Little Sakura felt someone staring at her. It had been a few days since she first joined her class. The dark-haired boy who sat on her left was a peculiar one, to say the least. Sure, he was very good-looking, and the baby fat on his cheeks made people want to pinch him while squealing. But his staring had become quite bothersome.

He would stare at her for some time during class and break time, and when she turned her head towards him, he would quickly avert his eyes staring at nothing in particular. Did he think he was so good at playing spy, or what? She decided it was time to confront this ridiculous staring habit and started a decent conversation.

"Hey."

The boy startled and looked at Sakura as if she had grown a second head. He quirked his eyebrow at her and said nothing.

Sakura looked at him feeling confused about why he didn't utter any word.

"I caught you staring at me for quite a lot of times already. Do you have something to say to me?"

His eyes widened a bit, and his ears started to become red. Apparently he truly thought he was a good spy. He turned his head back towards the front of the class, pretended to not hear any words from her.

Sakura scrunched up her nose and tilted her head at the sight before her.

Very peculiar indeed.

She felt someone nudge her and turned her head to the right.

"It's a waste of time trying to speak to Teme," Naruto whispered.

"Teme?" Sakura whispered back.

"The dark-haired boy beside you."

"You've tried talking to him?"

"Yeah, but he didn't respond well. It's as if he's a mute or something, y'know."

Ah, a mute.

Sakura turned her head back towards the dark-haired boy, suddenly feeling a lot more tolerant of all the staring he did. He turned his head towards her and she gave him a small smile. He quirked his eyebrow again, said nothing, and turned his head forward.

It's okay. We all fight different battles. I'll tolerate your staring 'cause you're battling your own mute struggles too.

With this conviction, Sakura focused her attention on her sensei once again.

A week had passed after the little confrontation Sakura made towards the dark-haired mute boy. Yes, she believed what Naruto said at face value, and thought the dark-haired boy was indeed a mute. He didn't utter any words to make her believe otherwise anyway.

Right now it was her turn and a few other classmates' to do the chores of cleaning the classroom. They worked quickly, trying to finish as soon as possible to get back home and enjoy the weekend. Meanwhile Sakura simply cleaned at a slower pace because she didn't like to go back to the orphanage.

"Hey, are you done yet?"

Sakura looked at her classmate, "No, I'm sorry. You all can go back first. I'll finish this and head back as well."

"If you say so," the classmate shrugged.

She watched them leave the classroom and continued on her task. After a while she finally finished and proceeded to store away all the cleaning supplies that they used. She walked back to her seat and saw there was a book on the dark-haired boy's side of the table drawer.

She took the book and noticed it was the homework that they needed to submit next Monday. She contemplated bringing the book to the boy but she didn't even know where he lived. She opened the book and saw 'Uchiha Sasuke' written in a neat handwriting at the corner of the first page.

"Sakura, you're still here?" Iruka sensei called out to her from the class' doors.

Sakura turned her head towards him, "Ah, yes sensei. I just finished cleaning."

"What about the others?" Iruka sensei walked closer towards her.

"I told them to leave first because I was slow in cleaning up. By the way, sensei, do you know where Uchiha Sasuke lives?"

"Uchiha Sasuke? Why do you want to know?"

Sakura showed him the book on her hand, "He left this behind and we have homework to submit next Monday. I was thinking of bringing it back to him."

Iruka sensei smiled, feeling happy at the mere thought of his students getting along well.

"Well, he lives in the Uchiha district. I'll tell you more about it while we're walking out of here."

Sakura nodded her head and took her bag with her. Together with Iruka sensei, she walked out of the classroom and listened to his sensei's direction about where the dark-haired boy lived.

The village market looked alive with all the people bustling in it. It was the next morning and Sakura was currently walking towards the Uchiha district. It was quite far from the center of the village.

She felt quite good today. It was sunny, her bullies were nowhere in sight, and she was about to visit a part of the village she never went to before. All in all, it was a good day.

She hummed to herself and finally saw the gate with a red-and-white fan on top of it. She noticed how it looked exactly like the one on the outside of Konoha Military Police station and wondered why.

The inside of the Uchiha district was like a mini village. Some people were out selling whatever goods they had and the others swarmed the stands trying to negotiate the prices for their groceries.

She smelled something sweet and looked at her left. An old man was standing in the midst of delicious-looking bread. She approached him with eyes full of wonder. The man noticed her and looked startled at first at the shock of pink that was her. It wasn't everyday you could see a pop of colour like this in the Uchiha district.

"Excuse me, Ojii-chan, what are these?"

"Ah, they're anpan, young one." He smiled at her. "Breads with red bean fillings."

Sakura's eyes rounded cutely, she wondered whether the taste would be as delicious as the smell.

"You're not from here, are you?"

"No. I live quite far from here. This place is quite far from the center of the village, ne, Ojii-chan?" She said with a thoughtful expression.

"Hahaha… Yes, it is. Though there is a reason for that."

Sakura's eyebrows raised at that last sentence.

"Well, what are you doing here, young one?"

"Oh! I want to bring this back to Uchiha Sasuke. He left it in the classroom and we have to submit homework from this next Monday." She said while showing him the book she brought.

The old man smiled even more, apparently feeling happy to see a non-Uchiha being so kind to an Uchiha. He believed the little pink girl would grow up to be a decent human being.

"Well, his house is just up front at the right side of the street. You'll notice it because it's the biggest house in this district."

Sakura looked at where the old man was pointing at. She nodded and looked at the delicious-looking anpan once more. The old man noticed this, and with a grin decided to take one of the anpan and gave it to her.

"Here, take this. It's my treat. Welcome to the Uchiha district."

Sakura grinned back at him and eagerly took the anpan from him. "Thank you so much, Ojii-chan! May your breads sell out fast today!"

She bowed her head to him and continued on walking. The bread was warm on her hand and she slowly bit into it. Ah, the taste melted on her tongue. It was so delicious she wondered whether it was okay to just receive it without paying. She thought nothing better could happen today, but boy, was she wrong.