N.O.-S.A.N.C.T.U.A.R.Y: Hello everyone, sorry that I took so long to update. I'm just really stressed out and depressed lately, so I took off to find some inspiration and just think. I hope you guys are still interested in this fiction. Yes I edited it, but for the better of the story. Hope ya like.

Please read and review, no flames.

I'd like to thank -Kristine X3- for beta-reading my story, and adding paragraphs throughout the chapter. You're awesome!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or its characters. I only own this story plot. Simple. So if you try and sue, you'll only receive a wonderful pink bubble gum wrapper. Yum.

This story has nothing to do with the original plot. Just making sure you guys know.

Chapter started at: July 23, 4:16PM

Chapter 5: Thoughts

It was yet another day in Konoha. The sky was a wonderful blue, the sun shone brightly on the village, and a light warm breeze blew occasionally. Villagers did the usual, converse among one another, and the children ran around with no worries what so ever.

Sasuke sat on a tree branch, just looking at the village below him. He needed some time alone, away from Sakura and Naruto. He swore that they both drive him mad. When they had begun training earlier in the morning, Sakura had the nerve to come to his house, saying that she wanted to walk with him to the training grounds. He had no way to get rid of her, so he had unwillingly walked with her. It wasn't that Sakura was like those other fangirls, or even as annoying as them. But, for some reason, he just couldn't stand her. Yes, he knew she cared for him, but he just didn't "click" with her. She then began to talk to him, but he really wasn't listening to her babbling nonsense. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he heard her talking about how annoying Naruto was. He recalled she did that before, and he had told her she was annoying. So now, he was going to tell her again.

"Sakura," Sasuke turned to her. "I agreed to walk with you. I never agreed to hear you talk nonsense."

Sakura's sea-foam green eyes had widened.

"Just be quiet, you're so annoying. I thought Naruto was, but you're worse," Sasuke shoved his hands into his shorts' pockets and walked ahead of her, leaving a stunned Sakura standing in the same spot.

So now Sasuke was sitting in a tree, away from Sakura, away from Naruto. His onyx eyes glanced downwards, and he saw Ino. She was sitting on a bench, eating some ramen noodles. She was wearing her usual outfit, her long hair was pinned up with the exception of a few strands and the usual long bang, and she had on her yellow apron. She looked sad once again. Sasuke jumped to a lower branch to get a good look at her. She basically looked dead.

Sasuke didn't think Ino would ever look like this. He always remembered that spunky attitude of hers. He remembered how Sakura and Ino would always compete for his attention. Ino, the girl who had always flaunted her beauty and had so much confidence that people thought her ego was getting huge. Sasuke had automatically labeled, "Annoying and a bitch." He had thought she was worse than Sakura. But to be frank, now that Sasuke sat here and thought about it, she wasn't as bad as Sakura. Ino did compete for his attention, he admitted that, but she wasn't exactly as annoying.

Sakura was just plain annoyed him, especially after they had been assigned to the same team. Sakura began to brag about being on the same team as him, thinking she had a chance. Whenever Kakashi-Sensei assigned those missions, Sakura would always try and get closer to him in some way. Not to mention during battles, Sakura would hardly fight. She was help, she did advise the team and rooted for him and Naruto, but she would hardly get in the action. That annoyed him the most, but he was grateful for her advisement. He then realized that even though she may not always participate in battle, she had a strong will, and even if the odds are against them, she would always support the team and tell them that they could do it.

Ino was just the same as any other girl. She had googly-eyes whenever he was around, she'd argue with Sakura whenever they battled for his attention. But Ino could back it up. Ino was strong during battle, and she may be scared sometimes, but Ino would fight. Her Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique), where the ninja creates a hand seal to focus on an enemy and the ninja's spirit enters their opponent's body for a brief period of time, intrigued him the most. Ino is quite bossy when it comes to her team, but she cares about them a lot.

And now that he thought about it, Ino wasn't a bitch, only to Sakura. He couldn't think up of a reason why he had thought of her as a bitch. Was it because since everyone else called her a bitch, that he believed it? Was it because she always needlessly flaunted her beauty like an attention whore? Was it because she was so confident that people often mistaken her for conceited?

Sasuke's eyes widened. He had always called them both annoying, but now he realized that neither Sakura nor Ino was too bad. It took him until now to realize that he had only been thinking about himself and not others. He realized that he was so bent on getting revenge on his brother, that he considered everyone who got in his way or slowed him down annoying. He thought that he didn't have time to consider other people, but in reality he did. 'Then again,' he thought, 'I'm still going to revenge my clan. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can change my mind.'

Sasuke watched Ino finish her food and walk off, Ino had much more to deal with than Sakura now. Of course, people used to call Sakura weak and a nerd. But Ino has to deal with being called a lot worst. She has to deal with being called degrading names, names that can rip someone apart from the inside out, names that can make someone's confidence go way down. Now Sasuke slightly understood her a bit more. Sure, he was never called those degrading names upfront, but he knew. Whenever he turned his back, people, especially jealous people, would call him names such as "gay", "lone wolf", "stuck up" or "arrogant" just because he wasn't sociable. Just because he didn't talk to many people and kept to himself, people would degrade him while acting like his biggest fan. Sure, he had a different point of view than other people, and he wasn't as friendly as he should be, but that was no reason to say things like that. He guessed he did know how Ino felt.

He jumped off the tree and started walking, with his hands in his pockets. In a way, he was scared of this new experience, not knowing if it was for the worse or better, but he couldn't hide the fact that he had feelings too, no matter how hard he tried. He did feel sympathy for people; happy and sad at times, but he would always hide it, no matter what. Now, he learned something new about himself, something that he hadn't realized.

This experience was starting to make him realize that in a way, he also, hid behind a mask….

-End chapter-

N.O.-S.A.N.C.T.U.A.R.Y- Hoped you guys like, I worked hard on this chapter, and I appreciate everyone reading. Please read and review, and thank you so much for taking the time out to read this story. I'm sorry for taking so long to update, I'll try and update quicker, and it's not fair to you guys….