Moving In!

Chapter 3:

Sunday

Sakura typed at maximum speed on her laptop, her essay was due on Monday, and she had only just started. "Temari-chan, can you get me some coffee?" Sakura asked as she kept her eyes glued to the screen. It was seven o'clock in the morning and she hadn't slept well the previous night. Temari yawned and put down her book.

"Yeah, I could use some as well. How about you, Hinata-chan?" Temari asked as she took her wallet out of her purse. Hinata sleepily nodded her head. Temari smiled, took some change and left. As Sakura typed, Hinata read over her shoulder.

"Sakura, that's not how you spell 'international'…" She noted. Sakura frowned and stabbed her keyboard furiously. She was now half way through her essay, and felt as though she could drop any moment and fall asleep. Hinata walked around the room (more like jumped since Sakura's clothes were scattered all over the floor) and stopped at their window.

She pushed away the blinds to let all the sunlight pour in. "It looks like it's going to rain…" She said and opened the window for some air. "I was supposed to go somewhere with Naruto-kun today." She said and sighed. Sakura turned to Hinata, her eyes red and droopy.

"Maybe he should just come see you here. I'll be gone to work and Temari has to get to soccer practice." Sakura said and let out a loud yawn. She drowsily turned back to the computer screen.

"Maybe you should rest a bit, Sakura. Your essay won't be so good if you write it in this condition." Hinata told her wisely. Sakura nodded her head and was about to close her laptop when she saw a blue box pop up at the bottom right of her screen. 'You have received one (1) new e-mail.' She rolled her eyes and clicked on the box.

Another window opened up, she was now in her inbox. She slowly clicked on the yellow e-mail. "He sent me an e-mail…?" Sakura asked herself quietly and motioned for Hinata to come and see. They slowly read what was written…

Itachi says he needs you at the café at ten o'clock sharp. We're expecting some extra costumers today. Consider it your first actual day here, yesterday was simply a test, which I thought you failed.

Unfortunately, Itachi decided to keep you, so I'll have to deal with you. Why did he keep you? He said that you attract costumers.

Poor me, I don't see how you could possibly pull that off. By the way, green piglets are not so fashionable these days…

Sasuke

"Green piglets? What's he talking about?" Sakura asked, frowning. Hinata looked away to hide her smile. "He just indirectly called me ugly!! Sai is the only one allowed to call me that. He's going down!" Sakura said and shut her laptop. She suddenly felt energized and somewhat rejuvenated! They heard a small 'click'. Temari walked in with three cups off coffee in her hands. She handed them to Sakura and Hinata and sat at the desk. Sakura was pacing around the room as Temari spoke.

"When I went to get the coffee at the coffee machine, there were posters all over the school, there's going to be a dance next Saturday!" Temari said excitedly. Hinata and Sakura beamed.

"I was wondering when they'd be organising one. Are you guys going to go with someone specific?" Sakura asked, smirking. Hinata blushed.

"N-Naruto, of course." She said and smiled.

"I'm not sure; I might just go by myself…" Temari sighed. Sakura nodded her head.

"I'll go with you then."

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"Ino-chan, switch with Sakura-chan." Itachi ordered as he flipped a burger.

"Yes, boss." She said and grabbed one of the big plates and left out to see the crowd of waiting costumers. Sakura quickly took out the pepperoni pizza from the oven and put it on the counter, cutting it in 4 pieces as fast and efficiently as she could.

"Order 45!" She called. Sasuke, one of the waiters, quickly came in and took the order, a miniature pizza. He ripped out five new orders and set them down were the pizza once lay. He then left without a word to deliver it to the specific table.

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Itachi said, obviously in a rush. "We're packed in here, we need to move faster! Karin-chan, stop fooling around!" He ordered and took the fries out of the deep fryer.

Most of the day was as hectic as this, if not more. When the café closed up, everyone was completely exhausted, and took the last fifteen minutes to relax and talk. Sakura, who still played the role as the 'newcomer', didn't talk much during these meetings.

"I think we should add more to the vegan menu. I mean, there are lots of girls out there who want to be healthier!" Ino said. Itachi nodded his head and sucked some more juice out of his straw.

"I'm not a fan of tofu, but I think that would work." Tenten said approvingly.

"What about something for guys? We like big portions on our plates!" Naruto said, beaming.

"That's right. Our costumers are hungry people; they shouldn't have to spend twice as much to have two of the exact same meals just to fill themselves up." Neji said, nodding slowly.

"I think both ideas are fine. So I'll work on two new menus, the vegan menu and the large portioned menu. Do you guys have any suggestions for things on the menus?" Itachi asked as he wrote down in his large notebook. Sakura stared blankly at her water bottle, twirling it in her hands.

Her attention drifted from the conversation and to the circling water inside the bottle. It reminded her of something. She didn't know what it was… but she could only remember that she hadn't gone for a swim in a while. She made a mental note of taking a swim at the school's pool when she had the time.

"What do you think, Sakura-chan?" Karin asked, smirking devilishly.

"Huh? What?" She stuttered and set her bottle on the table. She could hear some chuckling around the table. "Gomen, I wasn't paying attention."

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan… These conversations are very important. You wouldn't want to lose you job, would you?" Karin said, still holding the same expression of satisfaction. Everyone was silent, just watching the two. Sakura's clueless expression turned to one of annoyance. Karin was trying to kick her out of the café.

Ha, I don't think so.

"Of course not. Do you want me to lose my job?" Sakura asked, glaring at Karin.

"I said nothing like that." Karin huffed and turned to her apple. Sakura got off her chair so fast; some might have thought she jumped.

"Unlike you, I am here for a good reason." Sakura stated. With every day her temper seemed to shorten, faster and faster.

"What's that?" Karin asked, "You need money to run away from home?"

"I don't have a home." Sakura said firmly. Most of them, excluding the all-knowing Ino, seemed slightly surprised.

"So you're homeless, right?" Karin asked, almost laughing.

"Shut up." Sakura said angrily. Itachi stood up, ready to end the fight.

"If you girls can't get along, then I might have to take you both off the job He said. Sakura slowly sat down, staring at her bottle of water again.

"Gomenasai, Itachi-kun." They both mumbled.

"Good. Now, I think that's enough for tonight. See you all on Monday." He said and left in a matter of seconds, as usual. Karin was second to get up and leave, then others followed. Sakura slowly got up at the same time as everyone one else and headed for the door.

"Sakura-chan… What do you mean by you don't have a home?" Tenten asked, worried.

"I mean I don't have a home. My mother is… Well, I don't want to talk about." Sakura said; she could sense Sasuke walking behind them, listening curiously. Tenten frowned as Sakura ran outside.

Sakura's P.O.V.

I ran outside and fast as I could, I didn't want to start crying in front of them. Why must I keep running? Geez, I forgot my umbrella.

Damn it.

Hinata was right, it was raining. It was raining pretty hard, too. I stopped running, I didn't want to slip and make things worse. I was clumsy, remember?

Am I crying, or is it simply the rain?

I'm always confused, why do these things always happen to me? I wonder whether it's just some horrible curse in my family or something. If there is a heaven, then I don't care if I die and go see my mother…

But I have better things to do than die.

My fathers till needs me. I'll go see him soon… someday. I hope that when he wakes up I'll be by his side, which would be really nice. I nearly jumped when I heard loud honking, the sounds of my car accident were still replaying in my head, and I thought I was going to die again.

BUT…

It turned out to be someone following me in their nice Mercedes. I kept walking, ignoring them. After a few minutes, I thought that they were gone. I was wrong. As soon as I stepped onto the road, to cross it, the car turned and stopped in front of me.

"Get in." I heard.

Hell no.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep calm. All windows were tinted, so I couldn't see it for myself. A familiar head popped out of the window, which had just opened. I gawked at the face and pointed at the person very rudely, stuttering, "S-S-Sasuke?!"

"Get in, baka." He said, more like he was ordering me. As much as I'd have liked to, it didn't seem like such a smart idea.

"How do I know that you aren't going to rape me or something?" I asked nervously, covering myself. He rolled his eyes and opened the door.

"Get in, or I'll make you." He said. This time, it was definitely an order. I shrugged, What much could I lose now? If he's offering then, might as well take it. I ran to the car, still soaking wet, and slid inside the back seat.

"Where's Itachi?" I asked hopefully, looking around. I was also hoping he'd be nice and give me his warm and dry jacket.

"Not here." He said and started driving again, really fast by the way. I frowned, that wasn't helpful. "Why? You scared I'll do something to you?"

"Yeah." I admitted bravely. He snorted.

"Where were you heading too, home?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Didn't you hear me before? I don't have a home." Chicken butt head. He probably thought I was lying.

"What about your parents?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"…" I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked, damn smartass.

"School. I'm in the dorms, remember?" I said, rubbing my arms for heat. This guy just couldn't give me his darn jacket.

"Yeah… I remember." He laughed and turned into the school's parking lot. That was fast.

"What's so funny?" I asked suspiciously, ready to open the door and leave.

"Nothing, nothing." He said. But as soon as I opened the door and got out, I could've sworn he said: "Except green piglets…"

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Sakura was furious. Her evening was like a hell… well not so much, but she liked to exaggerate. When she had entered the school all wet it made people stop and look - when they realized Sasuke walking behind her, it made them do a double-take. It was not only embarrassing but annoying as well, because right after staring with boggling eyes, they just had to go and follow the two.

They're such snoops.

When they noticed that they split ways, some of them scattered. The more persistent ones were standing right outside Sakura's door, trying to hear if she'd relieve anything to Hinata. But she wasn't stupid, nope.

There's nothing interesting to hear here people…

Hinata and Temari had just come back with two big laundry baskets, which they dumped onto the floor and left again, to get the others. Sakura sighed. Alone she was again. She walked to her basket to fold and put away her clothes. As she slowly did so, she over- thought the fact that she was actually working at the café with Sasuke and regretted it. As long as Karin was there, there was no way to do anything.

The big unbreakable wall that is Karin.

As Sakura filed her brain Temari and Hinata came back inside. They were used to Sakura's evolving weird behaviour, so they paid her no attention when they heard her muttered to herself. As the arranged their clothes as well, Sakura suddenly jumped up and let out a long, piercing scream.

"Sakura!!" Hinata squeaked with her hands over her ears. Even after Sakura's scream had left her lips, her mouth was left wide open, and her eyes showing confusion and horror.

"Well…? What is it?" Temari asked impatiently, cautiously removing her hands from her ears. They looked at her strangely; she has holding a pair of underwear. "What the hell are you doing?!" She asked.

"T-T-The…" Sakura stuttered. The two waited impatiently. "I-It's pink with… G-Green piglets!!" Sakura said and threw it back into the laundry basket as if it were a scary insect. Hinata and Temari began to laugh at her.

"Sakura-chan!! You were wearing that when Sasuke came here!" Temari said between fits of laughter. Sakura scowled at her, then blushed and quickly covered herself.

"H-How do you know that?!" Sakura squeaked.

"Well we kinda saw it, when you were in your silk night gown…" Hinata mumbled. Sakura's eyed widened.

"It's not that short!!" She insisted.

"We saw it when you fell, after you saw us at the door." Temari explained, still trying to contain her giggles.

"B-But… Sasuke didn't see it, right?" Sakura asked; feeling utterly terrified. They quickly glanced at each other, and Sakura understood.

Then, she fainted.

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When she woke up, it was the next morning; a Monday. It was the wretched time for school again. After her first two classes, Sakura had to run to the cafeteria to be first in line. She was quite surprised with herself; she expected that- since she was very clumsy- she would have tripped over something.

Here I stand; over all you minor creatures.

When the food started being put out, Sakura walked down towards the pizza; every Monday they had some, and that drove the students crazy. She then grabbed a tiny chocolate cupcake and something to drink. Right after that, she walked towards her table; she didn't realize that someone was following her.

"Out of the way!!" Someone yelled, she believed it was Naruto, and ran past her. As he passed, he roughly brushed her shoulder, making her loose her grip on the contents she held.

Damn it.

Sakura's plate flew forwards, sending her chocolate cupcake and pizza in her face. Though her glass of fruit punch flew over her shoulder and she heard a noise of splatter. As she looked into the eyes staring at her, she noticed something strange.

Please, PLEASE, don't let it be Sasuke.

She slowly turned and saw that Karin was standing behind her. She had a furious look on her face, Sakura's fruit punch had ruin her favourite blue shirt. Sakura's jaw dropped as she tried to apologize. "Oh! I-I'm so sorry!!"

Yeah. Right…

"Do you know how much I pay for my clothes?!" Karin screamed. Sakura tried to act innocent.

"N-No…"

Do you even check the price before you flash your credit card…?

Sakura's P.O.V.

It looked like Karin was ready to jump me, and her friends were with her as well. As I steadied my pose, I could hear my friends approaching, I could hear Hinata's voice, and they were trying to get into the center of the circle. I would have been happy to have Gaara save my ass, but it was too late. Karin jumped- literally- onto me, knocking me very hard onto the ground.

The shock had knocked out my air supply, and as I gasped for breath she punch me across the face. It wasn't too hard of a punch; I don't think she'd want to leave a big mark. She tried to swing at me again but I caught her arm, amazingly. I slapped her across the face, making her grow angrier. I managed to lift her body from mine, making her trip over her feet and fall back.

She was back on her feet before I was on my knees and lunged for my hair. It was the first time I'd gotten in a fight, actually it was more exhilarating than painful. I'd never felt so consumed by adrenaline in my life. She had almost grabbed my hair when something stopped her. I could barely hide my disappointment.

Fine Gaara, go and ruin the fun.

Wait…

That's not Gaara.

"Sasuke-kun!!" Me and Karin both yelled. He was holding Karin back, who had stopped squirming as soon as she realized who he was. Karin was beaming, but her happiness didn't last. He quickly let go of her and scowled at me, obviously unhappy with my behaviour.

What is he, my mom?

I immediately regretted that thought. "What do you think you're doing?" An angry voice asked loudly, but it wasn't Sasuke. Gaara had beaten him to it. I instantly jumped to my feet. He fiercely swung me around to face him, giving me that are-you-on-drugs look.

"N-Nothing." I stuttered, his stare scared me, even.

"Why the hell did you do that?" He asked coldly, tightening his grip on my arm.

"She started it!" I whined, but only felt my hand and fingers getting number. He dragged me outside to talk to me, as he did so I could feel Sasuke's piercing eyes on me. Hinata and Sai thought it better to leave us alone and went to sit at the table, which was still half-owned by Sasuke.

Normal P.O.V.

As soon as the door shut she opened her mouth to explain, but he was faster. "Are you trying to get suspended?" He asked. Her mouth was frozen open, waiting to see if he might want to interrupt again.

He only waited quietly for me to speak.

"I spilled juice on her shirt and she got mad, I didn't provoke her in anyway! She jumped me and we started fighting." She explained quickly. Gaara sighed, as his expression seemed to soften.

"Next time I won't let you off so easily." He muttered and walked back inside. She let out a deep breath, and put her hand on her jaw. It ached terribly, Maybe Karin had punched me harder than I thought.