AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my first Naruto fanfic, so please be careful in the R/Ring! Set 5 years after the events at Naruto; hints of the series here and there, slightly AU-ish. Team Kakashi's all grown up with nowhere else to go…..;; Now full fledged Jounins, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha have battled with the uncertainties of growing up and are trying their new wings in the new world out there. Naruto still harbors strong feelings for Sakura; Sakura, meanwhile, still believes that Sasuke would see her as the woman she is someday. Sasuke still strongly believes that his only calling in life is just to get even with the man who killed his entire clan and avenge the loss of his self. Would Sakura make him change his mind? NaruSaku, hints of SasuSaku, maybe a bit of KakaKure just for kicks….:P R/R PLEASE!!!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto and all its cool characters…(I wish I owned them ALL though… T-T) as they're all owned by Kishimoto-sensei. Exploding suicide notes aside, please.
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The first time I met him, I knew right away he was special. It was just something about the way he stood there that really caught my attention…it was as if he was calling out to me by my name. At that time, I knew I was in love. It wasn't just puppy love, mind you…I knew straightaway that he was the man I'm going to marry someday. And as hopeful as I was with the innocence of my own childhood, I knew that THAT someday would come sooner than I think…I just hope I'm not too late…
"Hey, Sakura! How long are you planning to stand there like a statue?!"
"H-huh?" Sakura Haruno blinked, then looked quickly to her right. Her best friend Ino Yamanaka was blinking at her, puzzled. "Hey Sakura…"
"It's…NOTHING!" Sakura felt her face get hot. "Nothing, Ino, NOTHING!"
"Right. What were YOU looking at, anyway?" Ino then followed her best friend's line of sight then her eyes became little slits. "Why am I NOT surprised."
"It…it's not what you think…"
"Heh. You CAN'T fool me. Almost half the girls in the front school grounds practically shut down one after the other when that boy came." Ino nodded knowingly. "But he's real mysterious. Nobody knows where he lives, or what he can do…I've heard rumors that he's the only survivor of some massacre…"
"E-eh?! Really…?!" Sakura, for all her 8 years of existence, found it very hard to believe that there was something as horrible as a massacre that existed in the world. She knew it was a word, she knew it was something terrible, and, if what Ino said was true, then that kid is the first person she's actually met who has come out of it, alive and apparently very well.
There were several women who stood apart from the throng of the ninja academy students, their voices hushed.
"I've heard…yes, it's so sad…"
"Who could've thought of doing something that terrible to that boy…"
"And he's so young…!"
"?" Sakura looked over at where the gossiping ladies stood, her cerulean blue eyes wide and blinking. Ino was quiet.
"Well, I don't CARE what those old hags say. He's CUTE!" SD Ino gave a happy little grin. "I do hope he gets to be our classmate this term!"
"But…Ino, you know we don't get coed classes until we reach second level…" Sakura began.
"Why wait for 2 years when we can do it right NOW?" Ino's grin became naughtier. "Come ON Sakura, don't tell me you're chicken…?"
"N-no, but Ino…!"
"Hey, what're you talking about you pipsqueaks…?"
The 2 8 year-old girls whipped around to face the speaker. It was Tsuru Hinode, one of the upper class kids. She gave a smirk. "Heh. Bet you're wondering about the new recruit…?"
"So what if we WERE?! It's really none of your business who we're wondering about here," Ino sniffed. She grabbed Sakura by her arm and dragged her away. "Let's go Sakura, we don't want to get airhead disease."
"Why you…come back HERE!"
Sakura tried preventing herself from falling, tripping over her own feet, and yelping all at the same time from Ino's pull, but it was very hard, to say the least. She remembered that she bumped into someone, and when she looked up, it was not a friendly face she saw.
Sasuke Uchiha was actually glaring at her.
His anger pierced her so deeply she barely had enough time to think. Sakura had never met someone who was SO angry. His anger was the kind that could melt snowflakes in a ring about his person…it was just that fiery.
And…
If I said "hello" to him then, could it have been a lot different…?
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The first time I met him, I knew straightaway that he was a JERK. Hell, all of them are, anyway. I didn't plan to have that frigging Nine Tailed Demon Fox stuck right inside my belly…why didn't they lynch mob the moron who did it in the first place…?! Whoever told him that the SAFEST way to seal a demon fox is by putting it inside the belly of a newborn BABY anyway?! He could've stuck it inside some huge boulder or some temple somewhere…I tell you, it's perfectly normal. But ever since the day they knew who I was, surviving that gruesome operation…they started avoiding me as if I'd suddenly grow fur and 10-feet long fangs and then suddenly attack them. As if being tormented by those stupid village people wasn't bad enough, he comes along. It wasn't just the mere fact that even if I had the saddest story of my life and he gets to have the sympathy of the townspeople and girls in particular just because he's good-looking…it's because of the fact that he was just there and THAT was THAT. Am I making sense…?
"…" Naruto Uzumaki was looking at the other kids on the front school grounds, who were either staring back at him with a terrified look on their faces, or hid behind their mothers' skirts and made those stupid looking faces at him, sometimes up to the extent of hurling insults at him if they felt they were brave enough to risk the ire of the "demon boy from hell". Their parents were no help; instead of scolding their children and stop them from doing those things, they ACTUALLY encouraged it. Naruto gulped another feeling of helplessness and hopelessness down his throat. If he could only disappear. Trouble is, he can't even produce a passable Henge no Jutsu just yet.
He trained himself very hard everyday just to make sure he'd make the cut for making it into the ninja academy. Trouble was, Naruto thought that the examiner of the possible ninja academy candidates only took pity on him so he was in. He clenched his fists, nodding in determination. Heh, he's going to make those stupid idiots pay for looking down on him. He's going to become the next Hokage!
Then that weird quiet kid came along. Naruto felt the air buzz with excitement and odd tension as the black clad boy came with an old man, which he presumed was his grandfather. The old man talked to a teacher at one end, gave the boy a somewhat comforting pat on the shoulder, then he left. The teacher then kindly showed the boy the way, to which the boy didn't even acknowledge his presence and walked on ahead without saying a word.
It was something that greatly annoyed Naruto. Here he was, practically begging for attention from these narrowminded townspeople, and this boy…this BOY…!…actually took the attention he got for granted. Dismissing a senior, a teacher, like that! It was clear that the boy thought that he was higher than everyone else, and it was their job to kowtow to his every whim.
As puppy love was a virtual unknown in 8 year-old Naruto's vocabulary, he found it very odd that some of the girls around him were actually gushing about the newcomer's dark brooding good looks.
"He's really cute…"
"I heard he's passed the selection exam with flying colors…"
"E-eh?! No WAY!"
"…" Naruto found himself glaring at the newcomer for no apparent reason at all. Thinking back, he never really understood what those girls saw in him anyway. He looked too creepy and evil in that stupid black long sleeved shirt with a closed collar and equally stupid looking ¾ cut black shorts or jeans or whatever, and his hair's jet black. He had a small white backpack (the kind elementary Japanese schoolchildren use) upon his shoulders, from which dangled a miniature ANBU captain keychain, and several tiny scrolls of jutsus at the side. His standard Konoha issue ninja slippers were BLACK, even. Naruto was half-expecting him to look sickly, pale, with dark rings under his eyes and dead black fingernails.
The boy turned to look at him, sensing that Naruto was glaring at him. When Naruto found out that he wasn't anything at ELSE close to the picture he saw in his mind, and was, in fact, a TOTAL opposite, 10 times MORE opposite, Naruto glared at him even more. The boy frowned.
But before Naruto could think of something else that would make his battle aura cover the entire Konoha region, his attention was caught by a commotion at the other end and he turned to look. He blinked. Oh God, it was one of those airheads again. He swears the next time one of them decides to comment on his otherwise sordid past, he WOULD really show them why their parents' fears weren't unfounded after all---
Naruto blinked again. Ino Yamanaka went past him, dragging Sakura Haruno behind her. It was well within Ino's personality spectrum just to drag her best friend down the street or the school grounds, for that matter, but Naruto wasn't thinking about Ino. It was because one of his reasons upon joining ninja academy was just THERE. Sakura was just a few feet away from him…dear sweet Sakura-chan!!! He didn't care if Sakura's forehead was as huge as the Milky Way as what other kids teased her…he found her pretty just the same. Oh, if she could only know he existed!
Ino was practically dragging Sakura right into the ground when she bumped into the mysterious boy Naruto was glaring at a while ago, and he was shocked when the boy in question was giving his dear sweet Sakura-chan a death glare worthy of any ANBU captain on the surface of this planet and every spiritual plane thereafter. Oooohhhh. Naruto would let all those insults to him slide but NOBODY-DEATH-GLARES –HIS-SAKURA-CHAN-AND GETS-AWAY-WITH-IT-ALIVE---!!!
It was right there and then Naruto knew that Sasuke Uchiha was somebody who needs to be thrown off his high horse someday.
And what if I couldn't cut it…?
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The first time I met her, I knew that there was something different about her…something different than all the other girls I met. Hey, it's not easy being chased all the time as if I'M the last available guy on the face of the planet. Why don't they ALL get a life…? It's no wonder all the guys in my class abhorred my very existence. It's NOT as if I WANTED them chasing after me. Then, when I saw her…yes, she was no different from those girls who chased after me…I knew right away that that was where the similarities ended, and her own uniqueness set in. Well…she was more aggressive than your average female Konoha Genin then in declaring her feelings openly for me and telling them that I was "hers"…she and her best friend Ino Yamanaka were the most celebrated of the lot…but somehow, I found her all-out declarations of love quite intriguing. I admit, it was kind of interesting. It was more than skin-deep…those otherwise very loud "outbursts", if you may…she really took time out to watch over me, get worried, then scold me if I ever pushed myself way out of my limit. It was annoying…but comforting, at the same time. It actually felt nice…
Sasuke Uchiha hated them all. He hated how they whispered behind his back, hated how they were are all sorry for him and for what had happened, hated them for all the help they were all more than willing enough to give. It made him feel even more useless.
He already felt useless when his older brother murdered his entire clan. He doesn't need any more instances that would make his uselessness make him want to kill himself all the more.
But no. He had to hold on. He vowed someday that he would get stronger and kill the man who was responsible for making him lose who he really was. He's going to pay for making Sasuke feel all the anguish, the pain, the humiliation of not being able to do anything to protect the persons who needed him, those persons who were innocent of his older brother's wrath.
The parents of the other newly recruited ninja academy students all quieted when he came to the school with one of the Jounins who was assigned to look after him ever since the massacre a few days ago. Sasuke became even more quiet and resented the attention those older people were giving him. Why the 3rd Hokage insisted on making him bring along the old man was way beyond him, when Sasuke could perfectly take care of himself pretty well. He didn't need anyone who would look after him; it annoyed him even more. Now those people would talk about him and make him feel very welcome in the ninja academy. He resented that even more.
"Sasuke, I would like you to meet Iruka," the old balding Jounin was saying as he gestured to the man in front of him, and was looking at Sasuke in interest. "He would be your sensei concerning your first level schooling in the ninja academy."
"…" Sasuke was just staring at him, his slanted jet black eyes devoid of any emotion whatsoever. Iruka Umino decided against balking at the ferocious stare – which was MORE of a glare, actually – then gave him a small smile. "Hello and good morning…Sasuke Uchiha. I am quite sure you'll enjoy yourself here…what with other kids your age around."
"Well then, Iruka, I leave him into your capable hands. He's a bit on the very quiet side, though, with an otherwise abominable personality to match. Just make sure nobody tries befriending him yet…let him choose his own friends at his own pace. I've learned the hard way." The old man gave Sasuke a tentative pat on his shoulder. "Have fun, Sasuke. Be sure to enjoy yourself." He then left.
Iruka blinked, then smiled warmly at Sasuke. "Well Sasuke, if you come this way please…and may I be the first one to welcome you into the ninja academy…?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed and went on ahead, not saying anything. He hated it. It was just another act. Why can't this teacher stop being SO warm and friendly for crying out loud?! It was really getting on his nerves. If it only weren't for the fact that he was only here because he wanted to become strong so he could give his older brother eighth hell, he wouldn't have come. Not that he needed any more teaching, of course. One of the examiners screening potential ninja academy students for admittance into the ninja academy itself proclaimed that he was a natural-born prodigy, a genius. But he still needed that proclamation of being able to reach the first stepping stone, in becoming a Genin, to realize his dream of killing his older brother. He told himself that he would go through all these frivolities necessary in order to become very strong as to kill him someday.
The whispers around him suddenly became more urgent. Sasuke decided to ignore it. He didn't give a damn about what other people thought of him anymore. He decided on that fateful day that his heart had already become hollow and as cold and as hard as stone.
He sensed somebody glaring at him. Sasuke turned to look and stared right into a blond boy's eyes that were so determined at glaring at him. He frowned. Aside from those stupid people fawning over him, trying to get to him via those "acts" of theirs…he still had to put up with total weirdos.
The blond boy glared at him even more. Now WHAT is his PROBLEM? Sasuke decided against giving him a piece of his mind, as he still has his own problems to think of, when there was a commotion at the other end and one of the girls who figured prominently in that commotion promptly bumped into him a few seconds later. Sasuke gave the girl who bumped into him a death glare. Damn it, the path wasn't THAT narrow, and that annoying girl who was dragging her behind felt it was totally appropriate to plow through those thick crowds without thinking of anyone who might be in their way and get hurt.
The first time Sasuke met her, it was her unusually large forehead he saw, eerily gleaming in the early morning sunshine. It was one of the first things he noticed about her, and he promptly forgot about anything else. He can't believe someone who would have such a large forehead like that. Sasuke wondered if he should light a flashlight and beamed it onto her forehead, it would resonate with a brightness a hundred times more.
Sakura Haruno wouldn't have minded it…or would she…?
Definitely.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: Cute little reflections, a recollection of their pasts as outlandishly told by me. I have NO idea how their first day in school was LIKE, and here I've had them all meet each other for the very first time. How old are first time students in the ninja academy, anyway?! I've made them 8 year olds!