Chapter 2: In the Presence of the Devil

'Don't look him in the eye!' Sakura shouted in her head. She began to stare at the equations on her desk. It was just her luck that she'd be in the same class as the guy who was supposed to be more dangerous than Jack the Ripper. With her hand shaking, she picked up her pencil and began to finish her work.

Her ears heard his footsteps as he walked to a desk. Hopefully, he would sit on the other side of the room. She also heard several obvious whispers concerning his anatomy. Kanna wasn't kidding when she said his fan girls were obsessive.

"Plop!"

Sakura paused. That sounded close…

She turned her head and nearly passed out when she saw Uchiha Sasuke's spiked head next to her. She looked back to her notebook. Of all the empty seats in this room! Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice her as he appeared to be digging around his backpack for something.

'If you ever get stuck around him, just pretend he isn't there, and get out as soon as possible.'

Heeding Kanna's advice, Sakura continued her work and promptly ignored his presence. 'Just focus on the problems.'

'The circumference of a circle that has the radius of 25 is 25 squared times 3.-'

"Oi."

'-.14. 25 squared is 625, so times that by-'

"Oi!" she felt something poke her shoulder. She looked up and saw that he was looking at her. She gulped.

"What problems are we doing?"

It took a moment to register what he said to her. 'Speak now! He doesn't seem patient."

"O-one through," she cleared her throat a bit, "One through thirty on page twenty three."

He turned back to his notebook and began writing the problems, and Sakura did the same. Well, she managed to kind of talk to him without fainting. She considered that an accomplishment.

Soon, she finished her work and glanced at the clock. Thirty-five minutes left, crap. She wanted to be out of here and get the hell away from him. She grabbed her notebook and began to sketch to calm her nerves. Strangely, his hair reminded her of his favorite cartoon character. It took her longer than usual to sketch since she had to steady her hand.

"You're good."

'Eh?' she looked up and saw him staring at her drawing. It was of Daffy Duck glaring down Bugs Bunny and saying his classic line, "You're despicable."

She didn't reply to him, she couldn't. She didn't know how to respond to a compliment from him. Hell, from what she heard, she thought that he was incapable of giving one. So she continued to draw more pictures of Daffy. From him with Porky, to him in a zuit suit posing as "Danny Boy".

But he wouldn't stop staring. Her drawings weren't that interesting, were they? 'Didn't pick him as the type to like cartoons.' She mused.

"Do you always draw cartoons?" he asked.

This time, she did find her voice. "Not always."

"Really?" Her notebook was suddenly gone. It took a second for her to realize that he took it and was now flipping through her drawings.

'Oh, sure! You can take my things and look at them without asking. By all means!'

A lot of words came to her mind at the moment. Rude, Arrogant, Rough, NOSY! But as she opened her mouth, no sound came.

"I've never seen it, but he's probably not against hitting a girl."

Better keep her mouth shut.

"These aren't half bad." He commented.

Before she could reply, the bell rang. 'Thank God!' He gave her back her notebook and began to pick up his things. She did the same. He stood up and did a double take as he saw her stand. 'Damn, she's short.'

'Oh my God, he's huge!' thought Sakura. She barely came up to his chest. Feeling her fear begin to rise again, she decided it was high time to get the hell out of there. She began to walk out the classroom, and he was close behind. She turned towards the doorway and dropped her calculator. Hearing the noise, he turned just as he was leaving to see her bending over to pick up the device. He tilted his head a bit to get a better view of her rear end. 'Not bad…' He walked away when she stood up strait.

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"You sat next to him! Holy Hell, are you all right!" exclaimed Kanna. The art teacher gave her a stern look and she grinned sheepishly at him before carrying on with her work.

"I'm fine, nothing happened." Replied Sakura as she sketched the bowl of fruit in front of her. "He just kept looking at my sketches and asking about them."

"Wait, he was talking to you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Usually, unless you're a part of his gang or he's cussing you out, he won't talk to you. He thinks of himself like a king, so anyone other than his loyal subjects isn't worthy of talking to him. If you do, he'll look at you like you're stupid."

"Then why did he talk to me?"

"Dunno, maybe he likes you." Sakura's eyebrows rose at this.

"He likes me?" It even sounded foreign out loud. "Is that a good thing?"

"Um…yes and no."

"That doesn't help much." Sakura sighed.

"What I mean is, if he likes you, he's less likely to have a reason to hate you. So you won't have to worry as much about what he might do."

"But…?"

"But, if he does like you, that might mean he wants to make you the newest notch on his bedpost." Now that was a surprise. Sakura never even considered something like that.

"I doubt that. I mean, I don't think I'm his type."

'I'm not pretty…'

"I'm just saying, the only girl that guy probably talks to is one he's about to screw. So try not to talk to him again."

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"Sup, man!" greeted a short haired brunette as Naruto entered the rooftop.

"Hey, Dogbreath." said Naruto as he slapped hands with the boy while walking past. The rooftop was currently occupied by the gang leaders and a few of their subordinates.

"That's Kiba, asswipe!" replied the boy. Naruto kept walking but proceeded to give him the finger and say, "Sit n' spin!". The blonde made his way towards Sasuke, who was leaning against the high rail in the corner. Even within his own crew, he managed to distance himself from the crowd.

"You're late, Dobe." Sasuke said as Naruto leaned on the railing next to him.

"Well…if you really wanna know." said Naruto with a grin. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He already knew.

"Some girl was blowin' you?" Naruto's jaw dropped. "How'd you know?"

"You had that stupid-ass grin on your face you get every time."

"What can I say, ladies love meh!" stated Naruto with his grin still in place. Now, Sasuke did roll his eyes.

"Well, what about you? Get any action, lately?" inquired the blue eyed boy. The Uchiha thought for a moment. Actually, just the other day, he got some from a bitch in his 4th period. But she gave it up to anyone, so it wasn't anything to brag about. Then a thought hit him.

"Some girl in my 7th tried to flirt with me."

Naruto gave him a look. "And ramen tastes good. These are things we know, Teme."

"No, she was different."

"Different?"

"She drew me some little drawings and showed em' to me to get my attention." He smirked. "Her face was red and she wouldn't look me in the eye. It was cute."

"She sounds like a kindergartener, Uchiha." said Neji as he and Shikamaru walked over.

"She was hella short." Noted Sasuke. "But she didn't look to bad."

"Aw…Teme's got a crush." Gushed Naruto as he pinched the boy's cheeks. Sasuke slapped his hand away and swiftly guided his fist to Naruto's head. "Itai!"

"You know her name?" asked Shikamaru. Sasuke stopped for a moment. Damn, he spent all that time looking at her pictures and he fucking forgot about her damn name!

"You finally find a girl that interests you, and you can't even say what her name is?" noted Neji. "You're quite the Romeo, Uchiha." He smirked.

"Shut it, Hyuga!"

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"I'm sitting here today. Go sit over there."

That was the first thing Sakura heard when she walked into her 7th period. She studied the girl that was talking to her. She was wearing skin tight Capri's with strappy gold heels and her tank top left little to the imagination. You could also see the top of her g-string due to her bottoms hanging so low on her hips.

Sakura mentally rolled her eyes and walked over to the other side of the room. If that girl was willing to fight over something so trivial as a seat, then she needed it a lot more than Sakura did. Plus, it was doubtful, but there might have been some truth to what Kanna said. So maybe if Uchiha-san sat next to that girl, he'd forget all about her. With that, Sakura felt more content and began doing the assignment on the board.

Sasuke walked into the classroom, and surprised most students. He was usually late to every class he had, so if he was on time that meant that hell had frozen over. He looked towards the back and failed to see a pink head, but instead a scantily dressed coed. He looked at her and she poked her chest out and gave a flirtatious wave.

He then walked over to the other side of the room and sat next to Sakura.

Sakura looked up from her work and saw that he had once again sat next to her. What? What happened to…? She looked over to the girl and saw that she had a comical expression on her face. She looked back to the Uchiha and he stared right at her.

He assessed her curious look and then winked at her. Sakura's eyes widened. What was that? Her mouth opened and closed like a fish as she debated whether or not to speak. Was there something in his eye, or did he mean to…? He smirked and then got out his notebook. She shook off the weird feeling she felt and returned to her work.

She finished in no time, and took out her notebook again. This time, she began on some random designs. She made intricate curves and swirls border the page. She was just doodling, really.

"No cartoons, today?" She glanced at him, and back at her doodles. Was he going to make watching her draw a habit? She shook her head, and went back to the designs. Now the page had a complete boarder of loops and swirls, but she still didn't know what to draw.

"Do you take requests?" Sakura looked back at him, and leaned back a bit. His face was too close to hers for her liking. She shrugged her shoulders at his question.

"Then draw me something." It sounded more like an order than a request. She picked up her pen and moved it towards the page.

"W-what do you want me to draw?" he smirked. Good answer.

"Draw me a heart."

She paused. Did she hear him right? "A heart?"

"Is there a problem?" his voice suddenly got colder. Sakura's hand trembled a bit. "N-no." She managed to steady her hand, and guided it to work. She started with a simple heart, and then drew miniature ones bordering it. Then, there came some little roses steaming from it.

To say that she was uncomfortable would be an understatement. His close proximity and heavy gaze made her feel as if she was being judged on her work, and if it wasn't satisfactory, the consequences would be dire. After adding an arrow through the heart, she tore the page out and held it out for him to take. When she didn't feel it being pulled away, she glanced at him. He was leaning on the arm closest to her and had an expectant look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. He smirked at her.

"You didn't sign it." He explained. "It's only natural that an artist signs their work." He then pointed an index finger to the middle of the heart. "Sign it." Another command.

She hurriedly wrote her name on the picture, and when she was done, he slid it away from her. Hearing the bell ring was a God send for Sakura. She collected her things and nearly ran out of there like a bat from hell.

Sasuke watched her collect her things and leave, silently enjoying the swing of her hips as she left.

He then gazed down at the work of art in his hand.

'Haruno Sakura, eh' he read. The dark haired boy smirked and picked up his pen.

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"Teme! Where ya been?" Naruto asked. After the bell, the whole gang gathered in the parking lot next to the leaders' cars.

"Hn." Sasuke replied as some members cleared a path for him to the other leaders.

"Oh, wait, wait.! Don't tell me!" the Uzumaki said with a grin. "You and your wittle girlfriend were busy playing patty cake." His comment received a few chuckles from the others.

"Shut it, Dobe." The Uchiha growled as he punched the blonde in the arm.

"Seriously, Sasuke. How are things with her. You make a move yet?" asked one of his subordinates, Suigestsu. That was the thing about the non-leaders. If something interesting was happening with the leaders, they wanted to know everything. In order to learn more about them, to become one of them.

"I don't have to," he replied. "She's got it bad for me and making it painfully obvious."

"How obvious?" asked Neji. The boy smirked and took a neatly folded paper out of his pocket. "She gave me this." Naruto snatched it and unwrapped the prize inside. He smiled ear to ear and began to laugh out loud.

"Oh, man! She's got it bad for you, Teme!" he laughed as he passed it over to the others. Sasuke's smirk only grew as the boys made whooping noises and slapped him on the back.

Shikamaru finally got a hold of the paper and couldn't help but let a few chuckles escape. The drawing was indeed amusing. A beautifully decorated green heart showed on the paper. The cutest thing was what was written on the heart.

Uchiha Sasuke + Haruno Sakura