Out With the Old, In With the New

Chapter Six

A/N: Yay! I updated! Actually, I would have updated sooner but I created two more stories, check them out if you want they are both SasuSaku. Anyways, a lot of you voted on which person you want and most of them were Sai, but then I realized that I didn't need a filler chapter, I could just create a flashback or something, right? Yeah I'm stupid... Anyways, read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

(Boys' Athletic Room, ten minutes before game)

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Sasuke growled in annoyance once again as Naruto laughed and pointed at the small bruise that was beginning to form on his upper right jaw.

"Wow, the great Uchiha can be hurt." Neji smirked.

Sasuke growled again before he started to change into his basketball uniform. In ten minutes they would be playing against a new team, who they had no knowledge of and all they went on about was that stupid thing on his face.

"So, Sasuke, who gave you it?" Shikamaru asked a bit curious to find out who was brave, or stupid, enough to hit Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't trust himself to speak, especially to Shikamaru, resident genius.

"Yeah teme! What happened? You get into a fight or something?" Naruto asked, finally able to talk without laughing in the middle of his sentences.

"No." Sasuke let out, hoping that they would stop asking him questions about it.

"Then what happened Uchiha? Who hit you?" Neji asked.

Sasuke glared at the Hyuuga for asking too many damn questions before he said, "No one."

"Then a bruise just magically appeared on your face?" Naruto asked, holding in a laugh.

"No, but a bruise will magically appear on your face if you don't shut it right now." Sasuke threatened.

Naruto kept on laughing, paying no heed to the threat. He knew Sasuke wouldn't risk injuring him right before the starting season game.

"Seriously, who hit you?"

"No one." Sasuke said through gritted teeth while narrowing his eyes, hoping they would get the point and leave him alone.

"Whatever, we'll find out later…" Neji concluded.

Sasuke glared at them. In hell were they going to find out that a girl, and not just any girl, Sakura, gave him a bruise.

"Okay my team of youth! Are you ready for the game? The very game that'll test your youth, spirit, and uh… youth!"

The boys all rolled their eyes at their coach's enthusiasm. They couldn't exactly say anything back to him, however, since he would give him what they thought was the worse punishment ever. He wouldn't make them sit out the game, no, it was far worse than that. He would give them all a lecture of how 'talking back' was not very good for the soul of youth. Then he would ramble continuously on the topic, and then he would hire a stupid therapist (who was just a stoner in disguise) to help calm down their rebellious youth.

"Alright! Let's go!" Gai said, pointing out into the distance.

Everyone got up and ran out into the gym, cheers immediately rang in their ears as they ran a lap around the gym, showing of their muscles, speed, and agility.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto shouted back, waving as he ran along.

"Naruto, stop embarrassing us…" Shikamaru called.

"Neh, I'm just giving them what they want!" Naruto said, flashing a smile that made a lot of girls swoon at the sight.

"Whatever, it's too troublesome to deal with you…"

Finally they finished the lap and all lined up at the bench where Gai was saying who would play first. Once the team was decided, Sasuke was expected to shake hands with the 'enemies' captain, a man called Kabuto.

Sasuke walked up to the white-haired, glasses-wearing man and shook his hand firmly, noting that the man was looking at him interested.

After that, the referee blew the whistle and the game began.

(Gym, Five Minutes till Half-Time, Bleachers)

"Whoa, they really are good…" Sakura spoke aloud.

Ino looked at her and smiled, "Of course they are! What do you expect?"

"But the other team is good too…" Hinata said softly looking nervously at the scoreboard which now read: Home, 45, Visitor, 44

The girls nodded in agreement. They had to give the other team credit, it was obvious they trained hard.

"What was the school they were from again?" Ino asked.

"Huh? Oh, it's a place called Sound. Have you guys seen their head coach? The guy creeps me out…" TenTen said, pointing at the man.

"Don't point! It's rude!" Sakura commented.

TenTen snorted. "It's not like he's noticed; his eyes have been glued on Sasuke the whole time they've been playing."

Sakura looked at the man and immediately saw why TenTen had been scared. He had a sadistic smile on his face and his skin was grayish; like he hadn't seen the sun in a while. His hair was devil black and his eyes had a wickedness that Sakura could not describe. Sakura noticed that he was looking intently at something and traced it towards…Sasuke.

The Uchiha was now breathing a little harder; once Gai saw how good the other team was he hadn't given Sasuke a rest.

'Good thing the break is coming up, Sasuke looks like he needs a breather.' Sakura thought.

"Hey, doesn't Sasuke look more tired than usual?" TenTen asked. Her eyesight was keen and she had been to the guys practice; she knew how long they could last and Sasuke usually wasn't remotely tired until the end.

"Yeah, he does, but it makes sense. Didn't you guys notice how the other team, I don't know, picked on him?" Ino commented.

"'Picked on'?"

"Well, they're always singling him out; I guess they're trying to test his limits or something. Didn't you see how he's been trying to pass the ball to someone else, but whenever he's about to throw it a guy from another team magically shows up, blocking the person he wants to pass the ball too!" Ino explained.

"Poor guy, he's probably very tired…" Hinata said sympathetically.

The group nodded in agreement as the half-time bell rang and the players all returned to the bench.

(Half-Time, Bench)

"Damnit!" Sasuke yelled frustrated as he lay down, tired, on the bench.

"Hey teme! This is a team sport you know! You could at least try to throw the ball to someone else!" Naruto spat at him, not knowing that the other team were purposely preventing Sasuke from seeking aid from his fellow teammates.

"I did try, dobe," Sasuke snapped back, ", but the bastards never let me! It's like they're…"

"Trying to wear you out." Shikamaru finished. He knew what the other team was plotting. "They've been singling out Sasuke all game. They're making him do twice, probably three times, the work he'd usually do."

"That's a dirty trick…" Neji said, handing them all water, which Sasuke gulped down as soon as he got it.

Shikamaru shrugged. "It's their strategy. Sasuke has always played the whole game and has never switched out before; they expect him to stay in the game."

'And knowing Sasuke, he will stay…' the team thought simultaneously, knowing full well about Sasuke's pride.

Silence reigned as the team tried to rest up, and figure out what they were going to do. It was obvious that if this kept up Sasuke would wear out and the other team's score would go higher.

"What do we do?"

Everyone looked at Shikamaru expectantly; he just blinked back at them before he closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's bad; I would say that our best bet would be to beef up our defense, since our offense is obviously weak at the moment," Sasuke growled at being called 'weak', ",but our team isn't very good at defense…"

"So?"

Shikamaru sighed. Why was he cursed with a brain? Why couldn't he be more like Naruto? He, of course, knew that they had to find a way to motivate Sasuke to win. Usually, Sasuke's pride would be enough to do this, but if the body was tired enough it wouldn't care if it won or lost.

"Hey look! Sakura-chan came!" Naruto said, pointing into the crowd.

The guys looked over and instantly spotted her unmistakable pink hair.

"Neh," Naruto began sadly, "It's her first game and we're probably going to lose…"

The guys all nodded grimly.

"And it's all teme's fault!" Naruto said angrily.

This hit Sasuke, hard. He didn't realize that Sakura was going to watch him lose. She would probably rub it in his face after this! In hell he was going to let that happen! He'd rather admit that Itachi was his brother than let her watch him lose! Damnit, why was life against him?

Shikamaru watched Sasuke, who, amazingly, didn't snap back at Naruto and thought, 'Sometimes I wonder if Naruto even realizes what he says…'

The referee whistled, signaling the end of the break, and Sasuke sat up, fully energized. After all, he was Uchiha Sasuke, and he'd rather die than let a girl see him lose.

(Bleachers)

"Wow, Sasuke really made a comeback, wonder what motivated him so much." Ino wondered aloud.

The girls watched as Sasuke sprinted back and forth the gym floor once in a while managing to get past the other teams' players and pass it to a fellow teammate. His determination baffled them; they thought for sure he'd be too tired to play.

Suddenly the scoreboard rang loudly, signaling the end of the game. They all looked at the scores. Home- 66, Visitors- 64. They had barely won, if the other team had scored a 3-pointer, they would have lost.

But obviously Konoha High School didn't care. Loud cheers could be heard for miles around as the team lined up and clapped the other team and muttered 'good game'. Then the tired team gave a good victory cheer before they headed to the changing room; they had to leave so that the decorations for the dance could be put up quickly.

"Well, that's that! Another victory for Konoha! Man, we're awesome!" TenTen said grinning, obviously proud that her boyfriend was one of the reasons they had won.

"Okay, now that that's over. Let's get down to business." Ino said, suddenly turning and looking at Sakura. "Forehead! We need to get you a date!"

Sakura rolled her eyes again and said, "Ino, I already told you. I don't want a date! I want to prove to you that a girl can have fun without a man by her side." Yup, her feministic side was coming up.

"Forehead! I know a woman can do that! I'm saying that we need you to get a date because if you don't you'll be laughed at on Monday!"

"Oh really?"

"Really!" Ino yelled, frustrated that Sakura didn't see her point.

"Ino, I don't care if they laugh at me, I'm not going with someone I don't even know!" Sakura protested.

"Who said you have to go with some random dude? We have an hour before the dance, we can always introduce you to someone." Ino said innocently as they walked down the hallways.

Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino's stubbornness.

"I said no, and I mean no!"

"Whatever, okay, first we'll dress for the dance, and then we'll find you some dude. Let's go!" Ino said dragging them to the girls' dressing room to change. It would take at least half an hour getting too and from Ino's home so they decided to change there.

Forty-five minutes later they were all dressed and ready to go to find Sakura a date.

Ino's dress was purple; her signature color. The top half was beautiful with flowers decorating it. The bottom half was smooth silk. It went up to her knees and had a low back.

Hinata's dress was a pale blue color that reflected her tranquil personality. It was mostly plain and went up to her ankles. At the bottom a lovely pattern decorated the dress. She had a silk scarf to go with the dress.

TenTen's dress was multiple colors. It went a little below the knee and had a Chinese theme. Miniature bamboo plants decorated the bottom and in the back the 'yin and yang' sign was stitched onto the dress.

Sakura's dress was red. Ino said that red was a darker shade of pink so they went well together and green and red were Christmas colors so of course the dress had to be red. It was a plain dress with no decoration, the only thing unique about it was that the top had an extra blouse on giving it a faded look.

"Okay, now all we need to do it carry our matching purses and we're done!" Ino said giddily. She was loving this.

TenTen groaned. "Look, I agreed to wear a stupid dress but a purse is pushing it. Why do we need a purse at the dance anyways? It'll just get in the way."

"We need the purse to carry our make-up in! You never know when we'll need it." Ino explained.

TenTen rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, but I'm leaving it on the bleachers the whole time. Got it?"

Ino nodded. "So long as it's there, so everyone has it?" She looked at everyone and then spotted Sakura trying to escape from her gaze. "Forehead, do you have it?"

Meekly Sakura shook her head. "Uh… I think I lost it…"

"You what?! How could you loose it?!"

"Well, I don't remember where I had it last!"

"Um, Sakura-chan?" Hinata's soft voice started. "You left it in art class. I was going bring it too you, but Kurenai-sensei told me not to. She said that you have to learn how to be responsible for your own things. Sorry…"

"Don't be sorry Hinata, it was my own fault, okay Pig, you can calm down now, we know where it is. I'll just go get it right now." Sakura said before she went out the door to go get the purse.

"You better hurry; we still need to find you a date!" Ino called after her.

After that Ino turned back towards the other girls and said, "Okay, who do we know that still needs someone to go with the dance with?"

The girls sat in silence trying to think up someone suitable to go with Sakura. Just then a knock at the door could be heard.

"Uh… hey could we come in?" Shikamaru asked. It was the girls' dressing room; he had to make sure they were all dressed.

"Yeah, it's just me, TenTen and Hinata and we're all dressed. Forehead went to go get her purse…" Ino called back.

With that the boys walked in, all wearing similar tuxes. The only difference was the way they wore it.

Neji wore it properly, Shikamaru wore it okay, except the tie was undone, Naruto's tie was also loosened and his jacket wasn't buttoned, Sasuke wore no tie, and his shirt was loose, his jacket was also unbuttoned.

"Sasuke? I thought you were going to a club tonight, what happened?" Ino asked, surprised; Sasuke hated dances.

"I lost a bet…" Sasuke replied still angry he lost.

"Oh." The girls said simultaneously then after a while Hinata asked, "Um, who's your date?"

Sasuke shrugged. Not that he couldn't get a date, no, it's just that he didn't like them. They would always cling to him and ask him to dance. He hated to dance, he thought it was annoying.

Silence reigned as the girls thought about his answer than all of a sudden the girls all said, "I have an idea! Why don't you go with Sakura?"

Sasuke stared at them, a little freaked out that they all said it at the same time.

"Forehead needs a date, but she doesn't want to go with some dude she didn't know so she refused all the people that asked her so far. But she knows you, so why don't you go with her?" Ino explained, happy that they finally found someone.

Sasuke continued to stare at her.

"Well, you don't necessarily have to dance with her, or even stay near her all dance, just put on a show that you came with her. Kinda like an escort." TenTen said; she knew Sasuke hated to dance even more than Neji did and Neji despised it.

Sasuke was still staring.

"A-and Sakura won't be laughed at for not going with a date." Hinata finished.

Sasuke continued to stare before he said, "No."

All the girls looked at him. "Why not?!" They yelled in unison.

"Because she's annoying and will you quit saying stuff at the same time. It's weird." Sasuke said.

"She is not annoying!"

"Hn." Sasuke said before he got up and left.

"Hey! Are you going to ask her to the dance or not?" Ino yelled after him, but he was already gone. "What is with him?"

"Probably still upset about what happened after the game." Shikamaru commented.

All the girls looked at him. "What happened?"

"Well…"

Flashback

"Hello there Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke turned around. He was still tired and was in a bad mood so when he saw a man with yellow eyes and a weird smile he answered, "What the hell do you want, freak?"

The man didn't seem bothered at all, he just laughed and his laugh creeped Sasuke out. "Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. Not many people can practically play a whole basketball with only five minutes of rest. And you played practically on your own from the looks of it."

"Hn." Sasuke responded before he turned away.

"Well, I'll say this. After seeing you I can tell the Uchiha's are a well talented family. That brother of yours, Itachi, was also a talented basketball player wasn't he?"

"I guess." Sasuke commented as he started to walk towards the changing rooms.

"Yeah, he was…I think, however, that if he played in this game he would have hardly broken a sweat. I guess he's a better basketball player than you…"

Sasuke stopped for a second before he turned around and said, "Well good for him."

The man eyed Sasuke, amused by his anger and frustration. "My name is Orochimaru. I'm the principle as well as the head coach for Sound. I'm also a sort of 'recruiter' for new talent. You're a junior, no? Well I would be very happy if you came to my school next year. We could use someone with talent like you, and over there you don't have to worry about beating your brothers' record."

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow before he said, "Not interested."

The man just smirked before he said, "Well, if you ever feel like you need an escape from this place just give me a call, our school is in the phonebook. Bye."

End Flashback

"Oh, so the freak was interested in him? Why would he be angry about that? Tons of scouts tell him that every year." TenTen said.

"Well it wasn't that part. It was the Itachi part. You know how Sasuke is touchy about that." Neji said.

"Well, he'll just have to deal with it!" Ino said, still angry that he refused to take Sakura to the dance.

"So troublesome…"

(With Sasuke)

Sasuke walked down an empty hallway. He didn't know which hallway but he didn't care. He was too frustrated. First that bull with that freak, what was his name? Oh yeah, Orochimaru. Who the hell did that guy think he was anyway? Bastard, bringing up Itachi like that.

'Like I'd ever consider playing for a guy like him. And what the hell was Yamanaka's problem anyway?' Sasuke thought. He go with Sakura, the girl who probably wouldn't put out, yeah, like that would ever happen. Okay, she was pretty but just because he thought she was hot, no! She was pretty, not hot! Whatever, he was still not going with Sakura, hell she punched him! But what would he do if he showed up at the gym full of fangirls with no date? They'd kill him! At least Sakura wasn't his fangirl…

"Damn, I guess I'll go with Sakura…" Sasuke muttered reluctantly before he turned back to look for the pink-haired girl.

(With Sakura)

'Good thing I found a janitor, or I wouldn't have been able to get in…' Sakura thought as she unlocked the door to the art room. After a careful search she found the purse at the back corner, along with the other lost and found things. 'Ino's going to kill me if she finds out that this was among this junk. Well what she doesn't know won't hurt her… Hey, what was that?'

Sakura jumped at a noise and turned towards the door. Suddenly the lights turned off. 'Aargh! Okay, calm down. It's probably just a black out or something. It has been raining; maybe this is just an after affect.'

Sakura felt her way towards the door when she felt something, no, someone.

"W-who's there?"

"Wow, I just turn off the lights and you're already scared…" a voice drawled out in the darkness.

"A-answer the question!" Sakura demanded, still frightened but determined not to show it.

"Ooh, she's a feisty one alright…" another voice commented.

"Hey! What's going on? Who's here?"

"Who's 'Here'? Well, who is 'Here'? I don't know anyone by the name of 'Here'? Do you guys know?" a third voice rang out, laughing.

"No, we don't know… maybe we'll go after 'Here' too." The two others chimed.

"Q-quit playing games with me! G-go away!"

"Who's playing game with you? I'm not!" someone said before they reached out and grabbed Sakura's arm.

"Aargh! Let go of me!" Sakura screamed, scared for her life. Her heart was pounding, her adrenaline was out of control, everything was louder.

'What is this? What's happening? What am I going to do? Am I going to die?'

'No you are not! Get it together! Don't go down without a fight!' Inner Sakura raged.

Immediately she searched around for something-anything- to hit with. Her hand fell on nothing…

'Use the purse!' Inner Sakura advised.

'Ugh, I can't believe I'm doing this but…'

Wham!!!

"Ow!"

Sakura knew she had hit something and once she knew that she kept on swinging away, but, of course, what could she do against three people?

"You little bitch!" one voice said before they reached out and took the purse away from Sakura. Now she had no weapon and was defenseless. Her eyes had adapted to the darkness and she saw that a figure raise their hand. Immediately she ducked down onto the floor to avoid the contact but she couldn't avoid it for long. Bravely she looked up and saw all three figures hovering over her, ready to hit. She closed her eyes and waited for the contact… that never came. Timidly she looked up and saw…

"Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke was now standing in front of her, his hand on one of the figures wrist, preventing them from hitting her. Sakura looked up and saw that his eyes were a reddish color. Sasuke didn't say anything, but he certainly didn't waste time on beating up the other guys.

With one swift move Sasuke ducked under the figure before coming up and tackling him to the ground. Then he switched to the other people and hit them too. After a series of kicks and punches all the figures were laying on the floor and Sasuke looked towards Sakura and said, "Are you okay?"

As Sakura nodded Sasuke knelt down and checked to see if she had any cuts or bruises.

"You look okay…" Sasuke said as he helped her up.

Click

Sasuke whipped around to come face to face with the receiving end of a gun. Impulsively Sasuke stepped in front of Sakura.

"Well, isn't this cute? Protecting her and all…" The guy said sadistically.

Sasuke growled. 'Damn! I didn't see that coming… Oh shit! He's about to shoot! I gotta…'

Sasuke quickly pushed the guys' arm to the side just as the bullet was launched.

Crash!

Shattered glass flew around the room as the bullet hit the window.

"Hmm… we made too much noise, we have to go." The figure said before grabbing the other two and running off.

Sakura looked out tentatively before saying, "Sasuke-kun…"

The raven-haired boy looked at her. "Yeah…"

"I just wanted to say…"

"Hey! What are you kids doing here? Oh my gosh! What happened?"

The two teen looked at the doorway to the art classroom to see a teacher with an angry, but confused look on her face.

"Three guys came here and pulled a gun on us, luckily they hit the window instead." Sasuke explained calmly. He didn't sense anymore danger.

Sakura noticed that he didn't say anything about his heroism or how he was the reason the gunshot had hit the window.

The teacher looked at them astonished. "S-stay here! I'll go get Tsunade-sama!" With that the teacher ran off.

"Why didn't you say it was you who made the gunshot hit the window or how you…"

"I don't need anymore fangirls." Sasuke said immediately before she could say 'protected me'.

"Oh." Sakura said. "Well, than-"

Bzzz

Sakura looked down to where the purse was and grabbed her phone that was now ringing, thinking it was Ino.

"Hello?... Who?... Oh, hello… um… okay." Sakura said briskly before she hung up.

"Looks like Ino doesn't have to find me a date anymore…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, a bit shocked that she would even consider going to the dance after this and angry that she was going with someone else after he worked so hard to convince himself to go with her.

"Who?" He asked, a little bitter.

"It's…"

A/N: Cliffy, I know you all hate me. Oh and before I forget read this:

I do not support any violence. Do not go out and buy yourself a gun, and do not do anything that will harm you or someone else. I do not support any violence.

Okay, I know the whole scene w/ the gun was a bit dramatic (I pictured it more smoothly in my head), but it'll all be explained in the next chapter. Who can guess why those three were there? Cookies for the ones who get the answer right!

Okay, I haven't told you who she is going w/ so you still have time to vote. I'll give you guys about a week. Please, if you already voted don't vote again.

If you guys think it's going to fast or slow, tell me, I'll go w/ the majority of the opinions.

Okay, so please read and review!

Btw: the game wasn't interesting, I know, the one w/ Gaara comes up later so please bear w/ me! 