Chapter 6

"This will be our Christmas Party and I want you now to call out the number you have pulled from the bowl earlier to claim your Christmas gift." Haruno Sakura's club moderator, as she calls him, Genma-sensei (sorry! I don't know what is his whole name, so I'll just put the reason at Sakura's point of view), said.

Her club is called the "Young Writers' Guild." Sakura likes to write poetry and who inspires her most is Shakespeare. So far, she's the Editor-in-Chief, considering her fame, no one voted her out of the position, which means she gets to write much poetry for their monthly Literary, a little book collection of the club's most beautiful works of word art.

"This is what you are going to do. You are going to say what number you got and say aloud a beautiful poetry you composed after that." Genma said, some groaning and complaining under their breaths. "Of course, let's start with the Editor-in-Chief. Ms. Haruno?"

Sakura stood up and adjusted her glasses as she went to the center of the classroom. "Sixteen." Sakura said.

"Hey, that's my gift! Sakura receives my gift!" the boy from the second level said, making some boys glare at him.

Sakura coughed loud enough to catch the attention of the class. Then she recited her poetry. "This is called, 'When Dreams Don't Come True.' I made this when I was back in freshmen in my other school."

She breathe deeply first before reciting.

Like a leaf is flown from a tree,

I surrender to the might of my fate.

Down my knees I am, pleading to set me free.

I long for the glimpse of success

That had once crowned my fame.

But that lost glory of mine, I no longer possess.

There is no essence in my life,

Being deprived in everything that it needs

And all I have now is this unending strife

Perhaps this public ignominy

Was destined to be my destiny

Yet, I dare to ask, 'can I not uncover the mask?'

The weak smile that I wear,

Doesn't heal but is painful to hear

Now that I realize unlike the shimmering dew,

That is what happens when dreams don't come true.

The club was quiet. No one spoke for a while. Then someone shouted. "Sakura! That's was beautiful! As beautiful as you are!" a friend of the boy who shouted earlier said loudly.

More shouts came and Genma became furious that he just canceled the poetry reciting and proceeded to the gift-exchanging.

Sakura sat idly at her chair, looking at every direction. She felt a tap on her shoulder and looked around to see who tapped her.

It was one of the boys earlier, different from the one that her present came from. "A gift for the most beautiful angel I've ever seen." He said, handing Sakura a gift covered in a colorful wrapper.

Sakura muttered a 'thanks' and soon enough, she received four more gifts but more letters. Then she heard the bell rang. She proceeded outside and stuffed all the gifts she received, not caring if its wrapper is crumpled or some part of it is torn. She still has to arrange her things for the College Fair tomorrow, which is the Day 1: Free time. The next day is Day 2: Dance Night, she's planning not to attend this one. And the Third, Day 3: Band Night. And the band is Bad Luck, Sasuke's band. She will be there, just to see how good Neji plays and compare him to Sasuke.

"Hey." She looked up and saw Sasuke and paper in his hand. "For you." Sasuke handed Sakura the paper and Sakura looked at it.

"What am I supposed to do with a piece of junk?" Sakura raised an eyebrow while adjusting her glasses.

"It's not a piece of junk. Read it, it's from Neji. Ja." Sasuke walked off, leaving Sakura holding the paper with trembling hands.

She decided to open it and when she does, the words written on it surprised her.

Would you like to be my date for the dance night? It's okay if you don't want to. Just pass your reply to Uchiha. Sayonara!

Neji—

"He just asked me out." Sakura muttered, a small smile playing on her lips.


"Told you she likes you." Sasuke muttered.

Sasuke and Neji hid in a classroom next to the meeting place of the Writer's Guild. They were watching Sakura at the corner of their eyes where Neji was shock to see Sakura smile like that. Normally, she wouldn't smile, not if she's with Ino and the others. But no, there's no one beside her and the only thing that kept her attention is that paper she's holding that Neji wrote for her.

"But…I thought she likes you because she kept having glances at you." Neji reasoned out. He tried to find more reasons that Sakura likes Sasuke but he can't find any additional speculation other than that.

"Oh come on, just listen to the tone of her voice, then you'll see how much she hates me…And besides," Sasuke turned his back on Neji to face the blackboard situated in front of the classroom, "I have no intention of courting a girl like her." He lied.

Neji raised an eyebrow. Normally, Sasuke would love to have a competition with Neji, but this is different.

"She's walking pass us." Neji muttered. Sasuke and Neji hid at the space of the wall, just next to the open sliding door.

"I know you're in there, Uchiha. Please tell Neji that I would love to be his date at Day 2." Sakura walked.

Neji's eyes widened as he heard this, and glanced at Sasuke, who is wearing his usual pretty face, smirking convincingly at Neji.


After 2 days, the Day 2: Dance Night…

Sakura agreed to be fetched by Neji at her house, making her give her address to him through none other than Sasuke. After a few provokes and shouts, Sakura gave the address and said to Neji that Sakura wanted to be fetched at around eight o'clock. Sasuke's date is Yamanaka Ino, since Sakura pushed Sasuke to do it, Naruto with Hinata and Gaara? He didn't want to come. (Gaara said it's 'too troublesome' in front of their manager, Shikamaru, making him earn a poke on the head which was broadcasted in the Friday Showbiz television).

The students of Konoha High School are to wear casual clothes, and Sakura is not having trouble with what she is going to wear. She's a simple dresser. Just one glance at her closet, she can look good on a plain white shirt, what if now that Ino, the closet manager, is currently with her, wearing a violet sleeveless blouse that shows her flat stomach, with a pair of white, three-fourth pants, complete with black high heels.

Now, Ino is Sakura's fashion designer, in which she made Sakura wear a pair of fitted blue pants and three-fourth long sleeves with a color of dark blue. She also lent Sakura step-ins that are one and a half inch high, with glistening white stones with a background of black as the design. When Sakura wore it, she wore an annoyed look but Ino didn't seem to care, nevertheless, notice. If looks could kill, Ino would be dead as of now.

Ino forced Sakura to take off her eyeglasses since she knows that Sakura visited her ophthalmologist last week and said that the grade of her eyes is only 75, which leads Ino to a conclusion that Sakura wears glasses only because it looks good on her. But taking it off can make the difference.

All these are just fine for Sakura, except for the fact that Tenten is upset with her for accepting Neji as her date when Sakura said she has no time for such. But Ino and Hinata stayed supportive on both sides and are doing the best they can to patch up the friendship of the two.

"Make up time!" Sakura groaned as Ino left her sitting on a stool in front of Sakura's body length mirror. Sakura pouted her lips as Ino came back searching for different kinds of make-up available inside her bag. As a matter of fact, she has almost all of the different kinds of cosmetics in her bag that Sakura must know.

Ino got a blush-on and applied some of it on Sakura's pale cheeks, while Sakura had her eyes closed, wishing it would stop. Sakura is not the type of person who shouts, that's why she's fighting the urge to do so in front of a person who can tell a secret to the whole campus in a matter of minutes.

Almost everything is finished, and Sakura is not having trouble with the make-up anymore. Ino complemented her for having peach skin, which made her smirk a bit. The make-up was light and not much pink powder is putted on her because of her complexion. What made Sakura look more wonderful is the way her emerald green eyes sparkle against the light green eye shadow Ino putted on her plus add up her glossy pink lipstick which dragged Sakura near perfection.

It's already 7:32 and the only thing that is not yet done is Sakura's hair, which was tied up in a ponytail when Ino was putting make-up on Sakura's face. Having Sakura on their group made them one of the most famous group in the school, and Ino would always love that, that's why she's making Sakura as gorgeous as she can. Ino grabbed a brush and ran it through Sakura's pink hair, dividing it into two parts, leaving considerable amount of bangs on the side of Sakura's face, and started braided the left side, careful not to make a mistake in including Sakura's bangs, which took her almost a minute. She did the same thing to the other side and smiled at the outcome, but she's not yet done.

She lifted the two up, making it create a loop, and Ino tied it up using an elastic band, as the bangs of Sakura remain in front. Sakura looked at herself in front of the mirror. It looks like the Sakura before, who would do anything with her hair to impress Morino Idate, but that was the past. Now Ino would do anything to help Sakura with the guy she likes.

Ino doesn't know the fact that Sakura also likes Sasuke, because Sakura didn't tell anyone. No one knows and Sakura's blank face is enough to make everyone see that she's not hiding anything. The reason is that Sakura and Ino might also end up being rivals just like what happen between her and Tenten.

Sakura snapped out of her trance when she heard a squeal, higher than Ino's. It belongs to her mother.

"Sakura! Oh, my child looks so…breathtaking!" She hugged Sakura lightly, careful not to destroy Ino's masterpiece. "Oh, before I forgot, Hyuuga-san and Uchiha-san are waiting downstairs. It's so wonderful to have such an intelligent and beautiful child. Japan is so proud of you!"

Sakura rolled her eyes quickly and sighed. So Neji is already there, along with his mate, Sasuke. This is one heck of a night.


"Everything alright, Hyuuga?" Sasuke asked. Neji, ever since they both stepped foot on the carpet of the Harunos, often wipes his damped forehead. Who knew a Hyuuga would be this nervous when singing in front of a million people is as easy as counting one to ten? Sasuke chuckled slightly. One of his best mates could act so weirdly around a girl, unlike him who could even court a girl even though they hardly knew each other. But he tried to hide the tone of jealousy in his voice when he asked if Neji is alright.

Neji just nodded, but not a simple nod. He nodded continuously, stopping when Sasuke raised a hand to show that he understood what Neji meant. Neji sighed deeply. Sure, Sasuke stopped his moves on Sakura, but he is still not sure whether Sasuke is serious about giving up when Neji likes someone Sasuke ALSO likes. It's is so rare. Usually they would end up shouting with each other that even Shikamaru couldn't handle. Their manager would be too lazy to stop them. Heck, even their co-members will be too lazy to stop them because it is natural when the two would bicker because of a certain girl. This happens when they are at a certain country away from their own. Well, about Sasuke giving up on courting a girl, it happens only and only at Japan.

Neji doesn't have a clue of what Sasuke is up to together with Sakura. It's because Sakura asked him not to breathe a word to anyone. Sasuke agreed reluctantly after earning a burning slap on the face from her.

Loud footsteps could be heard, causing Sasuke and Neji to turn their heads towards the direction. Sasuke first saw Sakura's mother, her smile reaching her ears, next is Ino's figure, holding another hand, which looks like Sakura's. Sasuke, whose date is Ino, just glanced at her once, but his breath was knocked out of him when he saw Sakura. The same thing happened to Neji. They both muttered a small 'wow.' Sakura never looked that way before. Her professional-looking features were replaced by an innocent one of an angel that has the power to knock the breath out of people at a long range.

The dark blue three-fourths blouse Sakura is wearing contrasted with pink which looks good on her. The make-up putted on her is very light, it's because it's not needed much, and Sakura's complexion is already peach. Sasuke heard a cough and turned to its direction. It came from Ino, who came to him and took his arm, wheeling him out of the house as she wave goodbye to Sakura, who didn't seem to notice because she is gazing down at Neji, who wore plain red t-shirt and pair of pants with a chain visible, glistening against the light. His hair is still the same, on a loose ponytail, and he is wearing a necklace that is silver with the letters B.L. on it. (It stands for Bad Luck.)

Neji neared the stairs and at the same time, Sakura went down, and stopped in front of each other. Neji asked for Sakura's hand, which she gave slowly. He brought it up to his face and kissed it lightly, his white eyes never leaving Sakura's emerald ones. Sakura felt herself blush slightly, adding up to the color of her face, but offered Neji a small smile. Neji returned the smile and asked wordlessly if Sakura is ready to go, unaware of Sakura's mother standing at the foot of the stairs, just next to Neji, who seems to be controlling her laughter.

Sakura nodded slowly and Neji offered his arms to Sakura, who took it willingly and they both set off.


A/N: Gomen, for not updating soon. I've been so caught up with schoolwork and I'm depressed because I'm out of the honor rolls plus I got no more Subject Excellence left! (Who wouldn't!)

Just wait for the next update. I'll try to do more and more. Wish April would come faster. It would give me more time to do and read more fics, don't you think?

Anyways, I already have an idea of the ending here, just an idea. But I think it would take place at the end, obvious? I'm not letting much out that's why I said it that way. Also I have lots of ideas and I'm just trying to put the pieces together, and with luck I would be able to make a wonderful and complete idea to the story. Ja!