Chapter Nine

"Sakura, I-"

"Hey, Sasuke!" Sakura said in an extra-cheerful, almost fake manner. She closed her locker, and before she could even listen to Sasuke's reply she turned and waved. "Sorry, I've got to head to class to give Mr. Hatake something!"

"Wait a second!"

Sakura felt Sasuke's hand grab at her arm and she turned around instantly; she averted her eyes and looking out towards the hallway. Of all things to ask, she was hoping more than anything that he wasn't going to ask what she thought he was going to ask . . . 'I'm still so shaken up from Naruto!'

"Just letting you know," Sasuke started, and she relaxed as he let go of her arm. It didn't sound like he was going to say what she thought it was. "Naruto isn't going to be here today; when I called him this morning he said he was coming down with something."

Sakura's heart sank; somehow, she just knew it was a lie. But instead of showing it, instead of making her friend worry she nodded and smiled. "Oh . . . okay. Thanks."

"But anyway . . . about yesterday, what I was trying to say to you . .. before Naruto came and-"

"Oh, that!" Sakura said, a red blush coming across her cheeks. Once again she turned around, begging that he wouldn't stop her for a second time. "Sorry, that'll have to wait; our class is gonna start any second now!"

Classes had passed by since then, and now she was in her fourth period. Sakura sighed again as she flipped her pencil around in her fingers, looking down at the sheet of paper before her. It was math; easy to do. But today she just didn't have the heart to complete her assignment. Her heart was still feeling heavy from the day before.

"N-Naruto . . . Well . . umm . . . I'll see you tommorow, okay?"

She closed her eyes and sighed again. 'See you Tommorow?' That was the best she could come up with? It was so strange . . she felt so comfortable around Naruto, with the way he always made her smile and laugh. But she never thought of him as anything more than a friend. She was even scared of the mere idea of taking what she already had a step further.

And what was worse, she could remember Sasuke acting the same way. Yesterday and this morning she knew exactly what he wanted to say. She wasn't stupid; it sounded like she was being conceited just thinking about it, but she was sure that he liked her too. Not just as a friend, but . . . more. It was hard to believe, someone like that liking her.

Sakura shook her head, looking down at her problems then up at the clock. It was half-way through class and not a single problem done. She frowned, finally giving up and crossing her arms to use as a pillow. She just didn't have it in her to do her problems.

'Naruto . . . Sasuke,' she thought, closing her eyes. She begged that the teacher wouldn't notice, or at least she hoped she'd assume she was done already. 'I don't know what to say to either of you . . . I've never been in this situtation before.'

She felt lucky that she had managed to avoid Sasuke so far. He had tried to talk to her in class a couple of times, even in the hall. She talk after class with Mr. Hatake and insisted that he go ahead, saying it would take a while before. During third period she just concentrated with all her might on the teacher. German wasn't hard, but it was the only strategy she could come up with.

'That's it,' Sakura thought, heaving one last sigh before nestling her head in her arms a little more, 'I'm going there to calm down.'

And there she did go. Once fourth period was over and fifth period ready to begin Sakura darted through the hall as fast as she could to the rooftop. The sun had already risen, unlike tht one incredible time she was there with Naruto, but it was still a pretty sight nonetheless. She already felt better being there and stood near the edge, stretching her arms above her head as high as she could. "This is a much nicer place to think than any of my dumb classes!"

"You got that right."

Sakura turned around at the unfamiliar voice, so startled that she didn't realize she was still at the edge of the school until it was too late. Her face didn't even catch a glance at the person behind her before she slipped. She let out a small yelp, but was grateful to feel something tightly grip at her wrist.

Sakura's eyes closed tightly in panic when she fell, but she slowly opened them when she was sure she had been rescued to be greeted by narrow, brown eyes and a wide grin. He chuckled as he pulled her up. "Damn . . . that was close."

"I remember you . . ." Sakura said, looking down over the side of the building once she had sat down firmly on her legs. She gulped. Beautiful as it was, had she really fallen she would've been a goner. She scooted a little away from the edge then turned back to the boy. "You're . . . you're in my math class, right? This past period?"

"Yup," he replied, giving her a wide smile. Sakura was strangely reminded of Naruto with how wide and cheesy it was, but instead of a sweet and energetic smile his teeth revealed rather sharp and intimidating canines. Right below his eyes were two triangle shaped tattoos; she imagined it would've hurt to have a needle there of all places. "Kiba. Inuzuka Kiba."

She smiled. "Nice to meet you. And . . . thanks for helping me."

He laughed, almost like the whole thing was a big joke. She only managed to smile; it might be something to laugh about now that it's all over, she supposed. "No problem; it's a good thing I followed you, huh?"

"You followed me?" she asked. This didn't exactly make her happy. It was actually sort of creepy, especially with someone that had such a scary face.

Kiba nodded, as if it were normal. "Yeah, pretty much. It's 'cause I wanted to ask you something. Anyway, I ws wondering if you wanted to go to the movies or a place to eat sometime. You know, hang out with someone other than the idiot duo for a change."

Sakura blushed, looking down to try and cover it. For once she was glad her bangs covered her face. She didn't like how he had reffered to Sasuke and Naruto by, but she was a little too embarrassed to think of it too much. 'This is too weird . . . all of these guys suddenly liking me . . . But I've never talked to Kiba before; I didn't even really know his name until a minute ago!'

"Umm . . ." she started in a small voice, averting her eyes but still looking up a little, trying her best to be polite. The highest she could raise her eyes was up to his chin, she so couldn't tell what his expression was at the moment. She had just noticed he was wearing a rather heavy jacket in decent weather; she wondered why. "It sounds nice . . . but . . . well . . ."

"Dammit!" he said, slamming a fist onto the roof of the school. She looked up completely this time, noticing how irritated he looked. She gulped; those canines somehow looked even sharper. "It's always that Sasuke; he gets all the girls!"

"Sasuke?" Sakura inquired curiously. Her cheeks were still burning, but she was a little too curious about it. Why just Sasuke? He had mentioned Naruto before too. 'How does he even know I hang out with them? I don't think Kiba and I have any other classes together than math, and neither Naruto or Sasuke are in it.'

Kiba nodded, but he glared as if she should have known. "Yeah; that dumb bastard doesn't even try and every girl in the school goes after him like he's God."

The first thought that came to Sakura's mind was Yamanaka Ino, the girl she had met on her very first day of school. She had caught her a few times in the hall since then, all coincidentally when she was with Sasuke but otherwise they hadn't talked. She remembered how Ino had acted so happy around Sasuke. 'Is that what he's talking about?'

Kiba didn't stop there. It almost sounded like he was getting started. "And that stupid dumbass, Naruto. All he does is talk about that dream of his; becoming the mayor of the town and making it a better place. He's such an idiot! I could do better than him at some lame job like that if I wanted to."

'What?' Sakura had two feelings welling up inside of her at the same time, and she wasn't sure which one to choose. One side was surprised to hear about this dream Kiba said Naruto was always talking about. She had never once heard it from him before in the time she knew him.

But the other feeling was becoming stronger. This side of her was angry; angry at the fact that this guy she barely even knew was putting down to people she had become closest too, the people that she knew she didn't want to be put down. He didn't have the right!

Kiba's anger seemed to be rising with his words. "God, I hate both of them. One is a stupid prep and the other is just a plain idiot; how did they-"

Slap. Sakura's palm had struck the side of Kiba's cheek which had started to turn red. Anger over surprise. She didn't care who this guy was; Sasuke and Naruto were her friends, and no one was going to talk about them that way.

"Bitch!" Kiba felt his cheek with one hand, glaring at her furiously. "Whatever, screw this."

Sakura felt two strong hands grab at her shoulders, pushing her back down onto the rooftop, her head slamming onto it rather forcibly. She tried to move her arms but no matter how much strength she tried to put into them they weren't enough to defy Kiba. A butterfly fear rose in her chest and as she saw his face, she shut her eyes and turned her head.

"I won't let Sasuke take another girl . . ." she heard him mutter. She shivered when she felt his breath hover around her neck. " . . . Not when there's a guy like me here!"

Burning hot tears filled her eyes when she felt him nibble at her neck, and one of his hands was slowly trailing away from pinning down her arm to fiddling with the end of her shirt. She wanted to move then, anything to get away. Kiba's lips lifted only to kiss her cheek, and when she turned her head further to the ground she heard him growl in an irritated manner.

"What the hell!" he shouted, grabbing both her cheeks with one hand and jerking her face so she could see him. She opened her eyes, but it was hard to see through the watery substance. She could feel her lips quivering and how her body was almost melting into the rooftop. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't move.

He didn't seem the least bit fazed by her tears. Instead, he leaned in closer to kiss her, coming so dangerously close that she could feel him. Then . . .

Sakura's eyes shut again when she heard and saw something loud smash against the side of Kiba's head. She felt the grip he had on her immediately lessen and his body became limp, landing on top of her. She knew right away there wasn't a threat anymore, but still . . . She didn't want Kiba anywhere near her, unconcious or not.

Shutting her eyes tighter and waiting to get the feeling back into her body, she was relieved to feel Kiba's weight being pulled off from on top of her. She took a deep yet unsteady breath, and when she could sit up the first thing she did was hold her hands to her face and cry more.

'What just happened?' Sakura began to think, wiping away at her tears, 'It was so scary . . . It could have been so much worse if . . . if . . .'

Sakura began to remember that it wasn't her that stopped Kiba from making things go worse, but someone else. She tried her best to stop crying and opened her eyes slowly to catch her savior. She gasped. "Sasuke . . ."

There he was, kneeling right in front of her. But something was different. In the short time she knew him she had come to learn he rarely showed much for expressions other than the occasional smirk, but for the first time she saw something completely different; it was almost . . sympathetic. Concerned.

The moment they met eyes Sasuke averted his own. "I . . . I saw that you weren't in lunch. I asked the administrator for a pass to go to the nurse and came here, because . . . you looked kinda of . . . sort of bothered about something . . ."

Sakura didn't know what to say. Here she was, trying to get away from everyone, and one of the two people she had been reluctant to see the most was right in front of her; he helped her.She glanced over to Kiba again and shivered, then slowly she reached out her arms and tugged on Sasuke's shirt, pulling him in. She waited until she felt his arms around her before she started to cry again.

'Sasuke . . .' Sakura thought, clinging to the cloth in her hands, 'You're different from Kiba; I can trust you . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . .'

X x x x x

Ack! No, Kiba! I remember when I wrote this I still hadn't seen the manga, and I only read the first four volumes of Naruto. I didn't even know Kiba that well! Still, I think I did pretty well. Except Kiba wouldn't do that, but this is a story! Guys are gonna act funny. :D lol!