No new chapters until Thursday. We'll explain later. Have a swirly day!
Naruto Primer: Lil' Sakura
They Start with 'S'
I bet you thought that Sakura ALWAYS had a crush on Sasuke and that it started as far back as when Ino started liking Sasuke for the first time. I think in order to prove this to you, we must gaze into the Magic Crystal Ball of the Past.
Sakura had a crush.
Even at the tender age of seven, Sakura knew that she was in love. She loved his dark hair and cool disposition and how he always seemed to be so calm. Yes, Sakura was simply taken over by these three important traits and it was especially awesome that both their names started with an 'S'!
Sakura knew she had to get to know Nara Shikamaru a little better.
Strike that, a LOT better.
It was the start of a brand new term and Sakura was lucky enough to be assigned a seat next to his!
"Hi!" said Sakura, sitting down next to him. He had his head down on the table and APPEARED to be sleeping.
He looked up. "…Hi." He said.
Sakura's heart pounded. What was she supposed to talk to him about? "Um…we're getting our tests back today!" she said, trying to start some conversation.
"Tests are so troublesome." Shikamaru said.
"They are!" Sakura agreed immediately. "I hate tests!!"
Iruka started handing back all the tests until he got to where Sakura and Shikamaru were sitting. He handed the test to Sakura and then looked at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, I am very disappointed in you!" said Iruka. "I know you can do better than this! You should at least write your name on the test!"
"My name is so long…" Shikamaru said as Iruka dropped the paper down on the table. Sakura leaned over and looked at the test to see that it was completely blank. She looked at her own test to see that she had received an 85, something she was happy about.
"Did you forget to study?" Sakura asked.
"Studying is troublesome." Shikamaru said.
Sakura felt bad for Shikamaru. He must have really been struggling if he couldn't answer a single question! He couldn't even BEGIN to answer a single question!
She promised herself from then on that she would study so hard that, from now on, whenever there was a test, Shikamaru could just copy her answers so that he could get a 100!
When it was time to go out for recess, Sakura went to find her friend, Ino. Ino looked pretty sad for some reason. "Ino, why are you sad?" Sakura asked.
"It's Sasuke…" Ino replied.
"He seems to make you sad a lot lately." Sakura said.
"Yeah…" Ino agreed. "You know how he left school for two months? Ever since he came back, he's been a completely different person…"
"I noticed that too." Sakura said. "He's not very nice anymore and he never says anything during class. Have you decided that you don't want to be his friend from now on?"
"I don't know if I can go on being his friend…but I still want to marry him." Ino said. "The only problem is…all the other girls started liking him all of a sudden too! It's strange. It's like they like him better when he's mean!"
"He does seem cooler." Sakura admitted. "He was kind of dorky before."
"But he was my friend then…" Ino sighed. "But now I guess I'm just going to have to love him. How about you? Don't tell me YOU'RE in love with him too!"
"I'm not." Sakura said. "I kind of like Shikamaru."
Ino raised an eyebrow. "Shikamaru?" she said. "Don't like Shikamaru, Sakura. You're doomed to a life of uncoolness if you like Shikamaru."
"Why?" Sakura asked.
"Well OBVIOUSLY the cool thing to do is to like Sasuke." Ino said. "And Shikamaru is SO not Sasuke. It's so FAR from Sasuke it's not even funny. Nobody likes Shikamaru."
"I don't want to start liking a guy if everyone else likes him too…" Sakura said. "Wouldn't it be better to like a guy that no one likes? That way, there's no competition."
"Whatever, Sakura." Said Ino. "But don't be surprised everybody starts abandoning you when you start going out with Shikamaru."
Recess was now over and everyone had to go back inside. Sakura took her seat down next to Shikamaru who had, apparently, decided that he would just stay in the classroom during recess and sleep. Sakura watched Sasuke walk in the door and take his assigned seat next to Ino.
The more she watched him, the more she found him to be…well, a little cool. And…cute, she supposed. Then she looked at Shikamaru again and back at Sasuke.
What was she thinking…liking Shikamaru. She was just being silly. Now she knew for sure that the only person that she could POSSIBLY like was Sasuke. Even the way he held his pencil was far cooler than anyone else in the entire class, including Shikamaru. No, ESPECIALLY Shikamaru.
She used to think that Sasuke's hair looked like bed-head. But now she could see that it was styled like that purposely to add to his cool look.
Ino whispered something to Sasuke but he didn't respond. In fact, he turned his head away from her and looked in the other direction.
"Good," Sakura thought. "He doesn't like Ino."
Shikamaru let out a loud yawn and then fell back asleep.
"Um…Iruka?" Sakura said, raising her hand.
"Yes, Sakura?" Iruka said.
"I can't see the board from my new seat." She said. "May I please move?"
"Of course." Said Iruka. "Why don't you…hm…how about right there? In the empty seat next to Sasuke?"
"Okay." Said Sakura, gathering all her things and picking them up. She carried them past Ino who glared at her and past Sasuke who glared at her as well and then sat down next to him, ready to begin.