Sakura has dreamed to leave this dysfunctional part of the city ever since she got there. However, leaving would mean leaving the boy from the rooftop, Sasuke. This last summer is unlike the rest since it takes an unexpected turn. Parties, gangs, betrayal, and spice. To live as a poor girl on the South Side was never what she had planned, and neither was meeting him.

Warning: Mature Content!!

01.

Sakura always loved June nights. Maybe it was the way the humidity bathed her body with warmth, or maybe it was the wispy breeze of air that would occasionally blow her loose hair. Or maybe it was because it was June when she first met him.

She did what she was doing now, scaling up a rusty ladder to the top of an old apartment building. This particular building was known as an escape to get drunk or high. It was behind many other buildings that held rejects like them, all surrounded by alleyways that crawled with secrets and darkness. Night overlooked their city, the pale moonlight danced on her body. She engaged in it, shifting her weight to her right hand and foot to hang halfway off the ladder, her eyes soaring the city lights. She always liked to imagine the lights being like stars to a new life, a better life. That night she had been inexperienced with this type of life.

Unfamiliar to this world.

Sakura continued to climb up the ladder, finally making her way to the top. Three years ago, she moved to this part of the city and that was when her new life began. South side, the opposite of Eden's Garden, hell on earth. This was where poverty was at its peak. She almost got her ass beat a few times when she first moved here. However, she soon met an annoying blonde boy later that week, a few hours later he showed her this very spot. And when she and the blond boy made it to the top, he was there waiting.

He stood with his hand in his pockets. His hair, pure like midnight, blowing in the wind. His eyes boring into hers, dark like charcoal. Skin pale and smooth, sharp jawline, and frowned lips. He was younger then, still as beautiful though. After his eyes took a quick sweep of her he moved his attention to the blond boy.

"You got the pack, loser?"

"You better believe I do!" The blond boy grinned hurrying his hand in his pocket and then pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He then threw him the pack. "This here is Sakura, by the way. New girl. I like her hair, don't you?" Sakura's hair was short back then but it was the same hue of cherry blossom pink as it was now. The beautiful boy scanned her briefly before lighting a cigarette and then saying, "Hm. Well, welcome new girl."

Sakura had been mesmerized by that boy the rest of the night. Well, maybe many nights after that. She soon learned the blond boy's name was Naruto and the other was Sasuke.

Sakura cleared her thoughts as she pulled herself onto the rim of the rooftop, before standing and brushing off her knees of small rocks. She looked up at Sasuke. He wore a black shirt that was a size too big, his pants were tight and ripped. Age had made his body more broad and angled, taller too. The city lights caught on his eyes, making them seem less cold. Sakura would always joke about how he looked like a model which she was sure he had heard far too much in his life. The way he stood right now, his lip in a slight smirk, eyes narrowed slightly; he was far better than any model she had ever seen.

"Hey, Sas-" She was caught off by an arm thrown around her shoulder. When she looked up she caught sight of a cheery Naruto. His blue eyes stared into hers, pupils dilated. She guessed he was probably drunk. "Naruto what happened to the talk we had about personal space? Your breath reeks of alcohol too." Her eyes took a quick weep around for a moment. "Where the hell is Sai?"

"Trying to get bail. Got in a fight again. You know he can never keep his damn thoughts to himself," Naruto rolled his eyes, tightening his arm around her while shifting his weight back and forth. "And we haven't seen you in weeks Sakura. I missed you!" Naruto exclaimed, voice high pitch and whiny. He was right, she hadn't been up here in weeks. Her Senior year had come to a close and Sakura had prioritized studying for her exams. Unlike Naruto, Sakura cared a great lot about school. Collage was going to be her only way to a better life. She was willing to skip a few weeks of partying and sneaking onto a rooftop if it meant a better future.

"I see you in school all the time," Sakura groaned, shaking off Naruto's arm. "Besides, I have been studying."

"Studying?"

"It is something losers like you don't do," Sasuke closed his eyes. "Sakura actually cares about school. She has the best chance out of the three of us to live in some Cul-de-sac or in a fancy North Side home."

Sakura took a step towards Sasuke, hands up in defense. "Come on! You do too, Sasuke," she paused. "I mean, you always do good on your test, and you are a better math student than I am. Mr. Hatake would always praise you for how quickly you could solve a problem."

"Hm." Sasuke shrugged, titling a bottle of beer to his lips. Sakura wanted to continue to tell him how much promises he had to a good life, but Naruto nudged Sasuke's arm giggling, "Sasuke is only good at solving how much money he needs for a pack of cigs, haha!"

"You can't even do that, Naruto," Sakura joked, walking to sit along the edge of the building. Sakura would often joke about Naruto since he had been like a brother to her, showing her how to survive around these parts. His parents died when he was an infant. He had jumped around foster care for a while, taken in by different people. Then, at age 12, he ended up in a long-term placement with an old sick man who used the foster money for drugs and alcohol. The old man, Hiruzen would give Naruto enough money to scrape up some type of food, that food mostly being ramen. Sakura always felt bad for Naruto, she never understood why no one wanted to adopt him. Sure he could be unbearable, but he was a good kid. However, although he grew up unwanted, Naruto never was sour at the world like Sakura was. He was to turn eighteen in matter of months, though he had come to terms living in these parts for the rest of his life.

Sasuke on the other hand, was a mystery. She never knew what happened in his past or what he wanted of his future. All she knew was he lived alone in a dark, quiet room of an apartment building not far from hers. He would also occasionally mess around with a gang called the Sound.

"Cut me some slack here, Sakura," Naruto grinned, sitting next to her. Then Sasuke moved to stand over them. All three of them looked out over the city, moon peeking over the tall buildings. "This is our summer, I can feel it. Parties, lots of them. Also, fun. Lots of that too. Believe it!"

"Alright, I think you have had a bit too much to drink you, dork," Sakura giggled, punching Naruto's arm playfully. He rambled how he was completely sober before stumbling over to the other side of the rooftop, looking for a bag Sasuke supposedly brought.

Sakura's eyes followed him until Sasuke broke the silence. "This is also the last summer before you go to some college. You did perfect on the exam, right?" Sasuke took a seat next to her, slouching with his arms in his lap.

Sakura turned to him. "Uh, well. You kind of make it sound depressing," she laughed nervously. "And yeah, the exam went fine as I expected," she paused. "You expected it as well, huh Sasuke?"

He shrugged. "Hm."

"I haven't tried for any collages yet," Sakura mumbled. Sasuke knew since they were kids she wanted to only go to one college. Hidden Leaf University was a collage of dreams, a perfect school that required you to be perfect. The moment Sakura came to these parts, she was searching for the key to escape. Salvation. Hidden Leaf University was that key in her eye. Sasuke never understood her desire for perfection, hell she didn't either.

"Why?"

She turned to look at him. He was so stunning. "Why haven't you." Their eyes locked at that, black boring into her green. Something in his eyes held an emotion she couldn't read. She wished she knew what was going on in his head. "My life is here. At least, till I do what I have to do."

"And what is-"

"Come on, Sakura," he cut her off, looking down at his beer bottle. "Naruto bought beer. You haven't had a drink in a while." He stood, walking off to Naruto. Sakura didn't move right away, she instead look out once again to the stars. She hoped Naruto was right, hoped that this was going to be their summer. Maybe this was the summer she could finally know who Sasuke truly is. Or maybe this was the summer she needed to let go of this life. To let go of him.

This was going to be their summer. It had to be.

Sakura tightened her ponytail before grabbing a pot of coffee and bringing it to the table with a middle-aged man with long unkept hair and a tatter Mötley Crüe shirt. As she poured the coffee into a white mug, the man eyed her body without shame. "Thanks, sweetheart," he winked.

Sakura bit her tongue, smiling and hurrying over to her redhead co-worker, Karin. "Men have no shame," Sakura groaned sprouting a small laugh from Karin.

They both worked at this old diner which was located a few blocks from her apartment being perfect to walk to since she didn't have a car. The place was ran down with cracks and rusted with age. Occasionally you would hear the horn of a train outside. Sakura was sure the place was as old as the city.

"There is no shame when seeing a nice ass," Karin winked, scurrying away to take a new costumers order. Karin was sort of like Sakura in the sense that she lived on the South Side, however, Karin had lived her whole life here. Karin had red scruffy hair and always wore shirts two sizes too small for her. Sakura and her would only really talk at work, but she would always see her at parties. Karin was also a member of the Sound so she was around Sasuke a lot. Sakura knew by the way Karin would always throw herself at Sasuke that she had a thing for him.

After a minute or so Karin walked back over to Sakura, tearing off a slip of paper and clipping it for the cooks. "You know if you slip down your shirt a bit - show some cleavage - I'm sure the tip would be nice," Karin winked then leaned against the counter as Sakura grabbed a tray of food. "He does look like he has some money."

Sakura rolled her eyes at Karin's sarcasm, walking over to the man to bring him his food. She tried to quickly get out of there but instead, he started talking, "Sakura," he looked at her name tag. "Unique name. It's very pretty, fits you."

"Um, thank you," Sakura smiled, tapping her fingers against the tray. She tried to make eye contact with Karin but failed. The man leaned closer. "You live around here? On the South Side?" She nodded. "No place for a doll like yourself."

"No, I suppose not." She bit her lip. "Anyways, I have to get back to work. Enjoy your food, sir."

Sakura hurried away, slapping Karin's arm as she started to laugh. "You are such a priss, Sakura. I mean when you have a creepy man flirting with you, you own it. Money is money, you know."

Sakura opened her mouth to disagree but Karin cut her off. "Hey, have you talked to Sasuke recently?" Karin's eyes glowed when she said his name, Sakura's whole body straightening.

Her eyebrows knitted with confusion. Why would she care if I talked to Sasuke, she thought. "Yeah, why?"

"Okay, well can you talk to him today?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I would but I have to deal with something with this moron Suigetsu," Karin rolled her eyes. "Anyways. I need you to tell him that we have a party going on near the green brick on Friday. We need expensive booze. Like not the cheap kind."

"Yeah, I think he knows what expensive means..."

"Good. I know Sasuke can get it. He is always amazing like that," Karin smiled to herself. Sakura blankly stared at her, something boiled in her stomach. Sasuke was not only popular for his looks around these parts but he was also popular for the way he could pick up expensive types of alcohol. Usually, when it came to parties, Naruto would be the one to handle the alcohol since he worked at a drug store, however, Sakura guessed important gang members were attending this party and Naruto's cheap beer bottles weren't going to cut it. "I'll tell him if you take care of the table with the creepy guy. I want the tip still for it though."

Karin rolled her eyes. "Deal."