Chapter Six

Sakura thought it best to stay on the rooftop until she heard the bell for the next class. Truthfully, she didn't want to leave. She hadn't said another word to Naruto in the time they were up there, but for some reason now, she didn't feel like she needed to. She didn't feel like he needed to say anything either.

She loved this feeling. She didn't even explain everything that was happening, but it was as if Naruto already knew it all. She was clean inside, pure, just . . . content. She hadn't felt this way in such a long time, and she wanted to relish in it.

When it finally rang however, she stood up and stretched a bit at the edge, being careful not to lose her balance for a second time. She quickly thanked Naruto and turned to walk to the stairs, wondering how she was going to inconspicuously get into the building without being noticed by the teachers. Then she stopped when she noticed her new friend still hadn't gotten up. "Aren't you coming?"

"No way!" he replied, waving a hand and throwing her another corny smile. "My last class was Math, and this one's English."

She raised an eyebrow, putting her hands on her hips in a more mocking way than an angry one. "Do you go to any of your classes?"

"Hey, I'll go later," he replied, linking his fingers together and falling back on the rooftop, staring straight up. "After third period is P.E."

Sakura laughed a little then continuted to go down the stairs, being as quiet as possible when opening the sideways door. Luckily she was able to get through the second door and sneak into the crowd with out anyone noticing her, though she did receive a few strange looks for some reason. She glanced around, remembering that she had no idea where her classes were.

Luckily for her, she saw Uchiha Sasuke walking down the hallway by himself. A few other girls were giggling and whispering amongst each other in their groups as he walked by, but they didn't look like his company. Before he was out of her vision, Sakura took the chance and ran over, her hand grabbing his shoulder a bit. She wanted to turn him around, but surprised, he turned on his own. His body seemed to relax when he saw her, but he gave her the same weird expression others had given her.

Sakura began to feel nervous, but she tried her best to smile anyway. "Is . . . Is something wrong?"

"Your face," he plainly replied as if it were obvious. She didn't realize that while the two had stopped, they slipped to the edge of the hallway to let others through. He was completely facing her now. "What's on it?"

"Wha . . ?" Abruptly she remembered how this morning she wore make up for the first time to try and look better at this school. Then at the end of first period, she started to cry. She knew then that wearing something like that would only make it worse! She spread it all over!

"Oh no," she said in a small, squeaky voice, suddenly hiding her face. "I . . . um . . ."

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, though he seemed more annoyed than caring. She didn't want to tell him what happened between her and Naruto, or the bullies or why she was crying. She was sure he didn't care anyway; so far, he was still just cute.

"I'm sorry," she said, turning, her face still covered. "I need to go to the bathroom!"

"Wait!"

She felt his hand grab at her shoulder, and the same nervous feeling came when she encountered those boys before. She wasn't sure what to do. Maybe Sasuke was really a jerk who knew he looked good? What if he was going to hit on her like those other guys? Surely he wouldn't with such an ugly face before him . . . plus he is Naruto's friend . . .

"You don't know where it is, do you?"

'That's right,' Sakura thought, the realization coming immediately. Now not only did she feel unattractive, she felt stupid too. His grip lessened, and she completely regretted her thoughts from before. Head in her hands still, she nodded only a little. She felt his tug and while she knew the crowd thinned, he guided her through what was left. When he stopped, she stopped. She looked up only a little a ran in, muttering a small thanks.

Sakura looked into the mirror and almost wanted to die with how messed up her face seemed. The mascara she worked so hard on putting on just right was smudged all over her cheeks, the black eyeliner looking like it melted on her eyelids. Her face power, which covered any scars from acne, was now more noticable than ever with tear strains cleaning away paths. She wanted to cry some more, and she did as she turned on the water faucet.

"Oh, dear."

She turned her face, twisting her head a bit so that her hair covered her unwashed face. To the right of her at the second mirror was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen in her life. She had flaxen, angelic colored hair pulled back and gorgeous blue eyes. She wore very tight clothing that clung to her breasts and exposed her stomach, unlike was Sakura was wearing, which was a very modest red dress that stopped at her knees.

The girl was putting on lip balm at the moment, but her eyes were on Sakura. "What's wrong?" she asked her, a sweet smile on once she kissed her reflection to get the luster on her lips just right.

Sakura was amazed. Someone so beautiful would speak to her! But she didn't want to dump out all her problems for a second person on the same day. "It's nothing . . . I . . . I was just a little upset, then a really cute guy saw my face like this . . ."

She pointed to all of the smeared make up on her skin, smiling nervously as if to say she was going to live. "I'm new here, so to already be humiliated in front of someone so handsome . . ."

"Yeah," the beauty replied, reaching into her pocket and pulling out some wet tissues. She handed them to Sakura, smiling. "It must be overwhelming coming to a new school where everyone already knows each other. This napkin has an ointment that will get all of the make up off like cake!"

"Thank you," Sakura said shyly, and she was amazed as she watched all of the black come off. In just a few moments, she was back to her dull green eyes and unattractive, plain white skin. It was so pale . . . she hated it. She turned when she noticed that the girl was fiddling through her bad again, and she quickly was taking out all kinds of face materials and lying them around the faucet. Some of them she hadn't even seen before.

"Now," she said, picking up a pink colored eye liner first, "Let's get that face back in order again!"

Sakura was surprised. All this for her, and she didn't even know her name yet? She was so pretty, and yet so nice at the same time! How wonderful . . . "Thank you!" she said again, though this time she had much more energy. "My name is Haruno Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

She smiled back sweetly. "Ino Yamanaka."

'Ino,' she repeated to herself, closing her eyes as she felt a pencil end trace her features. She would have to remember that name, and she hoped that someone so nice as her would be in her future classes. Who knows; she might have been in her second period!

The bell rang and she was late for her third period. In her mind she was tempted to go back up to the building top and look down at the cherry blossom trees with Naruto again. By now though, with no one else there, she expected he would be alseep. It would be rude to wake him, though she made a mental note to herself to go up after third period to check on him.

"Okay," Ino said. By that time Sakura felt powder on her face, but she had let up as she spoke. "I'm finished. Open up!"

Sakura did so, and was stunned. For once in her life, she actually felt like she looked beautiful. She had thick eyelashes from black mascara, but mostly she had a lot of pink; pink eye liner and very pink cheeks. Even her eye shadow was a shade of the same color! But somehow, it didn't look like a plain match; it brought out something that made her well up with pride.

"Your hair is so pretty, that bringing out your face with the same color was the perfect thing to do," Ino said, taking her hands and brushing back some strands out of Sakura's face. "All the light colors really bring out your eyes too; I've never seen ones so green!"

Sakura wanted to say thank you again, for a third time to Ino, and she did. She couldn't thank her enough! Just this one little thing made her feel better, and suddenly, she even felt a little confident. She just hoped she wouldn't get into any trouble with greedy men like before.

Ino suggested they get to third period, and she jokingly said she would use her to say she was guiding her to her next class. Sakura handed the taller of the two the paper with her schedule. "Oh, German. That's a tough langauge." She handed it back and at first she thought that Ino might not know anything about it, but she gave her a reassuring grin. "I'll get you there!"

As the two walked out, Sakura felt an arm tug at her again. She wondered who it could be since the halls were empty, but she was surprised to see Sasuke there, staring her down. For some reason, it looked like he was the one surprised instead of her. "Your face . . ."

"Um . . . yeah," Sakura replied nervously, putting some of her hair behind her ear; it fell back down, and instead she put her hands together in front of her. "I got a little fixed up. Do you . . . like it?"

She couldn't believe she had asked that, and to someone she barely even knew! With the way she asked, it almost sounded like she was flirting. A nervous sweat came over her, and she prayed it wouldn't mess up Ino's masterpiece. 'Really, I didn't mean anything by it,' she thought, and she knitted her eyebrows unconciously.

He turned his face, though she wasn't sure why.

"It looks good."

'Wow . . . was it Sasuke who just said that?' She still felt butterflies, but she was very happy by what he said. Maybe he wasn't such a cold hearted person after all!

X x x x x

Ino! -Hugs her- I like her a lot, even though it seems like people don't like her too much in the manga. She's like Sakura in some ways- She hides her feelings under pride when it comes to Sakura. I like the way they were before they started this whole thing with Sasuke. So, that's how things'll be!

Is there even such a thing as pink mascara? XD I want some!