Disclaimer: The usual, own nothing but the plot.

Chapter 8: Sakura's List of "What Must Be Accomplished"

Her room was a mess. Not as bad as it could have been, but still a mess. The contents on her dresser were spilling onto the floor, forming piles of small, useless items. There were two textbooks open on the floor, a notebook beside each. There were clean clothes in baskets that had just come from the wash, and not yet put away, other then some draped over the chair that were more-or-less considered put away. Despite the sea of decay, there were more important things to do for Sakura.

Like next to those two textbooks, was an open vile of lavender nail polish. She brushed the sticky liquid over her rather long nails. It took a matter of five minutes, then she replaced the lid without touching her nails. The stench of the polish filled the room. It didn't bother her.

One thing she was sure of, Haruno Sakura really needed to prioritize. There she lay on the first weekend off of school and was painting her nails rather then doing language and calculus homework. And if she didn't want to paint her nails, then at least she should have been cleaning her room.

Next, instead of doing something useful, she went to the mirror and checked her already fixed hair. She sighed. The pink haired girl was simply too lazy to do something of value. With that thought in mind, she tore a sheet of paper from one of the notebooks. A pencil in hand, she scribbled down a heading:

Haruno Sakura's List of What She Must Accomplish This Year

Her emerald eyes scanned the room.

1.Clean up room. Well that wasn't too hard, and Sakura loved a challenge. She added a part. …and keep it clean for the rest of the year until summer. There, much better.

Then she looked at the sitting homework. Again, the pen moved on the page. 2.Get passing grades in all subjects. ­Then she thought again. Passing meant 50 plus right? So if she got 51…it would still be good? She sighed, that would never do. She scratched it out and changed it. Get over 80 in all subjects. Eh…still not high enough, so she changed the 0 to a 5.

And now she was stuck. What else did she want…? Oh yes, 3.Get a steady boyfriend. How could she have forgotten that? Hmm, she hadn't really thought of that since she'd made friends with people that summer. She made a list of all the eligible candidates. Firstly was…um…okay, secondly was…ah! This was frustrating! She hadn't looked at any of them like that!

'I need to do something,' she thought boredly, 'I need to join a team sport, or something. Wait! That's it!' –4.Join a team sport…preferably tennis if that exists. Alright, now she was done. There was probably loads more she could say, but that was it for now.

Out the window, she spotted the ever-so-popular Uchiha boy. He was walking in the direction of his house, kicking a stone along the way. Not that he would be the best conversation piece in the world, but still, Uchiha was better then no one. She lifted the window, letting in the cool wind. "Sasuke-kun!" she called to him.

He turned as saw her waving, but said nothing in reply. "At least you could say hi back you sadistic bastard!" That hadn't come out right. Great, now he'd hate her forever, not to mention kill her. His face turned into a scowl, and his feet were stuck in place. "Don't you have anything to say to that?" she screamed again. In a minute she'd probably loose her voice from yelling so much. There was always a solution to this, and that was to actually climb down the tree. So that's what she did.

So in a few moments Sakura was standing on the overhanging branch, looking down upon her 'friend'. She wore a sleeveless shirt and baggy sweats. "Okay, you can kill me now," she sighed.

All she got was a stare in return. "Hello?" the now annoyed teen scowled as well, "earth to Saskatoon! Come in Saska—hello? Do we have contact? Hello? HELLO?" She assumed that that last bit had worked in pushing him a bit over the edge of keeping his cool. For in the blink of an eye, he was standing right in front of her on that same branch, towering over her with that extra height of his.

"Are you purposely more annoying than usual today? Do you want me to kill you?" he seethed, a leaf falling into his hair. He quickly brushed it off.

"Would you really harm a girl?" she asked sweetly. So much for that approach, meaning he would. "I stand by what I said earlier, you're a jerk. Can you at least look like you enjoy some part of life?" and she got no response, other then his constant stare. "Whatever, it's your life." Then she left him there and climbed up the natural ladder back up to her bedroom window.

Sasuke watched her go, then kept on looking in that direction, if she happened to pop her head out again, which she didn't. Not that he cared in anyway, nor was he looking for a pointless argument with her. So he sat in the tree, the simple fact that getting down was just too must effort, and sitting up here was a good place to stay anyway.

Inside her room, Sakura whisked out the sheet of paper again. 5.Help Sasuke-kun out of his sadist and "I hate everything/everyone/anything" attitude. He was so nerve racking sometimes. How she stood him as a kid was beyond her. Maybe he wasn't as bad back then. Then something at the corner of her eye made her do a double take…

"KYAAAAAA!"

Sasuke nearly fell out of the tree. What in the hell had happened? Forgetting that he didn't actually care, he made his way up the remaining branches rather quickly. "Sakura?" he said somewhat frantically.

She was near the windowsill, and turned her head. "S-S-Sasuke-kun?" her eyes seemed wide with fright.

"Well what is it? Why the scream? I thought you were stabbed or something…"

"C…c…c…"

"Kidnapper?" he said trying to think what else made that sound, and jumped on the ledge.

"COCKROACH!" she yelled and clamped to his bare arm, and pointed to a tiny black bug on the floor. He couldn't believe it. Worrying that much for a simple bug? Yet this girl was trembling in fear. There a whole lot more things that were scarier then an ugly bug.

"Are you…you screamed because of a tiny insect," a twinge of annoyance was present in the usual monotone voice. "Oh please, step on it or something, but this is stupid. Goodbye."

"No! No! No! Kill it for me Sasuke-kun! Please! Please!" Sakura was practically hyperventilating.

"You're who knows how many times bigger then it is! Just step on it…and let go of me!"

"Sasuke-kun! It's scary! KILL IT! You aren't leaving until it's dead!" she shook him violently, forgetting that the windowsill didn't exactly have a whole lot of room.

"Watch it you idi—" that's when he could feel his feet weren't exactly on a firm object anymore. It was all like a flash. The next thing they both knew, Sasuke was hanging outside the third story window of Sakura's room, who happened to be his only support from not falling, since she was safely inside, holding onto his wrist. "Moron!"

"I'm sorry! Really sorry Sasuke-kun! I'm sorry, really I am. Please forgive me, oh please, oh please! Sorry, sorry times a billion…"

"Quit apologizing and get me up, stupid! You won't hold on forever, weakling."

"What did you just call…oh yes! Pull up. Okay, here I go," she closed her eyes and tried to bring him up. Guys were so much heavier then girls nowadays. That and she had next to no muscle to pull such weight. "Um, Sasuke-kun…"

He gritted his teeth. "Can't pull me up, can you?" he saw her shake her head. This was simply perfect. Not even graduated high school, and he was about to die. "Just…just try harder." All one needed to do was keep a cool head about it.

But her eyes weren't watching him anymore. "Um…Sasuke-kun?" she said rather reluctantly. He didn't say anything in response, but he was listening. "Down there…coming close…Naruto, Kiba and Hinata are coming this way…this would be a strange sight…"

"Naruto?" he questioned, but it was more a statement. "God damnit! I'll get up myself. Whatever you do, Sakura, don't let go or fall out the window." She nodded and gripped the top of the window for support. Sasuke aligned his feet to the wall, and begun to step up, so as like walking vertically. The muscles in his arm tensed as he climbed.

Sakura felt as if her arm was going to be pulled from its socket. She'd rather throw him off the building then go through this pain. Well, that wasn't entirely true, but there must have been a less painful way. Like if she'd fallen instead of him…but then he'd have probably let her fall. Her newly painted nails were digging into his flesh.

He slowly could reach his free hand to grip the windowsill, and that made the weight a lot lighter. So then the pink haired girl pulled like mad. To both of their relief, they were now on the safety of Sakura's bedroom floor. She was on her back, he on his knees, both panting. However they'd made it inside before the 3 friends could notice anything.

"Moron…" he repeated, clutching his arm where her nails had dug in. It was bleeding.

"I said I was sorry, didn't I?" she said slowly in between breaths. Her eyes gazed over to him. "You…your arm! Did I do that?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it's nothing…worry about yourself and your stupid weak arm."

However she'd let that last thing slide, and went into the washroom, and came back with a few things. "Maybe so but still. I got you into that mess, at least me check those cuts."

"Don't push yourself, just let me go home."

"Sit."

"I don't want—" and then she yanked him down, with more force then he'd expected. If only that strength had worked the other way.

"I just put nail polish on anyway. That stuff's toxic if it get into your blood. The chance that it did is low…but still. Now be a good little boy and let me see." More like she forced him, as she examined the tiny cuts. It was about time to cut her nails…

She dabbed a cotton ball in the container, which Sasuke had only read until now which read, "Woman! You trying to make it hurt more then it already does?" he tried to pull away, but her grip rested firm.

She blew on the areas where she'd put the alcohol. "Trust me…if it gets infected, it'll hurt way more then it does now. So just suck it up, okay?" her nimble finger slid up and down his lower arm. He had to admit, it felt rather nice. So he was silent the rest of the time, and she wrapped from his wrist to elbow with white bandages. "There, done!" she said proudly.

"You going to become a doctor or something?" he asked, and she shrugged in reply.

"In any case…you're…leaving now?"

"Aa." He headed towards the door, deciding not to take the window exit. Then he felt someone latch to his arm again. "What now?"

"C…c…c…"

"Please don't tell me…"

"COCKROACH! Kill it Sasuke-kun!" the girl cried. Here they went again…

Mental note, 6.Get over fear of bugs.

The 3 of them sat in a circle on the cool marble floor. Hinata looked worried, Kiba looked serious, and Naruto was chewing his bottom lip. "Naruto…" Kiba turned to him, "it's your turn."

The blonde's palms were sweating, so he wiped them on his pants. "O…okay…" he took in a deep breath.

"Naruto…are you ready? You can't fail this mission," the other reminded him sternly.

"Yes…I know…" more sweat on his forehead, and he cleaned that too. This was it…now or never. He only hoped he'd make the right choice. "Okay, go for it!" he said confidently.

Hinata put her two hands together, almost in prayer. Kiba smirked, "Ready, Naruto?" then for an extra dramatic and suspenseful tone, he paused. "Find 'dy' over 'dx' for this equation: y equals sin(x³+3x²+1)"

Yes, the joys of calculus homework. The nice lesson for derivatives, the chain rule. "Ah! I knew there'd be a question like that!" he messed up his own hair, "I can do this though! I can and I will! Give me that paper!" Hinata passed him the requested item as well as a pencil. The two watched the blond write numbers and variables down. After a few minutes, he'd come up with an answer. "Okay, is this right?"

Kiba took the paper and passed it to Hinata. Her silver eyes gazed over it. (3x²+6x)cos(x³+3x²+1) "I…it's right…" she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Really? Seriously, you mean it?" he brightened. And people told him he was stupid… "Yes! Who's passing math this term? I am of course! It's all thanks to you, Hinata! Without your help, I'd still be in grade 10 applied math…"

"N-Naruto-kun. I…I didn't d-do much…" she blushed and spoke quietly.

"No need to be modest, Hinata. We'd both be failing without your help. Give yourself a bit more credit," Kiba reassured her.

"Uh…okay…I…I guess."

"I'm passing math, I'm passing math!" the blue eyed one kept chanting, walking around in circles. "I'm going to graduate! I'm going to graduate!"

"Would you shut up already?" a voice from inside the closed door spoke, then it swung open, revealing a rather ticked looking Neji. Sweat lined his brow.

"Oh, well excuse me! Did I interrupt your little make out session in there?" he shot back, good mood now ruined.

This made the Hyuuga frown, but another voice spoke. "Please, Naruto. You shouldn't joke like that," Tenten immerged, holding a slightly battered kanata. "It's called sparring. Since when have you seen people make out with swords?"

"Easy. Just incase what's-his-face goes too far you can stab him!" and then Naruto was sent into a fit of laughter. Everyone else was silent.

"Naruto…when you're the only one laughing at your joke…that isn't good," Kiba said dryly, but didn't care one way or another if he wanted to continue making a fool out of himself.

Neji pushed some locks from his face. "Well, in that case, at least I can get women. Unlike a certain someone," he spoke smoothly.

The laughter subsided. It was replaced by seriousness. "You weren't talking about me, were you?" when no response came, the answer was quite obvious. Well, it was obvious before too… "That is so not true! I can get any girl…that isn't already taken or in love with someone else…to go out with me!"

"Oh really? Prove it!" the other challenged.

"Okay, fine! I will!" and instantly he regretted saying that. Prove it to whom? Who was he going to prove it to? Tenten definitely not, since she was one of the primary sources of the bet. He'd rather not ask a guy, so the only option left was… "Hiiiiiiiiiinata?" he called sweetly, walking over to her side. "So, would you consider, um, possibly going out with me?"

The world stopped momentarily. It was now the perfect time to jump off! What was she to say? There was her big moment to accept….but ah! Why…why were there so many people around to watch? There was everyone else pressuring her silently to decline, but then how in the world could she say no to her lifetime crush? Life was so complicated sometimes… "I…well, you s-s-see…"

The room was quiet. "Aww, stop picking on Hinata-chan!" Tenten scolded, "she's way to nice to turn anyone down!"

"Please. And don't try to pick up anyone in my house either," drawled Neji. "That's for you to do in your own time, and in your own place. So before I stab you, get out."

"Wha? You can't just kick me out like that! Just because of one stupid comment-"

"Get out." He repeated again, narrowing his eyes.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiinata! Tell your stupid cousin he can't kick me out!"

Neji took Tenten's kanata and pointed it towards Naruto. "I won't say it again. Get. Out."

The blond mumbled incoherently. "I'm going…" he reached the end of the hall, and decided he was too far away for Neji to suddenly bound down the hall to kill him. "Oh yeah, hurry up and get a girl friend!" Knowing that he wouldn't be welcomed back the rest of the weekend, Naruto made his way out of the front door. While outside, he pondered upon the bet. 'I wonder if Sakura-chan will accept now that she's used to me more…'

The bug now dead, after some complaints from the two teens, Sakura now sat alone in her room. She sneezed. Frowning, she added another thing to the list. ­7.Make sure no one talks about me behind my back. If I find who they are, punch them.

It would be a fun, annoying, challenging, and surprising year.

AN: Okay guys, I promised I'd update as soon as I came back so here it is. Forgive me with this chapter, since I wrote it on the airplane. Cabin pressure really makes you tired but I needed something in order to update right? I decided not to kill the plot with my weird mood, so here's something funny, or at least I hope it was. At least later on in the story Sakura has to do all of those 'accomplishments'. Forget Sakura's lame OOC-ness towards bugs there. I'm personally not afraid of them but I know my share of people who are. Another thing, forgive the calculus. I'm not that far in high school math yet –laughs-. I got it from my second cousin (but I don't trust his judgement with these things…so I'm just leaving it at that.)

Next chapter I finally get to work with some pairings! –insert evil laugh-. Up to you who they are right now, but I guess I'll finish it in what? A week or so? Now that summer's here, I have a lot more time to write!