Hey everyone

Hey everyone! It's your favorite neighborhood band geek!

Wow, lovin' that line. I want to confess—Spiderman is my hero. Teehee. Yah gotta love 'im.

I'm considering deleting my two oneshots from the site. What do you guys think? Cuz if someone really likes them, I'll keep 'em, but I don't like them…sooo…

Thanks to: Shashuko the Paisley Maiden, Kina Lupi, multi guy, ellabell, kireihana35, Shrimps of Mass Destruction, Originlatatorian, Not a member (ha, I'm taking Geometry right now, too. I hate it as well. Converses are the easy part, though. Wait 'til you get to proofs) Haku's No. 1 Girl, craziness101, and Nairo Xana and Jemmi.

So glad you all liked it. On the other hand, I take this time to thank Flame Rising, who flamed me. I really appreciate it. I actually do, cuz it made me think about it, and I think I'll start rereading my stuff more carefully. So thanks. At first, I was very offended, but most of all, pissed off, but now, I've thought about, and decided to just get over it and use it to my advantage. Although, you just attacked…you really didn't give me anything to build on. Oh, well. (As a side note, thanks to multi guy and Zakuro17 for making me feel better.)

Harry had grown quite fond of this year. His Potions class was easy, and he could spend the whole time 'talking' with Ginny. He was actually learning from Professor Haku, and Malfoy made the class all the more enjoyable, with his snide insults that Haku easily sent back to him. Charms and Herbology were interesting as usual, and with Sakura helping him with homework, he was excelling in his classes. The Transfiguration teacher was a little loopy, but he didn't mind her so much, as she mainly picked on Naruto.

Best of all, Malfoy was the laughingstock of their year, for reasons quite obvious.

Furthermore, the first Hogsmeade trip was coming up, along with Quidditch tryouts. He couldn't wait. Hogsmeade itself would be enjoyable, what with Ginny being there. Quidditch was the best thing since sliced cheese, so of course he was excited about it. Ginny was the captain this year, but she seemed content to be chaser, as though she had known Harry would go for seeker.

Which she had, by the way.

Yes…life was going great.

For Harry, anyway.

For a certain pink-haired shinobi, life had taken an unexpected turn. With the appearance of Sasuke, and their little chat, she had grown withdrawn. Ginny and Hermione were concerned about her, and Naruto knew what was wrong with her.

They asked her if she wanted to talk about it. She said no.

Surprisingly, the one she told was none other than Draco Malfoy.

She had found him, hiding in the library, hoping no one would notice him. She had, and had walked over to talk to him.

"Hey, Draco," she said.

"Hello, Haruno." His voice was sad.

She gave him a lilting smile. "You know, everyone else thought Haku was a girl, too. When I first met him, along with Naruto, Kakashi, and…Sasuke," she paused, overwhelmed again. "We all thought he was a girl."

Draco's eyes were surprised. "I'm not the only one?"

She smiled. "Nah."

His face lit up. Then his countenance fell. "Why are you here? To mock me? Shouldn't you be hanging out with Granger and Weasley?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Of course not. I'm here because I could tell you were absolutely miserable."

He remained cynical. "Sure." He paused, than looked closer at her face. "You're not exactly happy, either," he pointed out.

She sighed, and glanced out the window. "No," she admitted.

"What's wrong with you?"

Sakura was a bit surprised. Ginny and Hermione had told her Draco didn't care much about others.

He saw her look. "What? Ever since what I've come to call 'The Incident' occurred, I've been a little more understanding of others…and since dad…well, you know."

She sighed. "I guess it all involves Sasuke…"

"You don't like him, or you do?"

"That's the issue. We went to…grade school together, and every girl, except for Hinata, of course, had a crush on him. After we graduated and went on to…" she struggled to find the correct word for the wizarding world.

Luckily, Draco thought she just didn't know the English word, and helped her out. "Wizarding school?"

"Yes! Anyway, Naruto, Sasuke, and I were on a team, sort of like your houses here, but with only three people. After a year, he left…to go to another wizarding school, I guess. The…headmaster…didn't want him to go. She forbade him to go." Tears rolled down her face. "I tried to stop him. I told him I loved him." She furiously wiped away tears. "But…he said…he said…'You're annoying.' He…knocked me out, or something, and left…" She gave up and let the tears run down her face.

"And now, you aren't sure if you like him or not," he finished for her.

She nodded blindly. Draco leaned towards her and wiped away the tears wetting her face. "Sakura," he said softly, "No man is worth your tears. The one who is will never make you cry."

She chuckled. "That was awfully feminist, Draco." (And corny)

He laughed with her. "But it's true."

She wiped her eyes for the last time. "…Thank you, Draco."

He smiled. "Sure." He paused, and then continued, "You're the only one who calls me that."

"Is that bad?" she said, mirth shining in her eyes.

"No…I…I like it." He smiled. "I should go. See you later?"

She returned the smile. "Of course."

On second thought, life was going okay for Sakura, too.

Meg was lying on her bed, tossing a cricket ball up and down. It was Saturday, so she didn't have any classes, and she was bored.

Hinata walked into the room, wearing one of Meg's t-shirts and some baggy blue jeans. REALLY baggy—apparently she didn't feel comfortable otherwise.

"Wanna play cricket?" Meg asked.

"Cricket?" Hinata asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah. Kinda like baseball."

"I've…never played baseball."

"Yet you live in Japan?"

"Uh…I don't know…baseball wasn't ever my thing."

"Come on! It's fun. I'll teach you how... Please?"

Hinata sighed. "Okay."

Meg's face lit up. "Yay!" She jumped off the bed, and grabbed a bat from her trunk.

Meg and Hinata ran out to the field behind the school.

"You want to swing first, Hina?" Meg called. Ginny, Hermione, and Sakura came out of the castle, laughing loudly. They paused to watch them play.

"Um, okay." Hesitantly, Hinata picked up the bat. Meg bowled the ball towards her, and Hinata managed a cover drive. "Now what?" she called, as the ball sailed through the air, fast and hard. Ginny nodded appreciatively.

"I don't know...we don't have enough people for you go for a run. Let's just get the ball, and then switch positions." Meg ran off to retrieve the ball.

Hinata mimicked Meg's previous movements, and bowled the ball to Meg. Meg swung the bat, and with the crack of the ball hitting bat, she pulled off a straight drive.

Ginny ran out to where they were playing. "That was FANTASTIC! You would both make excellent beaters! Promise me you'll try out?"

Hinata stared at her in confusion. She played her part well—"Excuse me, but, what does 'beater' mean? I'm not sure we learned that word."

"Oh! Silly me. Quidditch, of course! You have to try out. Maybe Meg can explain?"

"Beaters are a position on the Quidditch team; you know, the sport you play on broomsticks."

Hinata feigned understanding with a nod.

Meg continued, "They hit the bludgers--that's one type of ball--towards other players, with bats. She's probably complementing your cover drive. Which was excellent, by the way."

"Your hit was great as well, though I don't know all the terminology." Ginny's eyes were shining with excitement. (A/N: If you didn't understand any of that terminology, either, go to wikipedia . org, and search cricket (sport). That's where I learned about it. Haha!)

Meg nodded. "Straight drive."

"Please try out?"

Meg and Hinata exchanged a look.

Meg's said I will if you will.

Hinata shrugged and nodded.

"We'll do it."

"Great!" Ginny ran back to Hermione and Sakura.

Suddenly, Hinata noticed a flaw in the plan. "Ummm, Meg?"

"Hmmm?" Meg was picking up the bat and ball.

"Well…I wasn't ever really into sports," Hinata explained, "So I don't know how to ride a broom…" At least not sports you'd understand, she thought.

"Oh, it's easy! Let's go tell Ginny that you don't have a broom, but we want to practice. She'll let us use the team broomsticks."

"Uhh…okay."

They ran back into the castle, to put away Meg's sports equipment, and then began searching for Ginny.

Haku was sitting in his office, briefly reading over his lesson plan for the next day. The clock on the wall was starting to irritate him.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

For once, he decided to just lose his time. He threw senbon needles at the clock.

As the needles pierced the plastic covering the face, and struck the face, the clock stopped mid-tick.

Sweet relief, he thought.

Usagi suddenly burst into the office, fake smile in place.

"Thanks for knocking," he said dryly.

She shrugged. "Sorry."

He rolled his eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Ummm…not really. Just needed to talk to someone."

"Why not Temari? Aren't you like best friends?"

"Well, if you don't want me to—"

"Not what I meant. Please, sit."

She grinned, a real smile, and plopped down into the seat in front of his desk. It was purposely placed to make the person seated there feel smaller than the person seated behind the desk. Not his choice, but oh, well. "I feel like I'm in trouble again," she said with a chuckle.

"Trouble? Perfect Usagi? Never."

"Ha, ha. For your information, I used to get in trouble all the time with…" Her voice trailed off.

He knew, of course, who she was talking about. "Juugo."

She nodded sadly.

Juugo had been her best friend. She was the only one…the only one who could stand to be around him.

That was before.

Before Orochimaru.

Before Juugo had sacrificed himself to bring Haku back.

And because of that very fact, Haku knew she resented him, slightly.

Well…not slightly. Completely.

"You have no idea," she whispered. "You have no idea what it's like to lose your best friend. YOU HAVE NO IDEA!"

"No, of course not," he said sarcastically. "Because the only friend I ever had was Zabuza, and he couldn't have been my best friend. Maybe I died before him. That doesn't matter—when I came back, it didn't make him any less lost to me."

They were both trembling with anger—Haku was so frustrated with this. It wasn't like he asked Juugo to bring him back! Usagi was just using him as a scapegoat.

"The truth is, Usagi-chan, YOU have no idea what it's like to know that someone sacrificed himself for you.

"And you didn't want it. You didn't want anyone else to die on your account. You, you are the one who doesn't know."

The way of the shinobi is very hard for me…

Her lips tightened, and she stormed from the room.

Okay, peeps. This is the deal. Really—only replying to reviews with questions. Seriously.

Anyway, I'm going through and 'I hate Sasuke' phase, and I'm considering changing the story to DracoXSakura. My question is, should I do this, or keep it as a SasuSaku? And I do get more votes for SasuSaku, know that it will be a DracoSakuSasu. Draco and Sakura are going out at some point—that much I promise.

Next question: Do you prefer Mario or Sonic? I don't know why I'm asking this, but I really want to know. Personally, I favor Mario.

I had one more question, but I'm not sure what it was. Oops.

Okay, I want to mention, yes, Juugo is a real character; no, he did not bring Haku back to life in the anime. This is my own little twist.

I just think that Juugo is the coolest guy on Naruto. Except for Gaara, but everyone knows that. XD

Read and Review!

IBG out!

P.S. check out the Vanilla Sky version of Umbrella, by Rihanna, on youtube. It's better. IMO, anyway.