention to a certain part, or in the off chance that she could tell Sakura's mind was wandering. To his irritation, she never missed a question, never caught off-beat.

Why him? Why not someone like Ino, apparently one of her childhood friends, or someone like Shino, another quiet one who would better tolerate her?

He could just imagine her laughing it up with the other teachers, telling them about how she put him with one of the most talkative girls he'd ever met - and he'd been forced to spend whole afternoons with his brother's girlfriend Izumi before.

"Sasuke," her quiet murmur hit his ears again, and he grit his teeth. "Are you sure you don't need to see-"

"I said I'm fine," he enunciated slowly, turning his head to fix her with a hard stare. "Just- work on your part of the notes. I'm trying to think."

Bowing her head, she nodded - and he was left with a peaceful silence as she began carefully outlining the human body again.

He found himself staring her way just a moment longer - long enough to notice how her cropped pink hair fell about her shoulders in soft curls, how she momentarily paused to tuck a few stray strands behind her ear as another curtain of hair fell around it. How her face was set in concentration, brow furrowed and eyes laser-focused as her pencil carefully moved, how her tongue darted out for just a second at a particularly hard part of the anatomical structure.

She stopped for a second, and her face turned slightly to face him, this time in silent question.

Embarrassed at being caught staring, he shook his head and went back to his own paper. His book and hers were open in front of him, her small, neat writing catching his brain for a loop.

Stupid Ms. Senju. Stupid Sakura.

Stupid Anatomy.