Disclaimer: I don't own any Naruto characters or Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I don't own Relient K's song, 'Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet', featured in this chapter either.
Authors Note: Holy goodness poos! I feel so bad for not updating. Well I guess I should let you all know (if you haven't figured it out already) I am a procrastinator. There! I said it! Whew! Yeah see I knew I eventually had to get it done but I kept putting it off. You may all burn me on the stake now…quarter me…remove my entrails, hang me, shot me WHATEVER! I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE, NOOOOOO! sobs…Okaaay on with the story…
Summary: Two rival students, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, must share the spotlight in order to produce this years school play, Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately, they hate each other more than they can bear to act, though neither is willing enough to give up the game. Can they over come their differences and discover that just maybe, there really is something hidden under all the hate? Maybe even a little romance?
Ro-may-oh and Juliet"YOU WHAT?" Ino screamed over the phone.
Sakura was holding the phone a foot away from her and brought it back to her ear to miserably say, "I know!"
"AND THEN HE…? AND YOU…? THEN LEE…?"
"Mmmhmm" she replied glumly.
After a few minutes of heavy breathing, Ino calmed down enough to speak in complete sentences that wouldn't break a persons eardrum either. "So lemme get this straight. You and Sasuke Uchiha, the guy whom you have sworn to hate since 9th grade, were…acting," she said suspiciously. "And then Lee saw this and now you guys broke up? Is that correct?"
Sakura breathed out a 'yeah' and the two girls sat in silence for a while, unsure of what to say. Ino spoke up again. "Well, uh, look at the bright side. You didn't really have to figure out a way to break up with Lee after all."
After attempting what sounded like a feeble laugh Sakura said, "That's supposed to be a bright side? I wanted us to still be friends not utterly crush him." They sat quietly again.
"Well you know what this means." Sakura could hear complacency dripping in Ino's words. "It means you like Sasuke!"
Sakura choked on her own spite and took a gasp of air, causing her to cough as she tried to answer Ino "I cough I do NOT!"
"Oh but I think you do."
"No what we were doing was…it doesn't…I DO NOT LIKE SASUKE!"
Ino laughed over the phone "HAH I bet your face is sooo red right now!"
"It is not!" Sakura replied huffily while looking in the mirror to find by her dismay that it really was red. "Come on Ino it isn't funny! I'm seriously feeling sick to my stomach just thinking about it all."
Ino was (trying to be at least) serious again. "Hmm I bet you're emotionally sick. Happened to me onetime after I made out with that kid, Takeshi. Ugh, I felt so dirty I stayed home from school and showered the whole day. WHAT was I thinking?"
"Um, yeah…well I think I'll be out tomorrow. I feel so sick I could probably throw up at will, my mom will let me stay."
"Well you know you will eventually have to face everyone right?"
Sakura sighed, "Yeah but tomorrow is not gonna be that day. You're not going to tell everybody are you?"
"Hey what kinda friend do you think I am?" Ino said incredulously. Then shortly after she added "I was only going to tell Ten-ten and Hinata..."
Frustrated Sakura said "Well with you three, Sasuke, Lee AND whoever they tell, I'd say that by Friday when I come back, the whole school will probably know."
"But Sak, you know I can't let such juicy gossip go and me not be the first to share it! Even without me it'll still get spread around school eventually. The whole school won't find out by just us 6, come on!"
"Fine, whatever! But only Ten-ten and Hinata, got it?"
Agreeably she said, "Your wish is my command." And with that they said their good-byes and hung up.
After Sakura had made it to school that Friday, the looks she was getting had told her that Ino had not done a very good job of keeping her mouth shut. Frustrated she made her ways through the hallways to the blondes' locker and slammed her fist on it, making the girl jump.
"Geez Sakura! You scared the crap outta me! What the hell's your problem?"
"What do you mean my problem?" She hissed. "You said that it wasn't going to be spread around the whole school, and the whole school knows!"
"Sakura I don't know what you're talking about, you must be paranoid." Ino said dismissively. It was at that exact moment that a group of people walked by and whispered loudly, "See! She's the girl that played Lee for Sasuke!"
Ino flinched at the glare she received from the pink haired girl, whose face was now bright red from embarrassment and anger. "Look Sak, I promised I wouldn't tell anybody else but Ten-ten and Hinata so you can stop looking at me like that!" Before Sakura could speak, Ino continued. "But I didn't guarantee that nobody else would. I only told those 2, but then there's also Sasuke and Lee and maybe even someone who happened to be watching in the hallway."
Sakura sighed. "You're probably right…"
"Of course I am!" Ino replied brightly. "Now wipe off that gloomy face for TGIF!" Ino was always sickeningly cheerful for TGIF had been her holiday every week since grade school. Instead Sakura plastered a fake smile on her face and walked away to her homeroom before the doors were all locked and she would have to walk all the way to the office on the other side of the building.
Before she could get very far she heard her voice being called. "HEY SAKURA WAIT UP!" She turned to see Ten-ten running up behind her. "Hey I really hate to have to do this to you, but would you mind listening to this song for a minute? Lee asked me to show it to you and, well, he's my friend too." After seeing the anxiety of Sakura's face she added hastily "You don't have to hear it if you really don't want to…"
Sakura took a deep breath and nodded that it was ok for her to hear the song. Ten-ten pulled a C.D. player out of her backpack and scanned through the songs to find the part, then handed her the headphones. Sakura slipped them over her ears and waited for Ten-ten to press the play button. From a song and a group she had never heard of came the words,
"And even though I'm angry I still can say
I know my heart will break the day
When you peel out and drive away
I can't believe this happened
And all this time I never thought
That all we had would be all for not
No, I don't hate you
Don't want to fight you
Know I'll always love you
But right now I just don't like you
Know I don't hate you
Don't want to fight you
Know I'll always love you
But right now I just don't like you
Cause you took this too far"
When she could bear no more she ripped the headphones off, and after Ten-ten gave her an apologetic smile and she assured the girl she was alright, she continued feeling if possible, even more guilty all the way to the homeroom. Right when the door was in sight, the bell rung and all the doors in the hallway closed, followed by a locking sound. She cursed to herself thinking, 'This is so not my day.'
Not but 10 minutes later did she reach the attendance office. She walked in to the desk and waited for the secretary, Miss. Shizune, to notice her. The young women looked up and smiled. "Late for class I assume?" "Mmhmm" Sakura mumbled ruefully. It was not the first time she'd been late, but she would try to make sure it was the last. Miss. Shizune passed her a clipboard and a pencil. "Here, just sign your name date and time, then you can take a seat a sit with that young man over there until the bell rings."
Sakura did as she was told and turned to take a seat when she felt her heart stop. Sitting directly in front of her was the last guy in the world she ever wanted to see, and he just stared back at her with his infamous playful grin adorning his face. Her heart speed up and she took the seat farthest from him (only a measly four seats away) and refused to make eye contact.
"Still mad at me?" He questioned her.
"Don't be stupid, I've been mad at you since the first day of high school." She replied haughtily.
He laughed. A lighthearted chuckle that caused her stomach to flip-flop. Shaking his head he said, "I don't even remember what I did."
"To put it bluntly you were an immature jerk with a huge ego and a conceited air about you."
"Ooo harsh." He feigned stabbing himself in the heart to which Sakura replied, "And you still are."
"Nuhuh." Sasuke disagreed. "People do change you know. They grow up."
"Sasuke Uchiha you have not changed one bit! You're still as arrogant and immature as you were 3 years ago!"
"Oh and how do you figure that? You're not exactly my friend so how could you know?" He said incredulously.
"Take last week for example. I saw you and your flavor of the week making out in the hallway. Hel-lo, we're more mature than that now, I mean who does that? It's a sickening public display of affection that the public SO does not wanna see."
"Gimme a break, like you never made-out with Lee before!" He said defensively.
Sakura let out a little cough and turned away. Sure she had kissed him, but the thought of making out with him had always caused her a bit of discomfort. Sasuke, seeing her sudden change in mood took the hint.
"Wait wait wait." He said skeptically. "You mean that you never even hooked up with your boyfriend before? Oh that it too funny." He said looking like Christmas had come.
"Oh shut up! First of all, that's none of your business. Second of all I have had boyfriends other than Lee. Third of all, STOP LAUGHING!" she yelled to Sasuke, who was now shaking in fits of laughter.
"Miss Haruno! Is there a problem?" came the stern voice of Principle Tsunade, who had just came out of her office to investigate the noise.
"No Miss. Tsunade." She replied red faced.
"Well then I will ask you 2 to just sit there quietly then. I have work to do." And with that she went back into her office.
Back to the taunting, Sasuke said "I bet you I got more action with you in those few seconds then eyebrow boy got in those 3 months."
Feeling her face heat up she decided to play it right back to him. "And I bet that you enjoyed those few seconds with me even better then with all the twits you've been dating in the past 3 years!"
The grin spread across his face and she immediately regretted what she had said. "Sakura I do believe that you are flirting with me."
She leaned in closer to him. "And I also bet that you're loving every minute of it." With that said and her heart beating heavily, she quickly stood up and grabbed her bag, and then walked out of the office without another glance back at him. The bell would ring in a minute anyway so she decided it would be the best time to start heading to class.
'I cannot believe what I just did. Was I actually flirting with him? And he looked so hot too, with his dark eyes and dark hair that falls into his eyes. He smells really good too…I don't think I would be able to resist myself if I stayed any longer. It seemed like he was flirting with me, and I was enjoying it too! What does this mean? Am I starting to like Sasuke?'