Chapter 2: Curiosity Killed the Cat

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Curiosity is a dangerous thing.

Take Madame Curie, for example. She was a scientist. When she discovered Radium, she was curious. So she studied this new element, trying to discover all of its secrets, its uses. She found that it had many functions, one of which is that it can help cure some deadly diseases, including cancer.

Madame Curie died. She died of cancer, caused by the same attribute of radium that helps cure it. Madame Curie was curious, and in the end, it killed her. But not everyone knows this.

Haruno Sakura was curious.

She knew she would be worrying about being in trouble for getting detention later, but right now, all she wanted was to figure out the puzzle of the friendship of Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzamaki Naruto.

What made them tick?

Class had ended, and detention had started, about a half hour ago. The teacher has gathered them at the bottom of the room, in front of his desk, to give then a very long, very loud speech about "ninja behavior."

Being the good student that she was, Sakura paid perfect attention.

Okay, so she didn't. It was really hard to concentrate on what he was saying when his eye was still twitching in a very distracting way.

After that, he sent them back up to the seats in his line of site, which placed Shikamaru and Kiba to her left and Sasuke and Naruto to her right, and all of them very close together.

Sakura was getting annoyed by the boys' antics. Currently, Shikamaru was complaining about how troublesome this was. He had been sleeping, until Kiba had nailed him in the back of the head with his bouncy ball. As to the bouncy ball, Kiba was still playing with it, and so was his puppy, Akamaru.

Naruto and Sasuke were having a burping contest.

BOYS! Sakura was ready to scream. Not only that, but the teacher wouldn't let them move, so she couldn't question the pair of burping idiots.

Wait. Sakura looked around with a sudden realization. The teacher's gone! But when she tried to get up, he came back, with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"That's the last thing Mr. Spazoid needs," Shikamaru muttered, glaring at the cup.

Sasuke snorted.

Moving his glare to the duo on the other side of Sakura, Shikamaru asked suspiciously "What did you do?" Sasuke didn't answer, but Naruto grinned mischievously and replied "Tell you in a few minutes."

Sakura looked form the Naruto to the teacher, to Sasuke, to the cup of coffee in question. I wonder how many teachers drank coffee from the teachers' lounge today…

It was a slow few minutes.

Bounce. Burp. Complain. Burp. Bounce. Complain. Bounce. Burp. Burp burp burp.

Now all four boys were participating in the vulgar competition.

After listening Shikamaru burp the ABC's, and being impressed in spite of herself, Sakura's mind wandered. I wander how loud I could burp… Her mouth opened before her brain worked, and she let one rip.

After a second of shocked silence, ruined by the spluttering of the teacher, Naruto whistled, and Kiba clapped.

Sakura blushed a dull red that clashed badly with her hair, and snuck a side glance at Sasuke.

He was smirking. "Beaten by a girl."

Facing the front of the room, her cheeks now much brighter, Sakura watched the teacher stand up to yell at them. "SUCH RUDE, DISGUSTING, BEHA-Vi…or…" And with that, he promptly fell over his desk, fast asleep.

"Eh…heh heh…" Kiba uttered some startled laughter into the silence. Shikamaru just shook his head, watching the remnants of the coffee seeping across the desk and onto the floor.

Naruto and Sasuke were grinning. "We can leave now," Naruto told them. "We spiked the coffee with sleeping pills this morning."

Sakura looked shocked. "So all the teachers are… asleep?" she asked.

"All the ones that needed a caffeine booster today."

Sakura watched as Kiba and Shikamaru walked away, skirting the spreading puddle of spiked coffee. They were going about their normal lives, one still complaining, the other still playing with his puppy. As the other two boys left, the two of interest, Sakura trailed them, her mind forming questions, but her mouth not functioning.

Sitting on their favorite swings, Naruto and Sasuke watched as Sakura finally tried to catch up to them.

"Wonder what she wants," Sasuke murmured, anther blush rising in his face.

Naruto laughed. "It's not that hard to guess. The same thing all the girls want."

Sasuke punched him.

Look at them. Sakura thought as she got closer. They fight and smile at the same time. They look completely opposite. And they're best friends. Why?

Now she was standing in front of them. Sasuke was blushing. Normally, she would have been, too. But not today.

Today, she was curious.

"Why?" she suddenly blurted out.

The boys looked at each other, both a little confused. "Why what?" Naruto asked, because Sakura was still just staring at them.

"Why are you friends? You're both so different! You were 'perfect,' and you were 'dead last!' Sasuke, you come from a well known, well respected family, and Naruto, you… well, you're Naruto!" She stopped, out of breath and huffing.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at her dumbfounded. Whatever they had been expecting the pink haired, sensible girl to say, it hadn't been this.

Then Sasuke smirked, finally catching her last statement. "Well, I should hope Naruto is Naruto. I would hate to find he's really some rabid fangirl in disguise."

It was Sakura's turn to be taken aback. Then, she realized with a start that he was joking.

She glared at him.

Ignoring her reaction, Sasuke turned to Naruto, the smirk still on his face. "Why are we friends? Because he's a dope." Naruto smirked back. "And he's a stuck up prick." They both turned to Sakura, grinning wide.

"And we feel like it."

Sakura blinked twice. "Oh," she responded meekly. "I guess… I guess I never thought of it like that…"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "For such a smart person, you're really dumb sometimes." Sasuke snorted. "Well, for such an idiot, sometimes you're way to smart. But that's not the point."

Naruto couldn't decide to be offended or pleased at Sasuke's mixed compliment, but he was being ignored, so it didn't really matter.

"You got to ask your question, but was it really worth detention?" Sasuke looked at Sakura oddly. "Or was that actually an accident?"

Sakura's blush finally caught up to her. Sasuke laughed.

Naruto, finally tuning in, looked at Sakura, expressionless. "Was it worth it?"

"Huh?"

"Was it worth it to get detention and be in trouble? All so you could ask a simple question?"

Sakura took a second to think about it, and then shrugged.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Naruto smiled at her. She smiled back.

Sasuke motioned for her to "pull up a swing," and Naruto told her "There's a second part to that saying, you know. Everyone always forgets it." "Really? What is it?"

"And satisfaction brought it back."

And that was the beginning of a friendship between Uzamaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura.

It lasted past when they all turned seven, with three unusual parties and the whole next year at the academy – pity on their teacher.

And then they turned eight, and shortly after, something happened that could be the end of everything.