The latest chapter is here! Applaud! Anyways, Walking Green Cucumber wrote most of it (again), so applaud the Cucumber!
Yeah... hehe... Don't forget to review!
Sakura confidently strode down the hallway, smirking and flinging her bright pink tresses about to assure that she was the center of everyone's attention. She turned the corner and entered her next class, English, to see Hinata speaking to the teacher and handing over a carefully wrapped little bag with a delightful present inside.
"Teacher's pet." Sakura scoffed. She gestured at once of the girls stationed near the front of the room; the girl nodded, and went to lure the teacher away. Pretending she hadn't seen Hinata she glided near and deliberately bumped into her so that Hinata was forced to drop the books she clutched in order to steady herself. Sakura hid her disgusted look and gave a feigned look of worry, "Oh, why I'm so sorry Hinata-chan."
Hinata smiled back, a small yet sincere smile, naively unaware of the other girl's intentions. "Good morning Haruno-san..." she greeted as she bent down to collect her books.
"Please, call me Sakura-chan." Then Sakura added, "For the rest of the year…"
Hinata wanted to bite her lip because she didn't know what to say, Haruno-san, no, Sakura-chan, was being nice to her! And here she was about to leave the school... to go be home-schooled. She hated hurting other people's feelings... but she decided to tell Sakura the truth, since she knew it was impolite not to answer.
"I... I'm not g-going to be here for the rest of the year."
Sakura gasped as though she hadn't already known, "Really? What happened?"
Ino, who was watching from a little distance away, rolled her eyes at this. Who knew Sakura could be such a good actor... geez… But it was obvious Sakura didn't want a repeat of last time, Ino thought, as she realized Sakura had chosen the one class she had with Hinata that didn't include Sasuke. But it also meant, Ino gasped, thatthere would be noone would stop this…
"I'm... I'm going to be h-home-schooled." Hinata answered shyly, feeling terrible...
Sakura looked shocked and seemed to be on the verge of crying, "Why, you don't like this school? Do you hate us all?" she exclaimed tearfully, her voice affected to attract the attentions of others. Inner Sakura was laughing maniacally. This would make Hinata look sooo bad...
Hinata was stunned. She stuttered, "N-no... no, it's n-not that..."
Another girl from Sakura's posse joined in, following Sakura's plan, "You think you're all smart and that, don't you!"
"Yeah, not wanting to stay in our school... wanting to be home-schooled because you're too good for us, huh?"
People were staring now. True, most of them had no idea what was going on, but they would soon figure it out, or at least they'd believe the biased tale Sakura was weaving.
Hinata was scared, thoughts frantically flying around in her head. No, no! That's not true! I'm being home-schooled because I need to spend time with Hanabi! But her lips wouldn't let out a single sound.
"So it is true!" Sakura was now pretending to look like she was boiling with anger. It really wasn't that hard. "You DO think you're so smart! You DO think you're too good for this school!"
"N-no... I..." Hinata backed up against the wall. Instinctively she hugged her books closer to her chest and a finger rose to rest on her bottom lip.
"You just can't say anything to defend yourself, because you know it's all TRUE!" Sakura spat out madly. She was starting to forget herself in her genuine fury, but it didn't matter. Her plan was working perfectly.
By now Hinata was trembling, her usual gentle eyes dilated in fear, and any neutral bystander might have felt great sympathy for the shy girl, being bullied by three girls- three LOUD girls who positively hated her- and not being able to say anything to defend herself.
"I HATE YOU!" Sakura screeched, "I HATE YOU! YOU THINK YOU'RE SO WONDERFUL! SO PERFECT! YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE SASUKE-KUN! I HATE YOU! THERE IS NO WAY THAT YOU DESERVE HIM! HE IS SO MUCH SMARTER, SO MUCH BETTER THAN YOU! AND YOU..."
Sakura was trembling all over… she completely forgot about her surroundings, she didn't care if the everyone, even the other Sasuke admirers, were staring at her in shock, she didn't care if she was just shaming herself now. She hated Hinata with a vengeance. She hated the stupid tears that rolled down the girl's cheek, she hated the wide innocent eyes that were filled with fear, not hatred, and most of all she hated the girl's genuine kindness. What was so good about her that allowed Sasuke-kun be engaged to her?
"I JUST HATE Y-" A hand reached out and muffled Sakura's cries.
Ino had stopped her.
She was staring firmly at Sakura with a determined look in her eyes. "Sakura... you're disgracing yourself! Either do this somewhere private... or just leave her alone!"
Sakura freed herself from Ino's grip and glared at both of her adversaries.
"I knew it," Sakura slowly hissed. "You're on her side now. What about Sasuke-kun? ARE YOU GOING TO JUST LET HER TAKE HIM AWAY?"
Ino looked away. "Sa-Sakura, it isn't worth it. Doing all this, just for a silly crush?"
"SILLY CRUSH?" Sakura looked like she would explode from rage. "YOU CALL THIS A SILLY CRUSH?"
"What's going on?" a voice sounded from the doorway.
"Kurenai-sensei," Ino smiled in relief. It would all be okay now. Right?
"What-" Sakura startled, all her rage disappearing along with her confidence at seeing a teacher appear. But wasn't Kurenai's room at the other end of the hall?
Then she noticed him. Naruto. Standing behind Kurenai with a guilty look on his face.
"Naruto? But you… I thought-" Sakura stammered, Naruto's betrayal hurting her far more than she ever expected.
"He came to get me," Kurenai answered for him. "Hinata-chan, are you alright?" Seeing Hinata's timid nod, she turned to Sakura.
"We're going to the principal's office. What you did was unacceptable. We'll definitely have to talk to your parents about this."
Sakura had stood there stunned all throughout Kurenai's speech, but as the teacher reached out to touch her arm, Sakura snapped.
"YOU'RE ALL AGAINST ME, AREN'T YOU?" Sakura accused, slapping away Kurenai's hand. The teacher retracted her arm, stunned at her student's behavior.
"I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS!" Sakura shrieked, and with one last glare at Naruto, she fled the building, leaving behind a shocked classroom.
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Sakura stomped angrily through the snow like a three year old with a tantrum, past caring whether or not her shoes got dirty. Shivering slightly in the chill air, she quickly headed towards a nearby café.
Reaching for the door handle, a snowflake landed on her outstretched palm, the same pure white as THAT girl's eyes, and Sakura squashed it. Viciously. Or at least she tried.
"I hate that Hyuuga," Sakura muttered.
"Really?" a sarcastic voice appeared behind her.
"Who are you?" Sakura whirled around, glaring at the blonde haired man that DARED to mock her.
The man was unfazed, and carefully adjusting the glasses mounted on his nose, turned his head to smile at her, "My name is Kabuto, and I can help you Miss Sakura."
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