Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters.

And here is chapter four! So far the length of all my chapters has been pretty consistent. I think this is a good length. Anyways, thank you to all you who are reading my story and such and reviewing. You all rock. Enjoy, because I can't think of anything else to say.

Oh, and this is my last pre-typed chapter so updates will probably take longer… :s gomen'nasai.

oooo

Sakura stood in the shower, the cool water splashing on her face as she scrubbed the shampoo into her hair. She had decided to wake up early that morning—or, more like she couldn't fall back asleep and her alarm hadn't gone off yet. Once she finished bathing, she dressed back into her pajamas and cuddled in her bed, switching on her side lamp. She picked up the sketch of the piano keys and started her attempt at studying, but whenever it was associated with Uchiha Sasuke, her mind wandered. I wonder if he drew this himself. It's really good… she complimented the artistry.

She studying all the unique curves in his handwriting: it wasn't chicken scratch in the least. It was very neat—very formal, and very natural. She smiled as the oddities in his writing turned out helping her remember which note was where on the piano keys.

Her imagination led her mind to romantic scenes: her and Sasuke, sitting side by side, playing once of the pieces that required two pianists. She didn't know of any classical songs that required that, so she just made up one in her head. But… something about it seemed too real and natural to really just be in her head. She was hearing it for real—someone was on the piano.

It was too early for anyone to be up; actually, in the schedule, it was still considered past hours. At the present moment, Sakura read her clock: it was three forty-five. Who could possibly be up? She wanted to know—no one could possibly hate her more than they already did. After she slipped a short skirt over her shorts, Sakura left her room and walked quietly down the stairs to the lobby floor where all the classrooms were.

Now, she heard the piano more clearly. It was so fluent, so beautiful. The music captivated her: she had never heard something so breathtakingly perfect in her life. Sakura didn't want to go in the music room and disturb whoever was playing, so she sat outside the room and listened.

She felt a smile forming on her lips as she lost herself in the music, feeling the emotion poured out into the song. However, her focus broke when she heard footsteps heading towards her from outside the room. She hid in a corner where it was dark and crossed her fingers, hoping her bright hair wouldn't point her out even in the shadows. Luckily, it didn't.

Sakura spotted the culprit of the walking: it was Karin; she was now knocking on the music room door. "Can I come in?" She asked in a much more innocent voice Sakura didn't even know a snobby rich person like her could manage. There was no response to her question, but the piano stopped. The hallway was in dead silence. Now, even if Sakura wanted to leave, she couldn't: she would most definitely be heard. Her heart pounded within her chest.

"Look, I'm really sorry," Karin continued with sincerity, "I… I shouldn't have said that earlier—well, yesterday really… Things are hard on you and no one needs to rub it in your face…" she paused, seemingly waiting for an answer. There was none. She sighed, "Music is made for you to express yourself, right? If there's no emotion to express how you feel right now, then compose a song… you're a pianist, and I believe in you. After all, you are my cousin," a smile spread on Karin's lips as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Sakura covered her mouth as she watched. Karin looked so sincere—so hurt: she was even crying! Sakura herself was very emotional, and thus found herself crying for Karin. "I'll talk to you later today I guess… have fun later, and try to be more open with that girl, okay? She's different than everyone else here and—"

"I know," the voice from the inside finally responded. The very fact that the voice cut Karin off gave Sakura a very convincing hint as to who exactly was in there.

"Okay… good bye," Karin said, now walking off to go back to her dorm room. Sakura heard steps from inside the music room as if preparing to leave, so she took this chance to dash back up the stairs and sneak into her dorm room. She probably wouldn't try a stunt like that again; she didn't want to get expelled, but something told her that it was Sasuke in that music room. Something was hurting him, something was making him suffer, and she wanted to be the one to help him.

oooo

Sakura sat in her calculus class, staring out her window. Her teacher, Professor Asuma Sarutobi, was going over review questions with some other students that weren't getting the concept. Sakura got the concept, so she didn't really want to pay attention. She had learned it when it was introduced. Now, she was thinking about what happened hours earlier: what she heard in the music room.

That beautiful song still resonated in her mind. She sighed, wishing that she could hear it one more time in person. She should have recorded it earlier when she heard it. Even if she got a chance like that again, she wouldn't go for it. It was far too risky. I wonder if that really was Professor Uchiha… she asked herself. Maybe Karin was related to someone completely different, but still, the fact that her and Sasuke were so close (or, that's what she concluded after hearing them talk in the receptionist's office) and weren't in a relationship would make sense if that were the case.

Sakura sighed. She didn't think she would ever understand or know what happened that day, no matter how much she wanted to.

Before she knew it, the bell went off and Sakura was off to physics class. It turned out that that class went by very slowly. Mostly because when Professor Hatake was checking the homework, all the students seemed to be getting everything wrong. Their entire lesson turned out to be reviewing rather than a new concept.

Students around her continued to try to pass notes to her, but she simply ignored them, confirming the fact that she was there to learn and that's just what she was going to do. That attitude got her pokes and short pulls on her hair, but she just focused her attention on either her independent thoughts or her professor.

Finally, the class Sakura had been waiting for came: music class, believe it or not. She had become rather hyped about it, feeling much more confident in herself after the chat she had with Professor Uchiha. She was the first one to arrive in the music room: the very same music room where she heard the breathtaking piece of music.

"Whoa…" she breathed as she admired the lavish décor of the music room. It wasn't just any ordinary classroom, and the school definitely wanted their students to realize that little detail. Sakura slid her hand across the smooth piano's surface. It was a classical black: just the way she imagined it would be.

"There's still time left in your break between classes you know." Sakura turned and saw that Sasuke had joined her in the music room. She smiled at him and then returned her attention to the large piano.

"I know," she said, "but I want to spend it in here. I memorized all the keys," she looked up at him proudly, seeing as he had now made his way over to her and was standing at her side.

"Oh? Let's hear it," he encouraged her, leaning on the side of the piano as she took her seat. Sakura breathed in and positioned herself in front of the piano where it most looked like the drawing he had given her.

"This is 'C'," she said, pressing it in to hear the sweet sound of the note. Sasuke smiled proudly; she had a bright mind, and he could tell already. If she had memorized the notes that fast, she would definitely catch on to the playing even faster.

Sakura continued to push in keys and call out their names, and Sasuke watched her looking more and more proud as the moments progressed. Her classmates began to make their way in the room and she got nervous. She knew they wouldn't do anything if she was beside Professor Uchiha, but the second he was gone, she would worry. "Should I stop?" She whispered to him when she saw the other students.

"There's still time left, keep going," he encouraged her with a brief smile. Sakura nodded and smiled back, and continued to practice. Sasuke watched as Sakura's delicate fingers glided across the piano with ease. Even with her somewhat choppy movements in pressing the keys, he could tell she had promise. He was glad she was being tutored by him. He was glad that he was the one that was teaching her.

When class was finally about to start, Sakura returned to her seat after being quietly complimented by her tutor and professor. She blushed profusely and hid her face from him during that time.

Sakura had hoped that Sasuke would play the piano a bit as some sort of demonstration for the rest of the class, but really the entire class was doing what she was doing before hand and forming a few chords and that was it. It was all just to get the feel of being in front of a real piano, touching the real keys—everything of the sort.

Finally, after the previous hours of the other classes, Sakura reached her formerly favorite class: PE. Today, she wasn't looking forward to it at all. She didn't care about learning how to ballroom dance and she especially didn't want to dance with one of her classmates! They would probably stick her with that lazy, rude rich boy: Nara Shikamaru, or maybe the loud mouth Uzumaki Naruto… or, even worse…

"All right class, are you ready?!"

"YES!" Everyone but Sakura called back at him with vigor. She was too concerned to even think.

"All right then! Choose your partners!" He pointed out at the class with a toothy grin and they immediately scattered to choose their mate. Ino went with Sai, Shikamaru was with Temari, Tenten was with Neji, Naruto with Hinata—everyone seemed to have a set partner but Sakura Haruno. When she was about to bring the suggestion of dancing with Professor Guy rather than her classmates, a boy came up to her.

"Poor girl! Please will you dance with me?!" Sakura wondered if he knew of an inside voice; he seemed to admire their PE professor a lot, considering he acted almost exactly like him.

"I don't really have a choice…"

"Thank you!" He responded, and took her into position with him. He definitely seemed eager, whereas Sakura wasn't in the least bit. Think of a happy place, think of a happy place, oh please help me… she groaned inwardly.

Guy explained the steps and demonstrated the movements with a makeshift partner we all call "air". He then told them to begin and so they did: the dancing commenced. Sakura avoided the boy's eyes the whole time they were dancing, but she could feel his eyes on her. It was… sort of creepy.

"Will you marry me, poor girl?!" He asked suddenly. Sakura's heart raced in anger; what kind of nerve did this boy have and where did he get it from? Besides being rich, that is.

"No!" She retorted flatly, resisting the temptation to pull away from him right then and there. "And stop calling me poor girl; my name is Haruno…" she mumbled, clearly surprised at herself for speaking to a rich person in such a demanding way. She gulped, preparing herself for the consequences.

"Haruno is a beautiful name! You should still marry me!" He persisted. Sakura fought with him the entire hour about how she shouldn't marry him because she was young, uninterested, and she regretfully brought up her state of wealth, as if it actually mattered. By the time PE was done, she was mentally and physically exhausted. Lee, who is the boy she was dancing with, completely exhausted her.

At least lunch is finally here… she told herself, stepping out from her wash-up once she completed PE. She dressed herself back in her school uniform and took down the hair she had neatly tied up in a bun to keep it from getting wet.

"Oh look, it's little miss commoner," Ino sneered, taking her place beside Sakura while she combed out her own hair. Sakura groaned inwardly, reminding herself that lunch and now would be even worse than dancing with Lee. "I saw you yesterday walking with Professor Uchiha—didn't you hear what I said? You are not our equals," Ino glared at her with fire in her eyes. Sakura stepped back a little.

"I never said that I was… trust me, I don't think that—"

"DON'T DENY IT," she ordered, slapping Sakura across the face. It stung Sakura's pale cheek and tinted it with a crimson burn. "If you don't think it then stop talking to Professor Uchiha! Stop treating him like he's your—your equal you pig!" Sakura's eyes widened as her face turned by the force of the slap, and hearing herself being called "pig" by this despicable rich girl… hit her nerve. Hard.

She forced herself to stay quiet. She wanted to grab Ino and strangle her until she took it back, but she held her temper, and took the hit and the insults, trying her hardest to block Ino's voice out of her head. When Ino finally strode off after her fit of anger, Sakura cried. Tears of anger and confusion streamed down her cheeks as she sunk to the floor. Why is this guy bringing me such agony if he's my only consistent friend at this point?! Why do I always have to suffer?! She screamed to herself in her mind, pulling at her hair as more tears came down.

Sakura wasn't hungry anymore—she didn't want lunch. She didn't want to go to lunch and eat around those menacing rich people—around Ino. She left the PE room and trudged down the halls, trying to control her tears, hiding her face with her bangs as she walked. She found herself bumping into walls, but she didn't care. She just wanted to be away from everything—away from all the pain.

Maybe she should just skip her classes for the rest of the day… and escape everything.

oooo

Deep, crimson red flashed in her widened eyes, filled with tears of horror. It dripped down, spots decorating the floor. She stared. She cried. She screamed silently in horror. Sakura didn't know how it happened, or what possessed her to do it, but she cut herself: right on her arm. She glared at it blankly and watched as the blood trickled down. What is this school doing to me? She whimpered and wrapped her arm in a warm cloth, soaked in hot water.

She winced at the pain from the cut coming in contact with the hot water, which was already beginning to disinfect the cut. Before she could find a bandage to cover her wound, the bell went off; declaring to her that the hour of free time was over. Sakura reached over and grabbed a random cloth and wrapped it around her arm and tied it loosely. Once finished, she dashed out her room to return to her classes for the rest of the day.

Successfully, Sakura hid her wounded arm from the rest of her classmates (not that they would have cared to ask what happened) as her classes flew by. It felt short—probably because she couldn't focus on them at all. She was still trying to figure out what had gotten into her when she got to her room, and why she had cut herself: her unblemished skin, now holding a scar of remembrance of her suffering.

I'll just get my tutoring over with and go back to my room… I need to think… a lot… she told herself as she dressed into yet another simple outfit: a plaid, light pink button down shirt and blue jeans. She trotted down the hall, heading over to their spot outside. While they were looking out into the sky together, they had decided to meet outside once again. The breeze would do her good. That's what she told herself.

When Sakura saw Sasuke waiting for her outside, she sighed, not really wanting to be there, even if he was the nicest man she knew of in this rich world. He heard her, and looked over to her, acknowledging her presence with a nod. "Is something wrong?" A hint of concern overcame his voice. Sakura forced herself to look away from his onyx eyes, which now seemed to pierce through her.

"I'm fine, Professor—"

"Don't lie to me," he said, standing to his feet and looking down at her seriously. His eyes ventured down to the arm she was attempting to hide behind her back. Hesitatingly, he reached out and pulled her delicate arm towards himself. Sakura gasped: couldn't he get in trouble for touching her? She didn't resist, confusing herself.

Her eyes looked down to see what he was doing: he was removing her bandage. Sakura's heart raced rapidly. "D—don't take it off—"

"Sh," he hushed her simply. After removing it, he stared at her cut, which still hadn't finished healing over with a scab. His lips curved down into a frown. "Who did this to you…?" His onyx orbs peered into her own emerald ones; she could see they were glazed over with… was that sadness? She wanted to lie to him, and in her mind, she did, but out her mouth came the truth:

"I did… during lunch break…" she gasped at her response. That wasn't intended. Sasuke's mouth peeked open as a silent gasp whispered out from between. He shook his head a bit before releasing her arm.

"Sit down, we need to talk, Ms. Haruno," he took his own seat and motioned for her to do the same. Sakura complied timidly. Was he concerned about her? "Why are you doing this to yourself? What is going on between you and Ms. Yamanaka?" He questioned sternly. Sakura looked up to him surprised. How did he know it was Ino?

"She… she tortures me… she chases me down to demean me—she says I'm useless—she called me a pig and she slapped me and pulled my hair and…" her voice trailed off as the tears came down. She sobbed into her hands uncontrollably. Professor Uchiha was the last person she wanted to see her cry, but now she just couldn't help it.

Before she could comprehend what was going on, she was crying on his chest, pouring her heart out to him. All of her pain, torture, agony, sadness—they all seemed to fade away as his arms wrapped around her, comforting her warmly.

Sasuke didn't know what to do with himself. He came there expecting to teach a student, but now she's in his arms, crying on him. He wasn't very used to expressing himself, especially in the sort of extent that she was expressing to him. His arms were around her instinctively. He didn't mean to be touching her: he didn't want to be touching her. He could get in trouble! Then again… who cares? It's about keeping the students happy, right? Sakura Haruno clearly wasn't happy, but while she was in his arms, she seemed to be feeling better. If this was the way, who was he to stop?

"Haruno…" he inwardly rebuked himself for neglecting the "miss". She didn't seem to mind, and she looked up at him with glossy green jewels, still leaning on his chest. Her face softened Sasuke's hard expression into something more pleasant and soothing to comfort. "Don't speak to them… from now on, you will spend your lunch hours with me. They will only be your classmates and that alone—I won't give them time to torture you anymore," he pulled her back to snuggle her face on his muscled chest.

Sakura blushed, breathing in the manly fragrance of his expensive cologne. When she finally regained herself, they released each other from the grasp they were holding. "So um…" she stammered. "Should we start on that lesson?"

"Let's skip it today; I think you need to rest a bit longer," he gave one of his infamous order-like suggestions. Sakura nodded, only half agreeing with him. She looked down when she felt his hands on her again: he was lightly rewrapping her wound.

"Thank you…" she whispered as she looked up at his placid face.

"Hn," he responded to acknowledge her thanks. "Come on, it'll be dinner soon. Let's get there early," he said, standing to his feet. "And roll your sleeve down so no one else asks about that," he ordered in reference to her cut.

"Oh right," she remembered, bringing her sleeves down to her wrists.

The two walked together to the cafeteria, standing subconsciously closer to each other as they travelled. They conversed in hushed tones as if not wanting to break the earlier connection they had reached with each other when they were outside.

"Oh, you both finished your lesson, yeah? I was just coming to get you," Kakashi addressed them. Sasuke barely glanced over at his senior professor.

"We skipped the lesson; there was more important business." Kakashi frowned at the coarse answer, but deemed everything to be all right when he saw Sakura didn't seem fazed about it. They must have still spent time together. This raised a grin to Kakashi's lips.

"Well, isn't that wonderful? Well, dinner is being served so you might as well continue walking, yeah? Sorry for interrupting, hmhm," he waved as he strode off back in the direction he came. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other and shrugged, wondering what that was all about.

As they continued on, Sasuke raised a question that was nagging at him: "I know you're poor and everything, but… just a social status doesn't usually lead the Yamanaka family to do something so drastic. Something else must be bothering her; do you know what it is?" Sakura hesitated for a moment, not wanting to tell him that he was the problem. He might tell her to avoid him if so.

"She said… that I was trying to be equal with the rich," she explained vaguely. Sasuke nodded and grunted a quick, yet thoughtful "hn".

When they arrived at the cafeteria, some of the tables were still being set up, and there were plenty of vacant tables that were still waiting to be filled by the oncoming students. Sakura sat in her usual spot with the professors, but brought her seat a bit closer to her knew protector. It was strange how this man managed to be four different things to her: a professor, a tutor, a friend, and a protector.

"Ms. Haruno, you didn't seem like you enjoyed PE today!" Guy lamented when she took her seat from the side across from him.

"Well, my dancing partner was exhausting… he kept on proposing to me like I was some piece of meat he could just claim," she groaned, remembering the annoying rich kid she would have to deal with for weeks and weeks to come.

"Ah, she must mean Lee, yeah?" Kakashi shook his head, seeming to understand Sakura's predicament. Sasuke chuckled.

"Lee is a handful; I'm not surprised he found something special in Ms. Haruno, however," Sasuke involved himself in the conversation, to nearly everyone's surprise: all but Kakashi, who took it like it was normal.

"Oh? How's that Prof. Uchiha?" Kakashi grinned mischievously. Sasuke grunted and shrugged.

"It's simple intuition," he gave a weak excuse, but Guy bought it. Sakura wanted to know, but couldn't see herself prying for an answer without embarrassing herself. Kakashi just chuckled and watched the Uchiha fold his hands in front of his face to hide a growing blush.

Sakura realized that she had quite the appetite after skipping lunch, and she struggled not to rudely gobble up the delicious morsels placed before her. It became twice as hard to eat when she noticed two onyx orbs peering over at her, watching her eat.

oooo

Dinner, now completed, was in the process of being cleaned up. Sakura got up from her table after thanking the waiters and waitresses countless times; their smiles beamed at her with sincere gratitude: they weren't used to that kind of treatment and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sakura had made a few more friends with the cafeteria workers when she even offered to help them clean up. Sasuke watched her with his own smile, barely curving his lips outwardly, but inwardly, he had a wide grin on his face.

When she finished, she pranced back up to her professor and smiled up at him. "They're all so sweet," she beamed with excitement. "They said that they love my company," Sakura giggled as she remembered their conversations in the kitchen.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Sasuke nodded. "But now, didn't we agree to something?" Sakura looked up at him with confused puppy eyes, sparkling in their emerald glory. Sasuke shook his head a bit and reminded her: "You need to get some rest and sleep off your worries." Her mouth formed an "o" as she now remembered.

"Okay, I will," she promised. "Good night, Professor Uchiha!" She smiled as she waved, beginning to walk off. To her, it looked as if Sasuke wanted to do something as he forced his arms back down to his sides. He nodded to her.

"Good night to you as well," he said, returning her wave, and with that he strode off. What could have possibly wanted to do…? She pondered as she returned to her room and stretched out on her bed. She tossed and turned as she couldn't get that wonderful cologne fragrance out of her head… the warmth that he spread throughout her body… the muscular chest that she leaned on… the beating heart that seemed to sing words of comfort to her in a steady rhythm… the strong arms that welcomed her into their embrace…

She slept and dreamt dreams she thought she never would: a dream that seemed real. There were no knights and peasants. There was Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, together, hand in hand, lip to lip.

oOoOo

Well, well, I suppose Professor Uchiha won't be getting in trouble for laying hands on one of the students now will he? This is probably the most romance that has been in the story so far, but don't forget its rated M. ;] So for those of you who are waiting for some romantic lemon action, don't worry, it's coming. I'm not quite sure when, but sometime. Arigatogozaimasu to all you supporters.

InaGaTa