Can Hardly Wait

Sakura slipped her backpack over her shoulders, sighing exhaustingly. She headed down the hall of the school, it was finally over, and she could go home and rest…not sleep. She would never be able to sleep peacefully ever again, she hoped she would never have a dream like that ever, it was just too weird. She was so out of it she didn't hear her name being called till someone shouted into her ear. Sakura's eyes widened and she turned around to face Anko.

"Anko-sensei? What is it?" Sakura asked placing her hand over her heart, Anko had scared her.

Anko smiled. "Sakura…I need you to do an interview, will you do it? Please?"

Sakura blinked. "An interview?" she questioned. "Now?"

Anko nodded still smiling. "Yes…see I want you to interview the volleyball's team star since they've won all their games and I think the readers would be interested if you interview her, don't you?"

"Uh…sure," Sakura agreed nodding.

Anko smiled wider. "So will you do it?"

"Of course," Sakura informed smiling.

"The girls are practicing right now I think you should be able to get a hold of her," Anko claimed. She turned around and waved. "Ja ne."

Sakura sighed and headed to the gym. 'So I have to interview their captain…such fun.' Her eyes widened before she opened. 'Their captain…that means…'

The door opened before her hand even reached it. She moved aside watching the guy known as Neji walk on by. She watched him, once he exited the school she blinked. "I just keep running into people." She turned around seeing Lee's face right in front of hers. Her eyes widened, a sweat-drop sliding down the back of her head. "Uh…hi Lee-san."

Lee's cheeks came pink once he noticed it was her. "Sakura-san."

She waved smiling nervously.

Lee stepped aside letting her walk in. "See you around…Sakura-san." He started walking down the hall.

Sakura nodded and closed the door. She saw the girls around the net. She walked over to the coach and smiled. "Hi…I'm Haruno Sakura, I'm here to do an interview…may I see TenTen please?" she asked closing her eyes.

The coach nodded and blew her whistle. "Sure thing." The girls all looked at her. "TenTen, come here."

Sakura turned to the team noticing the brunette walk her way over. She looked at her coach. "What is it Shizune-sensei?" she questioned.

Shizune smiled and lifted her hand to Sakura. "This is Haruno Sakura, she's here to interview you, is it alright if she does?"

TenTen smiled and extended her hand out to Sakura who shook it. "Sure…I don't mind."

Sakura smiled. "We can just go to the bleachers if you like?"

TenTen nodded and the two girls walked over the bleachers. Sakura brought out a notebook. "Okay first things first…what do you think before a game?"

TenTen smirked. "The faces of the other team when we beat them…I'm always sure that we will win so I always try my best so we can."

Sakura nodded as she wrote it down. "Last year…you only lost three games…how did you react to those?" she asked with an upraised eyebrow.

TenTen scratched her chin as she thought. "Well I knew we did our best and that the other team was really good…I was never really disappointed I always left with a smile. I did though…feel like I could have done better," she answered.

Sakura nodded smiling. "As team captain do you think it would be your fault if you lost a game?"

TenTen grabbed one of her legs hugging it. "Hm, no, but I'd feel like a disgrace."

Sakura blinked. "A disgrace? Why?"

TenTen smiled. "Last year…I didn't have this responsibility so I never thought it was my fault. Just in the eyes of…" TenTen blushed. "I mean…some people might be angry at me, like parents or other students…others might think I'm a disgrace."

Sakura tapped her own chin with her pen. "Why is that? We're all proud of the victories you've brought us."

"Well some might think I'm…weak," the brunette mumbled. "And I hate that…I always practice so that I'll never be called that…I want him to…" She blushed again. "I…uh what I meant to say is…I want my team to be happy with the victories, no one likes losing."

Sakura nodded, but was confused how TenTen kept messing up with her words. "That's true. Your last game…you won, the other team only scored once, were you excited that the team had improved since last year by a lot?"

TenTen nodded smiling. "Of course…I always think there's room for improvement, but I'm really glad that we came this far."

Sakura nodded. "I thinks that good," she put her notebook away smiling. She looked at TenTen. "I think you're an excellent captain TenTen-san."

"Thanks," TenTen said with a grin. She blinked. "You're a junior right?"

Sakura nodded. "Hai."

TenTen giggled. "So you have Gai-sensei as well, that's where I saw you."

Sakura nodded. "You have him as well, the hour before me correct?"

TenTen nodded. "That I do. So how do you like Gai-sensei?"

Sakura shrugged. "He's strange, but he's great at what he teaches," she answered.

TenTen nodded agreeing. "My friend Lee…"

Sakura blinked. "You know Rock Lee?" she questioned.

TenTen nodded again. "Yes…and if I think about it you're 'Sakura-san' the girl he's always talking about."

Sakura looked at her shoes. "Uh yeah…but I don't like him like that."

TenTen giggled. "I understand…you must have that Uchiha kid as a crush, huh? You're not the only one, so many girls on my team do. I understand why you reject Lee…I think it's weird how he wants to be like Gai-sensei."

Sakura nodded. "You seem to know me well. It's not that that he wants to be like Gai-sensei, I just don't have feelings for him in those ways he does me," Sakura sighed. "He's nice though."

TenTen smiled closing her eyes. "That's reasonable."

Sakura looked at her. "Um…excuse me for asking, but do you have a crush on Lee-san?"

TenTen fell back into her spot. "Nani! A crush on Lee!" she almost started laughing.

Sakura nodded. "You were looking at him a lot today."

TenTen shook her head. "No…no…that's not it…it's uh…you see," she stutter. She couldn't think of the words to say. "It wasn't Lee that I was really looking at."

An eyebrow rose on Sakura's features. "You weren't?"

TenTen shook her head. "You see…I was looking at someone else…"

"YOU BITCH!"

TenTen's eyes twitched. "No…not her."

Sakura looked at TenTen then looked at the door where a girl with brunette hair in two buns atop her head like TenTen's and blue eyes stomped forward where they were. "Who's she?"

"Her name is Masstura Talli, she's a major pain and tries to look like me, notice her hair," TenTen mumbled. "She's major jealous of me."

Sakura looked at the girl, well she certainly didn't look anything like TenTen, she was sort of on the chubby side, nothing big, but you could tell she wasn't in sports and she had a bigger nose than TenTen.

TenTen turned around. "What now Masstura?" TenTen asked grabbing her head.

Talli stormed up the bleachers. "What did you do? Are you some kind of witch or person who uses voodoo?" she asked pointing a finger at TenTen.

"Nani?" TenTen questioned blinking.

Talli fumed. "He totally ignored me! What did you do!" Talli screamed.

TenTen shook her head. "Nothing," she answered. "You baka, he doesn't hardly talk to anybody, how would I been able to tell him not to talk to you? Plus he would never anyway."

Sakura blinked as Talli looked at her. "You must be one of her friends huh?" Talli snorted crossing her arms over her chest.

TenTen looked at Talli. "This is Haruno Sakura, she's a junior here to interview me, don't cause her any trouble either, it's enough that your on my case all the time."

"Uh…nice to meet you," Sakura mumbled. 'Whoa what a pain…she's worst than Yamanaka.'

Talli looked at TenTen. "An interview? Why would she interview you?" she questioned.

"Um…I'm the volleyball captain, or did you forget?" TenTen asked smirking.

Talli balled her fists. "How could I forget…you stole it from me!"

TenTen cleaned out her ear with her pinky. "You never had a chance, sorry Masstura, but you suck."

Talli growled. "Why you little bitch!"

TenTen shook her head again and looked at Sakura. "I'm so sorry about this."

"Are you ignoring me?" Talli questioned ticked off.

"What gave you that idea?" TenTen asked innocently. "Why would I want to listen to you nag. Leave before I feel the need to beat your face in or I can get Shizune-sensei, you know she doesn't like you."

Talli huffed turning on her heel as she left.

TenTen smiled looking back at Sakura. "See what I mean?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah…what a pain."

TenTen blinked. "Hold on," she blinked again. "Didn't you use to hang out with Yamanaka Ino in grade school?"

Sakura frowned. "Hai. I did."

TenTen snapped her fingers. "You're that little girl…that was always teased about her forehead huh?"

Sakura nodded blushing in embarrassment. "That too."

"I knew I saw you before I saw you in Gai-sensei's class…I don't live that far from the Yamanaka household. You rode the bus once or twice in forth grade I believe."

Sakura nodded again. "I did…how do you remember that?"

"Well don't you remember Ino brought you to my house to brag about something," TenTen stated.

Sakura thought for a second. "Oh yeah!"

TenTen nodded. "I knew it!"

Sakura giggled. "You have a good memory TenTen-san." Sakura heard the door slam as Talli exited.

TenTen blinked. "Well wasn't she slow."

Sakura nodded then looked back at TenTen. "Pardon me for asking, but when you two were talking about 'he' who was were you referring to?" she asked.

TenTen blushed. "Well she likes this guy, but funny thing is…I like him too…I did before she did," she answered looking at her hands.

"Is that why you don't have a boyfriend?" Sakura asked out of curiosity.

TenTen shook her head. "All the other guys aren't my type…but…he's…" she blushed. "Kami…I don't know what it is about him, but I try to compete with him, I want him to see me as an equal or something close to an equal. I want to be liked by him."

Sakura smiled. "Who is he?" she asked giggling.

TenTen frowned. "Uh…well…I need to know you won't tell anybody…especially him."

Sakura nodded. "I won't say a word."

TenTen blushed again. "Well, his name is Neji, Hyuuga Neji, he's on the boxing team," she informed.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Really? Wow."

TenTen nodded. "Yeah wow."

Sakura thought for a minute. "By the way you were talking about him before makes it seem like he doesn't talk or pay attention to anybody let alone you."

TenTen nodded. "Somewhat, he's got something to do or something like that, well I'm guessing."

"He sounds like Sasuke-kun," Sakura mumbled under her breath.

TenTen giggled. "You could say that, but I only have a few girls to worry about, you have the whole school almost, plus the girls from other schools."

Sakura mumbled. "Yeah…sucks to be me."

TenTen giggled once again. "Don't feel bad, it must be stopped, but trust me I've seen some ugly girls after him and they are nothing compared to you, he should get his mind checked."

Sakura looked at her. "Yeah?"

TenTen nodded then blinked. "Sakura, are you good at getting guys' attention, do you think you could give me tips?" she asked.

Sakura looked at her feet. "Sorry TenTen-san, but I'm not good at all, maybe you can find someone else's help," she suggested in a low voice.

TenTen smiled. "It's okay, I was just asking."

Sakura stood up and picked up her bag again. "Well I better be going, you have to finish practicing."

TenTen nodded. "See you around."

Sakura nodded smiling. "Yeah, ja ne TenTen-san." She walked down the bleachers and exited the gym. She sighed and shook her head. 'She's got a point about Sasuke-kun, almost all the girls want him, so what chance do I have?' She sighed again as she opened the school's front doors.

As she handed for the parking lot, she closed her eyes. 'Why do so many girls have to like Sasuke-kun? I know he's hot, down right sexy, but come on, can't girls find another crush. This is just a pain having all of them after him as well, I'll never get my chance with all of them around,' she thought. She kept on walking and crossed her arms over her chest as she walked down the stairs leading to the parking lot. She closed her eyes again. 'Just great.'

She tripped over what felt like a board. Thud! She groaned as she sat up on her knees. "Kuso." She shook her head and looked at what she tripped over, still kneeling on the cement. She saw a skateboard and a foot, a foot that was connected to a leg, and she didn't want to look at neither the body nor the face, she had a bad feeling. 'Dammit!'

'Way to go baka! Stop tripping all over the place!'

"Do you enjoy making a fool out of yourself?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. 'Kuso, why him?'

'Baka! Baka! Look what you did this time!'

She giggled nervously standing up and quickly turning around, not looking at his face. "Gomen Sasuke-kun, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"You're really annoying you know that?"

Her eyes widened. 'Annoying? He thinks I'm annoying?'

'YOU BAKA!'

Sakura bowed her head looking at her shoes. "Gomen," she repeated, she turned and looked at him. He still had his normal expression on his face. "I really didn't mean to. I was too busy day dreaming."

His hands were in his pockets. He stomped on his board lifting it up. He grabbed it and turned around. "Hn," was his reply as he walked away.

She blinked and walked over to her car. She put her hand on the wheel and bowed her head. 'I made a baka out of myself again, no wonder why I'm annoying to him.'

Gasha smiled as she left the school library, leaving the literature club, she was only in there cause of her parents. She sighed and tightened her hold on her books. "This is not my day." She looked up and saw someone leaning against the wall. As she got closer she realized whom it was, a smile formed on her face. "Oi…Gaara-kun."

He looked at her, not saying a word.

She frowned and looked at the floor. 'What is it with me? Am I weird or something?' She smiled again. "Uh…see you tomorrow." She walked passed him then bowed her head. 'I must be a total loser.'

"Where's Aburame?"

She turned around blinking. "Huh? Shino-kun? I don't know, he might have went home," she answered looking at the side. "Gomen, I don't really know. I wish I could help."

"I wasn't looking for him," Gaara stated.

Gasha blinked. "Oh…" 'Well now I feel stupid.'

"Heading home?"

Gasha blinked. 'What's with the questions.' "Hai," she answered with a nod.

Gaara nodded and turned around walking in the other direction.

Gasha blinked again. "Uh…Gaara-kun?"

The redhead stopped but didn't turn around.

Gasha bit down on her lip, thinking of what she should say, she came up with nothing. "Never mind," she mumble turning around walking toward the front door, the opposite way he was heading.

Gaara looked at her from the corner of his eye and continued walking.

She sighed shaking her head. 'Get a grip Gasha, you're going crazy.' She sighed. 'This is Gaara-kun you're talking about…he doesn't like you, probably never will. I can't change that.' She sighed in disappointment this time. She shook her head lifting up her chin. "What am I thinking! Of course I can change that!" she claimed out loud to herself. She pushed open the doors and was gone.

Gaara exited through the back then stopped looking at the parking lot at the other side. He saw her walking passed it and heading home. He scowled as he watched.

Gasha grumbled kicking a rock across the street. 'I really need a break.'

Hinata was taking her time walking home, she didn't bother getting a ride. She held onto her backpack's straps. She sighed, "Naruto-kun." She kept on walking bowing her head. Why couldn't the blonde teen notice her or say anything other than questions? She shook her head, she hoped one day she could catch his attention. She stopped at a stop sign. She heard footsteps behind her and froze. Was someone following her? She looked forward, but in the corner of her eye she spotted who it was as they stopped beside her. She was frozen.

"Hinata-sama," came a dark reply.

She gulped and looked at the person who said her name. "Neji-nii-san," she said in a soft reply.

He didn't look at her as he turned the corner heading to his house.

Hinata sighed. She wanted to get along with him, she really did, but he would never forgive her or her family.

She walked across the street not looking at her cousin as she did so. Once she crossed she started running, why? She didn't know, but she was afraid. She saw the mansion and slowed down a bit, she was safe.

Naruto grinned as he entered the door. "Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" he said almost singing. He walked into the kitchen and opened a cabinet grabbing a thing of instant ramen, it wasn't as good as the real stuff but it would do. He grabbed a bowl and placed water in it, he sat it in the microwave and punched in the time. "Ramen! Ramen!" he continued as the water warmed up.

"Naruto, you home?" he heard Iruka shout from down the hall.

"Hai! In the kitchen!" Naruto shouted back.

Iruka walked in grinning. "Making ramen already? I was going to take you to The Ichiraku Stand," he informed.

Naruto looked at him. "I'm good, you go ahead."

Iruka looked at him with one eyebrow upraised. "You sure about that?"

Naruto nodded. "I got ramen right here," he said patting the microwave.

"No miso?" Iruka questioned.

"Chicken will do," Naruto claimed.

"That cheap stuff?" Iruka didn't believe what Naruto was saying.

Naruto looked at him. "Yep…don't let me stop you," he grinned.

Iruka nodded as he slowly exited the kitchen. "If you say so…are you sure?" he asked coming right back in.

Naruto walked up to him and started pushing him toward the door. "Yes sensei…now go and eat that ramen!" he shoved Iruka out of the house, shutting the door he sighed.

He ran back in and grabbed the boiled water pouring it into his bowl, heating it up. "YEAH RAMEN!"

That's it for chapter eight! Yea!

Please review!

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