Three People's Solitude and 'Rai'

Maho suddenly saw Sasuke flinch wildly and grab his stomach, she heard a terrible rumble come from it but obviously Sakura had been too engrossed in her kiss to notice it. She then watched with amusement as he stood up; still holding his stomach and ran down the path the opposite way, Sakura's eyes widened in confusion as she watched him do this, as did Maho's.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll be right back!" He shouted as he waved to her and went out of sight, Maho stayed hidden behind her tree, this moment sparking her interest and decided to get a better look.

When Sakura had her eyes closed and was obviously thinking, Maho came out of the tree she was hiding behind on the opposite side of the road and jumped up to a higher one just above the bench, sitting herself on a branch, feet dangling just above Sakura's head and closed her eyes sitting back and waited for Sasuke to come back so she could finish watching this rather interesting scene. Was the Uchiha even going to come back? If Maho had been him, she sure as hell wouldn't be returning. I wonder what Naruto is doing. Maybe he's eating by himself after being rudely rejected by Sakura… She thought about random things as her legs swung forward and back. She boredly watched Sakura move her feet back and forth, the blush not leaving her face, and they both looked up the path immediately when they heard footsteps. Surprise, surprise, it is Uchiha. I honestly didn't expect him to come back. Pfft, look at him walking like he owns the place! Ugh he's so annoying! So much for talking some sense into him; it'd probably be too much to expect him to apologize. Sakura stood up and looked expectantly at Sasuke, smiling excitedly, although he just seemed to ignore her and keep on walking. "Sasuke, you're such a shy boy! Are you emotionally prepared because I am?" Sakura shouted with her arms in the air. Maho looked down at Sakura with a wierded-out expression, wondering if she was even in her right mind. Seriously, who the hell says that? To Sasuke of all people no less. Wierder yet, Sasuke just continued walking on. What was going on? Sasuke had to be just as confused as her; who wouldn't be?

"W…wait, Sasuke…" He then stopped and turned around. Simply just staring at her, he then asked Sakura the same question Maho had been wondering all lunch.

"Where's Naruto?"

Sakura looked surprised for a minute, but placed her hands behind her back, composing herself. "There you go changing the subject again! Forget about Naruto, all he does is pick quarrels with you; it's probably because he had such an irregular childhood. Oh yeah, you know how he doesn't have parents right?" Sakura's words stabbed Maho in the heart worse than any katana, or knife could. Why the hell would Haruno bring something like that up; how was it so easy for those words to draft across Sakura's lips? Sure you could always talk about having no parents, but no one understands the pain more than someone who's actually lived it. This pissed the small red-head off; Sakura had never felt the pain of having no parents; your parents abandoning you or your parents being killed. She had no idea what it was like! Even if she had been little when she had been finally taken from her parents, she still had flashbacks; memories of being completely alone; people surrounding her, but not even glancing in her direction. Maho jumped out of the tree, glaring at Sakura as she quickly leapt onto the dirt trail that served as a street. She didn't care if either of them realized she had been listening in on their conversation, she just wanted to get the hell away from that bitch. Walking past Sakura without even acknowledging her, Maho was simply going to keep her head down, but for some reason, she couldn't help but look up as she neared Sasuke, only to find him glaring too. That's right; Sasuke lost his whole family too. What an insensitive bitch Sakura is. "He's always doing childish things; my parents would scold me if I did such things, but if you're alone your parents won't get mad at you. That's why he's so selfish; he can just do whatever he wants and get away with it." Sakura finally finished and normally Maho would have simply kept walking, but without her consent, her feet had just stopped walking, her shoulders shaking with repressed rage. She wanted nothing more than to have stabbed her with a kunai right there and then! How could she say all those things without knowing the true meaning behind it all! Sasuke turned to look at Maho as she spun around on her heel and made her way to face Sakura. Unfortunately for the pinkette, she seemed far too absorbed in her 'oh-so wise rant' to even notice the murderous intent seeping from the girl with the orange hair. When Sakura finally opened her eyes and realized she was in front of her, Maho's face had lost any sort of emotion. Without a moment's hesitation, Maho's fist swung out and punched Sakura right in the cheek. Sakura fell with a cry, the sudden action surprising both her and the young Uchiha. He had been about to tell Sakura to shut up and leave him alone, but Maho had just appeared and then… Sasuke was completely speechless, and no one dared move a muscle as Maho stood over Sakura. When the enraged red-head finally did speak, it was only in a harsh whisper.

"Shut the hell up! That solitude…" Maho stopped, biting her lip. She knew what she wanted to say, but she was just so angry, the words just wouldn't come out; however Sasuke carried on.

"You can't even compare it to the level of when your parents scold you."

Sakura's sniffling grated Maho's nerves even further, the girl cradling her cheek. Haruno glared at Maho harshly, but ignored her for the most part, her teary jade eyes looking up at Sasuke, bottom lip trembling. "What's the matter?" Sakura asked pathetically.

"You're such an ignorant child. How dare you sit there and snub Naruto as if he's beneath you; AS IF HE'S HAD AN EASY LIFE! You're just like all the other villagers, hating him and casting him aside because of some stupid reason no one remembers about!" Maho was yelling now, her bangs overshadowing her usually perky, bright green eyes; hiding the tears of anger from view. Sasuke and Sakura stared at her in shock, neither of them having expected such raw anger coming from the girl, but the Uchiha became curious; what made her so angry, and why was the topic so touchy?

Finally Sasuke spoke up, "Sakura, you're annoying." Then he turned around and walked off, his words obviously hurting her as she stood in shocked silence, not moving. Maho far from cared, though; in fact, she couldn't help but smile cruelly at the pinkette's pain. Then without a word, turned on her heel and went the opposite direction from Sasuke.

Though, it seemed Sakura finally decided to acknowledge the red-head, she couldn't have cared less; she didn't want anything to do with her, or anyone else who was that shallow and selfish. "Maho, where are you going?" She asked unsurely, scared that the girl would snap and attack her again, but she was desperate; she didn't want to be alone.

"To find where Naruto ran off to holding his stomach."

The words were spoken so coldly and devoid of any emotion that Sakura shivered slightly. "B…but that was, Sasuke…"

"Really Sakura, was it really? Because I think you're mistaken there. Would Sasuke think twice about kissing you when he just refused before lunch? Naruto's in love with you –though Kami knows why- it's very obvious, and you just plainly ignored and rejected him so rudely, you reduced him to silence. The least you could've done was sat and eaten lunch with him, Sakura…Instead of trampling on his heart to go and find your precious 'Sasuke'…Ja ne." Maho hadn't even turned around to face her, just continuing on her walk. Then walking off up the road, she went to try and find her colorful shinobi friend. Sakura was left thinking on the bench and sort of began to understand Naruto, Sasuke's and Maho's situation.

"I'm annoying huh? So this must be how Naruto and Maho feel. Maybe I can be nice starting now to them now…Especially if Naruto likes me…" The girl's throbbing cheek suddenly made her wince and she gingerly brought her fingers up to touch her swollen cheek. "No, not Maho; she's so cruel! She just attacked me!"

"Damn it. Did I eat something weird?" Sakura turned, surprised to hear a new voice, to find Naruto walking towards her, hand grasping his stomach. Her eye began to twitch, Smile; be nice! She reminded herself. Then suddenly she stood up and smiled, waving to Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, let's go back to class together, ne?"

"Sakura?" Naruto asked in confusion. Thinking it was Sasuke trying to trick him, he went to perform the Shadow Clone jutsu, his stomach rumbled again, therefore he ran straight back to the bathroom. Sakura got annoyed thinking he didn't want to walk with her and shook her fist. In the end she sighed and made her way back to class by herself.

X~X~X

"That damn Naruto, where'd he get to in such a short period of time?" Maho grumbled to herself as she looked through all the doors and shortcuts of the school grounds. She looked up to a roof and saw Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji sitting there eating lunch. She cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted as loud as she could. "Oi, Shikamaru, Chouji! Have you seen Naruto around? I wanted to walk back to class with him so we can meet our new sensei."

"Tied up in that room probably." Ino answered nonchalantly with a smirk on her face and a wave of her hand.

Twitching, Maho stuttered. "N-nani?"

"Naruto saw Sasuke in that room and jumped in to fight with him. Sasuke obviously beat him as he's the one that walked out, looking as hot as always. So that means Naruto is still in there right? Man, you're so dumb…" Ino explained, sighing as if she was bored of the conversation. Maho smirked and laughed slightly at Ino, who'd thought she knew about everything about the situation And she had the nerve to call me dumb?

"Hate to break it you Ino, but Naruto was the one who won that fight. He transformed into Sasuke and left the real one tied up in there. Naruto, who was transformed as Sasuke, has been talking to Sakura this whole lunch time. You mean to tell me you didn't even notice a second Sasuke jump out of that window, idiot?" Blondie stood with a shocked face and must've realized she had seen a second Sasuke come out of the room but she'd been too dumb to notice. "And if I may say Ino, you said 'Sasuke' came out the room looking 'hot'. I'm sure Naruto will be plenty pleased to her that since it was him~ Later!" Ino opened her mouth making pathetic, little syllables, speechless and not able to say anything back, as Maho headed to the one place she hadn't tried yet, the bathrooms, cackling all the while she retreated.

"You just got owned by someone who you called dumb, so troublesome!" Shikamaru said lazily as he leaned his head on the railing next to him again, Chouji occasionally sharing his chips with him.

"Oh…get a life Shikamaru!" Ino said, suffering harshly at not being able to give a good come-back, huffing in irritation.

Trying to locate the little blonde turd, Maho couldn't help but to think back onto what had happened with Sakura. I hate to say it, but maybe I was a little bit harsh on Sakura earlier…I shouldn't have punched her. Heh, if Mom finds out, she'll pummel me! It just pisses me off when people talk about having no parents like it is 'no big deal'. I know it's not her fault she's never felt that pain, but she such a whiney little… and, well, she should be happy she's got parents instead of unhappy she has got them. Maho walked along the wooden floor on the outside of the building where the bathrooms were situated, watching her feet move against the ground; heel, flat, toe, heel, flat, toe, heel, flat toe, over and over, listening to the creak of the floorboards with every step she took. She then stopped and looked back and forth between two doors; one displaying a man, one displaying a man with a dress on, or so she saw it. "Well it would make sense for Naruto to be in the guys' bathroom…Unless he's got an awful secret he's not telling us…" Laughing to herself, Maho sighed and kicked in the door to the boys' bathroom.

She looked down the aisle of sinks and saw nobody standing there, she noticed the stall door was open too, making her sigh and she quickly checked around the corner of the stall, peeking around to survey the urinals. Thankfully nobody was there either. Leaning against the wall, the girl crossed her arms, putting her foot on the wall behind her. Damn, we've only got a few minutes until class starts; where could Naruto go in such a short space of time? He should be here if he was complaining of stomach ache…At least, that's what it looked like! Pushing herself off the side of the wall, she turned around to leave, but she stopped as she caught her reflection in the mirror. I guess I don't really look at myself like this often, I mean who would want to? Bright orange hair, stupid, plain green eyes, stupid light-tanned skin that looks really un-even…Why can't I just look like all the other girls with brown eyes and brown, blonde or black hair? Sakura being an exception of course with pink hair… She sighed heavily as she tightened her pony-tail and ran her fingers through her bangs and the loose hair that fell around her face. Her hair, despite its color, was so weird. It didn't have that nice, smooth texture like every other girl's. No, of course she had to have an excess amount of frizz. At least around her face it wasn't so bad… Groaning in distaste, Maho shook her head and turned to leave; however, Maho froze when she heard the door open; jumping into the single bathroom stall without any thought. Shit, shit, shit! Now how in the hell am I going to get out of here? I seriously hope this guy doesn't take too long! Why did I have to be a girl in the boys bathroom?…Wait a second… Maho smirked, realizing she had a way out of this, and quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Transformation Jutsu." She whispered, just as the water faucet turned on. As the smoke cleared, Maho hoped the other guy hadn't noticed her jutsu, and she hoped her transformation was actually believable, but there wasn't much to debate over; she had to get to class. With a tap of her foot, the toilet flushed –had to make it seem like she had actually gone to the bathroom- and she unlocked the stall and began to wash her hands. Looking up at the mirror, she had to hide her smile at the success of her jutsu; in her mind she had created a picture of a random guy, but she now looked exactly like the boy she was imagining. If I were the real me, I'd totally date me. Guess it's because I imagined him, but still! Hmm, he's kinda got Kiba's hairstyle in black with side-ways bangs…Naruto's eyes…Shikamaru's lazy look and Chouji's smile… I hope this doesn't mean I like all my friends…Awkward… Shaking her head, her eyes wandered over to the guy who had made her transform and she was surprised to see it was Uchiha; his hands rested at the side of the sink while his head hung over the basin, the water flowing from the spout. Maho's now blue eyes softened at the sight; he looked really stressed…Was he okay? Shaking her head, she shut off the water and began drying her hands with the paper towel to stop herself from thinking further about it and she turned her attention back to the mirror and looked at her outfit. She was wearing a fish-net vest with a white, collared, v-neck shirt over the top and knee length, blue ninja trousers with the classic blue Konoha sandals. Her eyes, once again –god, why did she always have to look over at him?- wandered over to his figure, which was now running his hands under the water. However she smirked when she had a thought, but quickly put on a face of calm perfecture as he looked at her. Haha, okay, maybe this isn't such a bad turn of events. I think I'm going to have some fun with this. Now…how do boys greet each other….Don't they spit or something?

"Hey." Maho said in her newly improved, gruff voice and was happy with how it came out. Sasuke simply looked over and nodded to show he heard.

"Hey…" He then turned his head to the basin he was stood in front of and began splashing his face with the water.

"Something bugging you, or did you just forget to shower this morning?" She said in a sarcastic voice, she was happy she was still able to wind him up, even as a completely different person.

"None of your business." Uchiha snapped with a glare as he went back to wetting his face.

"Right, right sorry." Finally Sasuke stopped and dried his face off, and then he turned to Maho, making her gulp nervously at the way he stared at her.

"I've never seen you in the academy before; who are you and why are you here?" He asked in a not-so-nice tone, getting into a position with his feet shoulder-width apart, glaring slightly. Pfft, figures. This shouldn't be surprising from Uchiha Sasuke. Maho put her hands up next to each side of her head with an amused smile on her face.

"Chill dude, I'm just here travelling through Konoha."

Blue boy didn't back down; however he did relax his posture slightly, pocketing his hands. "Right…then how did you get into the academy grounds?"

"I'm training to be a doctor, and me and my sensei travel around, getting supplies from villages. My sensei got caught talking to one of your academy sensei's, I told them I needed the bathroom and they let me in here." She said with a shrug, surprising herself at how well she thought that story up, and also a little scared that she could lie that easily and that well. She had never really known she could improvise so well! Sasuke nodded, showing he believed it and he lost the aggressiveness. Maho did the same and dropped her arms down to her side, leaning her shoulder against the wall. It was silent then, until Sasuke spoke again.

"What's your name?"

Ah, shit, I didn't think of a name at all! "Rai." She said, simply and calmly, smiling to herself for thinking on the spot.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

"I care?" Maho said in a bored tone and looked away from Sasuke and around the bathroom, although in the inside she was jumping around and screaming at the statement she just made. Frak yeah! Chalk one up for Igashowa! Uchiha Sasuke is going down!'

"Hn," Was Sasuke's 'intelligent' reply and Maho simply crossed her arms.

"Hey, don't you have class? Can I come with you and see the school? Once my sensei starts talking he won't stop, and I want to see all the big buildings of Konoha before I move on anyway." The disguised girl proposed, smirking at Sasuke who looked like he couldn't make his mind up.

Sasuke frowned, thinking to himself. If I hang around with this guy maybe the attention will be off me and girls will go after him….Maybe he can keep Maho from bugging me too, since they pretty much both act the same. Oh, if only Sasuke knew. He finally nodded his head and made his way out the bathroom and surprise, surprise, Sasuke was right; as soon as they were near the academy again, girls' heads slowly turned to the pair. It was to Sasuke's delight that eyes were off him and on Rai for once; however when he looked at Rai, expecting him to be loving the attention, he was surprised to see he wasn't paying attention to any of the girls, or any boys in fact; he was just looking up at the sky watching the birds and surveying the buildings around him as they walked. "You know, the way you look and act reminds me of some people." Sasuke said to Rai, not having realized his thoughts were spoken out loud. The Uchiha noticed shock plaster itself onto the others boys face and watched as he turned to Sasuke.

"W-what?"

"You look and act like some people I know…" Sasuke repeated again, annoyed at having to say the same thing twice.

"Oh and uh…who would that be?" He noticed his voice got a little shaky and small beads of sweat appeared on his face.

"Well you have a mixture of features from some of the guys in my class and you kind of act like this girl I know…" Rai calm down and the sweat disappeared, a smirk replacing his nervous shock and he looked back up to watch the birds again.

"What girl would that be?"

"Igashowa Maho; we've hated each other since we first met, but we were put onto the same team today. She's different than other girls since she doesn't follow me around all the time and isn't obsessed with me. She actually acts just like you; sarcastic and care-free and then happy and funny at the same time." Maho was slightly shocked as Sasuke answered; all she was expecting was for him to say her name, but he went on and Maho wasn't prepared for that answer.

"Isn't that a good thing then? If she doesn't follow you round and isn't obsessed with you and…hating each other I mean?"

"I guess… I just sometimes wish that-" Sasuke didn't finish his sentence out loud, although it was finished in a instant in his head I just sometimes wish that we could get on for once. It's like she's got an invisible touch; we're never together, but I can't stop thinking about her. I hate how she does that, it gets so annoying. Maybe now we're on the same team, I'll be with her all the time, that way I won't have to think about her. As he finished the internal thought, a picture of a laughing Maho popped into his head. Glaring harshly at nothing in particular, he received strange stares from Rai.

"You sometimes wish what, Uchiha?"

"Nothing, just that she should stop being so annoying." Now they were just outside the academy gates and were ready to go back in. "I have to go in on my own now; my new team and I are meeting my new sensei."

"Oh right." Maho mumbled, unsure of how she would get to change back into herself and get back to class in time.

"I haven't seen Maho on my way back; I wouldn't be surprised if that ditz got lost or forgot she had to come back." Sasuke smirked, though was confused as he noticed Rai begin to glare at him. Then he had a look of complete shock as Rai burst into a puff of smoke and as it cleared Maho was in his place.

"Who are you calling a ditz, Sasgay!" Maho yelled, fuming as she pointed and glared at him.

Sasuke blinked in surprise; not just at the fact that Rai had been Maho, but that he hadn't realized it was her earlier. Recomposing himself, he gave his trademark smirk, "Wow you really are a ditz if you didn't hear the first time; I said you were a ditz and you've just proved that without any effort on my part." Turning around, he began to walk into the building. The Uchiha wasn't surprised when he heard running footsteps and a screaming red-head behind him.

"Just because I didn't get top scores on my test doesn't mean I'm not smart! I hardly believe you have the right to call me that when you are the one who believed in 'Rai' for a whole 15 minutes!" Sasuke stopped walking and turned around, scowling at Maho, who stopped suddenly as she was right behind Sasuke and didn't expect him to turn around. Neither of the two noticed the audience they had gathered and were looking out the window; all of the girls practically threatening to jump out the window to pull Maho away from Sasuke.

"That was a dirty trick by the way…." Sasuke had heard one of the girls shout 'Igashowa Maho, if you get one inch closer to Sasuke I'll break your legs for you!' So he took one step closer to Maho; earning more screams from the girls. To his surprise, she didn't move back; she just crossed her arms and smirked back, glaring at Sasuke.

"I wouldn't call it 'dirty' exactly. You're just angry because you didn't figure out my little prank!" She said slyly as she tilted her head to the left pouting.

She looks kind of cute when she pouts like that…Scowling and shaking his head, he gritted his teeth. "I am not; this argument's over, Maho; we need to go or we're going to be late meeting our new sensei." He put his hand out to grab her wrist, considering dragging her to the classroom, but he realized what he was doing and quickly put both his hands in his pocket.

"Fine, whatever, it's not like I'm looking forward to being on the same team with you either Uchiha!" I'm such a liar. She unconsciously contradicted in the back of her head. Wait, what? Maho scrunched up her face in a confused manner and wondered where and why that thought had come from; however, now wasn't really the right time to try and figure it out, so she shrugged and followed Sasuke into the building.