Chapter Two—Uchiha Sasuke

They'd known each other for ages, all of them. Since primary school, he'd been stuck with a particular group of classmates. He wouldn't really call them close friends or even acquaintances, save for Naruto. The rest were just sort of people he knew, people he was familiar with. No one really stood out among the bunch enough for him to acknowledge them.

Not even Sakura as much as everyone around him seemed to worship her and the other blonde, Ino. Heck, he'd even heard a few guys were beginning to add Hinata to that list. Not that he cared to listen past the initial part of the conversation. None of that really mattered to him.

He was in the same boat with the girls. It was no secret they saw him as some heartthrob, lady killer. Maybe it was the good looks heaven blessed him with or his aptitude for studies or even athletics. He naturally excelled at pretty much everything he did. It wasn't for attention, though. He'd been living in a pretty irritating shadow for his entire life. And while no one could rival his admiration for his brother, no one could rival his disdain for him either.

The idea of surpassing Itachi is what pushed him to be the best. If he could be better than his brother then fath—.

'No, that's not why I'm doing this.' He tried to convince himself that his father's approval had nothing to do with his current ambitions.

He's…getting there.

At any rate, he wasn't at school to be bothered or bombarded with confessions and acts of affection. He honestly wished all those girls would leave him alo—.

"Oof! Ah, sorry…" Speak of the devil. He didn't even have to look up to know it was a girl. However, a flash of pink gave him an indication of who this girl was. The sound of scattered papers alerted him to presence of quite the mess on the floor. Evidently, she'd bumped into him, probably not paying attention, and dropped what looked like a stack of math worksheets.

"Hn. Be more careful next time." An automated comment that slipped out as he crouched down, offering to help her.

"Thanks." Was her simple reply. Soon enough, all the papers were up and in her possession. She granted him a slight nod before continuing down the hall, presumably to the teacher's room. Sasuke's eyes stayed on her figure for just a second longer than he deemed necessary before he continued his path to the restroom.

From then on, he caught himself crossing paths with Sakura more than he ever did before. In the hall, by the lockers out front, during the rare times he ventured to the cafeteria, even after class during club periods.

It was frustrating. Not because Sakura was bothering him. At least not on purpose or even physically. He just couldn't keep his eyes off her. Even the slightest glance was irritating.

He'd catch a glimpse of her hair as she slipped into a classroom. Would hear the tail end of a conversation as she entered the building and swapped out her shoes. Would see her from the corner of his eyes sitting at a table with a bunch of other girls at lunch. Would find himself glancing at her as she went around performing odd tasks after hours.

He really couldn't stand the sight of her after a while and didn't really know why. It was irrational and he knew it. Sakura didn't do anything to him. Why did he feel such animosity toward her?

"Sasuke. Don't forget, it's your turn to copy down the attendance sheet." Asuma-sensei held up an old black notebook which he sat atop the podium for the Uchiha to retrieve. He responded with a curt grunt of an affirmation.

When the end of day rolled around, Sasuke was stuck in the classroom, performing the menial task after the rest of his classmates peeled out. It wasn't his favorite task but out of everyone in the class, he had the best penmanship for a guy. Asuma always loved reminding him when it was his turn.

He finished up in no time, closed the book and prepared to leave when he felt a presence. Looking up, he noticed the figure of Sakura in the door with her knuckles poised to knock on the door, as if to announced her presence. She halted, realizing he already knew she was there and gave a polite smile.

"Hayate-Sensei asked me to collect the attendance books. Are you done with yours?" She took a couple steps in, already entering the room before seeing the closed booklet. Of course, he was done. Didn't she see him getting ready to leave?

"I can take it myself. It's on my way to club activities." Was his response which quickly turn her smile into a thoughtful frown.

"Oh? Well, I'm headed in that direction anyway so you can just give it to me."

"It's fine." He wasn't really in the mood to argue with her. Besides, it was his responsibility. He's never been the type to brush things off onto others.

"Sasuke, it's really okay. You can just give me the book—."

"Why are you so concerned with this?" Instead of humoring her stubbornness, he felt his curiosity get the better of him. Why was it her business whether he dropped it off himself? Is she that much of a teacher's pet?

"Because I was asked to collect them all. If one of them turns up missing, then it's on me."

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" Uh oh.

"…that's not what I'm saying!"

"Then what are you saying?"

She grew silent and appeared frustrated, an outward emotion that surprisingly brought Sasuke some pleasure.

"Fine! Since you're being difficult, let's walk there together." That was the extent of their conversation as Sakura turned on her heel and walked out of the room, fully expecting him to follow her. With a soft scoff and barely noticeable smirk, he did just that though at a distance.

Eventually they made it to the teacher room with Sakura standing outside the door with an expectant frown on her face as she gestured for him to enter. Doing just that, he strolled to Hayate-sensei's desk, following the sound of faint coughing. The older male looked up only to appear surprised.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" He straightened, letting his eyes roam the figure of the young male.

"Just dropping this off." He placed the booklet on his desk then.

"Oh. You didn't need to. I sent Sakura to pick them up not too long ago."

"Which I tried to explain to him, but he was very adamant about hand delivering it." He could hear the smugness in her voice so potently, if he could reach out and crush it, he would.

"Hn." He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing him flustered. After receiving a raspy thanks from the instructor, Sasuke took his leave rather quietly. He made it about half way down the hall before hearing her calling out to him. Not wishing to prolong any sort of interaction with her, Sasuke ignored the calls. Her steps grew louder and closer and before he knew it, her hand had latched onto his forearm.

"Hey, didn't you hear me—?!" He was fast, moving quickly enough to disarm her grip and redirect his hand to now grab her wrist and give her slight tug forward. An action which honestly caught her off guard and rendered her silent.

"Leave me alone, Sakura." And maybe he meant that in more ways than one. This brief interaction with her only seemed to intensify the annoyance he felt when seeing her. But something wasn't right. Her facial expression was very candid and clear. And it was clear to him that something about him was bothering her.

"Let me go!" She spat, using her fingers to pry his hand off her. She didn't appear to be backing down. And if he let her go, what's going to stop her from continuing to grate on his nerves like she's been doing? Instead of doing what she wanted a second time, Sasuke did the exact opposite. Taking both her wrists now, he pinned her up against the nearest wall. His body attempted to impose a rather intimidating aura against her which seemed to be working. She fell silent and looked uncomfortable albeit naturally flustered.

"I won't say it again…" He lowered his tone this time, feeling a bit of mild satisfaction watching her grow even more timid before him. A slow nod was her only response as she now refused to look him in the eye. A soft huff escaped him before he released the pinkette, shoved his hands in his pockets and continued on his way to his designated club.

He saw nothing of Sakura for the rest of the week.

"Seriously? Sakura has a crush on someone?"

"Yeah, evidently he's really cool and kind of intimidating!"

He never cared to listen past the initial ramblings of rumors around school. But this one in particularly grabbed his attention in a way that had a pit developing in his gut.

'Shit. It's definitely me…'