Chapter 3 ---- Sakura's Secret

The next day, Sakura was walking to school. Hinata and Tenten had asked her if she wanted to meet up with them and walk to school everyday, but Sakura refused because she tended to be late. When she was passing by the bus stop, she spotted Sasuke on the other side of the road.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura waved at him.

Sasuke looked in her direction and showed his hand.

Sakura hurried across the road while the pedestrian sign was still on.

"Good morning!" she came next to him.

"Good morning..," he greeted back.

"Yo!" Naruto came and pushed Sasuke.

Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"Nooo..don't give me that look, Sasuke! I won't disturb you two anymore. OK?" Naruto tapped on Sasuke's shoulder and left.

"Oh, Naruto…" Sakura shook her head.

Sasuke watched her from the side. She looked in his direction and he faced back front. They walked to school together.

During the science lab, Sakura and Sasuke were paired up again. The lab was to find 10 different types of leaves from the campus and analyze them. The students were sent out to find the leaves. They went out the building and went into the forest next to the school. Sakura picked up some leaves and so did Sasuke.

"That was really easy. This is my favorite place. I found it when I was little but since I wasn't a high school student, I couldn't really sneak in here after I got into middle school," Sakura said as she looked around nostalgically.

"Does… Naruto know this place?" Sasuke asked.

"No, actually… Wow, he really doesn't. This was like my safe haven and also an oasis. I just wanted to be by myself whenever I came here..," Sakura said.

Sasuke just listened.

They went out of the woods and ran into Naruto!

"What were you guys doing!" Naruto got furious.

"Nothing," Sasuke said solemnly and poked Naruto's head as he passed by him.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto turned around.

"We were just collecting leaves. Where are yours?" Sakura asked Naruto.

"I'm…I'm already done! Who do you think I am? I know everything around here!" Naruto said proudly.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other and laughed. Sakura was glad to have made a friend on the second day of her school.

After school, Sakura was walking with Hinata and saw a boy from another class. His name was Hyuuga Neji. Sakura secretly liked Neji. Hinata also knew about it and so did Tenten and Naruto. Naruto, however, did not like Neji because he was not very nice to him. He was hoping that Sakura would find someone better than someone who is cold like Neji.

Sakura did have a reason for liking Neji. When she was in the last year of elementary school, her dad brought his business partner for dinner and Neji came with him. He was the son of Mr. Hyuuga. Mr. Hyuuga had recently moved to Konota. Since Sakura liked making friends, she started talking to Neji. They became somewhat close and she would invite him over to her room whenever he came with his dad. However, when they entered middle school, Neji made many friends and they never got to hang out together. He was in the "cool" bunch. Sakura's father was promoted to become the head of the department and he no longer brought Mr. Hyuuga home. Sakura would see Neji at school but as time passed, it seemed like they weren't really friends anymore. Sakura was sure that Neji liked her in either way, but he no longer talked to her. Only when she greeted him, he greeted back. "He must be shy," she thought. However, nothing happened and the middle school years ended. Sakura was thinking that Sasuke was much more honest and nicer than Neji. Maybe she would go better with Sasuke. But he was her friend. Once she decided something, Sakura could not change her mind. She was ready to make a change.

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Author Note: I hope you like Chapter 3. Things are finally opening up. Please let me know what you think!