Chapter Four

Sakura followed behind Naruto and Sasuke just a little in the hallway. While she was glad that she didn't have blondie to blatantly flirt with her anymore, she was interested in talking to the other. She already had strong opinions of the two of them: one was sexy, brilliant . . . And the other? An idiot, or something to that extent.

'How did those two become best friends of all people?' she thought. If she hadn't been told such a thing and seen them for herself chatting together, she would have laughed; afterall, they were inclusive opposites.

Trying not to make it too obvious that she was listening in, Sakura glanced around the boring walls and now shutting lockers. No matter which direction she stared at, she made sure she had one ear alert.

". . . so anyway, Kakashi agreed to let me keep going with my karate lessons since I'm almost a black belt and all," Naruto said. Already her interest had been piquied.

'Naruto knows Karate?'

"No pay?" Sasuke replied. He seemed a little surprised. "Normally it would cost at least twelve-hundred for just six months."

"Yup! I told him if he ever needed anything big though, he could count on me."

". . . And?"

"He said all I need to do is earn an A-plus on our next exam!"

Sasuke sighed. "Sounds impossible."

"Hey!"

Sakura couln't resist giggling a bit. Even if she was a little creeped out by Naruto, being as he smelled like a mix between strawberry and trash, had oily, unwashed hair and was seemed to have lack of manners or smarts, he was also sort of cute. In a charming way. Obviously not in looks; even if he did dress nicely and smelled like he had bathed over the weekend, his face was also far too boyish! But there was some sort of quality in him that made her interested in what he was saying.

'I guess that's what they call presence,' she thought, smiling to herself. Sakura was so lost in thought at the moment that she hadn't realized both boys had stopped, and she bumped into Naruto's back. He turned around, and for the first time she noticed that he was actually a few inches shorter than her. She glanced to Sasuke to see the comparison, and he was quite taller than the both of them.

Naruto pointed up to a small sign that read '2-C', and nodded like he had already explained. "This is your first class, with us. AP Science!"

She nodded and was about to walk in when Sasuke had actually made his way in first, completely ignoring the rules of 'ladies first'. She stopped for him, pouting as she eyed him, and even that he didn't respond to.

'So there is something bad about him!' she thought. 'Other than his clothes.'

"Don't you wanna to go?"

She looked over to Naruto, who was standing next to her while a few others students made their way to class. She gave him a quizzical expression, and he nodded like it was obvious.

"Ladies first, right?" he asked, as if making sure. Suddenly the words made her face light up, and for the first time since they had met she actually found something good about him. When he said he was 'reserved for the ladies' when she first saw him the day before, she thought it was a sad excuse for a joke. Maybe he did have manners after all.

"Thanks!" she said with a smile, walking in, followed by Naruto. 'Still . . . Sasuke is cuter!'

While the two boys took their seats, coincidentily right next to each other in desks rowed by four, she took a spot standing in the front of the room since she didn't have an appointed place. There was still plenty of chatter in the classroom, and her face flushed when she saw just how many glanced in her direction. She had a strong feeling most were talking about her.

She tried to look at some of the students, trying to see if she could familiarize herself with everyone by face first. She saw one particular young man in the corner of the back row of the classroom, all by himself. He had long, black hair that was pulled back in a rather spiky plait and a few piercings in each ear. He was sleeping, so she diverted her attention to a few more students, from another black long haired young man and then a third black haired boy with a bowl cut and a rather amusing face. She tried hard to hold back her laugh.

"Everyone!" Naruto shouted, jumping out of his chair and standing on his desk to get everyone's attention. She noticed how the girl next to him flushed and covered her face, as if embarrassed by his actions. The class quited for a second. "Observe."

He jumped of the desk and walked over to the entrance door to the classroom and closed it, only leaving a small window with tiny wired criss-crosses on it to see through. He turned to everyone and put up a finger, whispering a tiny, "Shhhhhh!" that made a small fit of giggles erupt in class.

"Sakura!" he said in the same low voice, as if they were on a secret mission. "Hand me an eraser, okay?"

"What?" she asked, speaking the same as him. Everyone started talking again, and she heard her name quite a few times so she knew that they were probably wondering how Naruto already knew her name. Naruto ushered them down again, then turned to her again and held out a hand.

Deciding it was best to just go with whatever he was planning, she reached into her brown bag to take out an eraser and handed it out when he shook his head. "Not that kind! The chalkboard kind!"

'Chalkboard?' Sakura thought, and when he pointed she turned around, seeing the teachers desk and right behind that so it was before everyone in the classroom, a wall-long chalkboard. She grabbed two erasers on the lecturer's counter and quickly tossed it to him, eager to find out was was going to happen.

Naruto looked through the tiny window then back away suddenly, turning to everyone and muttering, "He's coming, he's coming!"

That was a cue for everyone to fall silent, and with the erasers behind his back, Naruto stayed just as quiet right next to the door. In comparison to how hushed the class was, the door opening was quite loud, almost like a creek, and before Sakura could get a good look at whoever it was that opened it Naruto jumped in front and took in a deep breath, clashing the two erasers together and creating a giant puff of smoke.

"Yeah!" quite a few students shouted, who all celebrated by punching the air and chattering loudly again. Sakura felt a bit flabbergasted, more because that silly trick was one of the most childish things in the world, yet she couldn't help but giggle since it was at the same time, 'cool'.

She glanced over to Sasuke to see how he would react to his best friends' actions, and instead of actually smiling or cheering along with them he turned his face as if he were ashamed. Immediately she tried to stop her chuckling to try and impress him, this time turning to Naruto and saying like she was angry, "Why did you do that!"

"Why do you think?" Naruto replied with a wide smiling, tossing back the erasers for her to put on the desk, which she did so quickly before she was caught with them. "Don't worry, it's all in good fun!"

"But it's not very mature," she said. Outside, she was angry, but on the inside she was still laughing. 'That was so cool! I wish I did that . . .'

"Alright, you got me," a voice sounded through the chalk along with a bit of coughing. When it finally cleared, Sakura found this person, who was obviously the teacher for their class, a little weird. He had silver, all-over-the-place hair and bandages that covered not only his left eye, but his mouth and all all the way down to his collarbone , where a regular black T-Shirt took over. For now, what little of his face that was shown had bits of dusty chalk yellow on it.

'T-Shirt?' she thought, forgetting about the strange bandages for a moment. 'The teachers here . . . why are they so casual?'

"Sakura!" Naruto said, getting her attention. He pointed to the teacher, who obviously wasn't angered at all, but smiling. "This is out teacher, Hatake Kakashi."

X x x x x

In the original version I had Naruto call Kakashi, "Kakashi-Sensei." But, being as Sakura through the story calls him "Mr. Hatake", and no one else uses suffixes, it didn't make sense. So, editing it beautiful! -heart-