"Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino," Sasuke began, holding a soccer ball under his arm, "you two will be partnered up for the exercise and the warm-up itself."

I moaned while Sakura sent frantic glances towards Sasuke.

"But…um…Sasuke-kun!"

Her boyfriend turned to the left, where Sakura was, fiddling with the zipper of her jacket. He scowled.

"What?" He murmured, questioningly. Uh-oh. What if Uchiha thought Sakura wanted to be with Shikamaru? I didn't want to be the cause of a lover's spat!

"Sakura, it's fine." I whispered loud enough for her and Sasuke to hear. The pink-haired girl gave me a look before Sasuke grabbed her arm and dragged her off to a separate piece of the field to commence warm-up.

P.E. was divided into two different types of days, per se. There were cardio days and activity days; cardio vascular days I dreaded the most. On those certain times, the class was to be led in butt-busting work-outs, from the mile to fun runs. Luckily enough, the days I skipped always happened to be on those dates. As for activity classes, there were choices of three different sports you could partake in every new quarter—four quarters meant four activity sports. So, through-out the year, there were a total of twelve unique games to choose from, but you were only supposed to pick one every quarter.

This time the sport our gang decided upon was soccer. Relatively easy, so long as I was moving around when the teacher walked by our game. I had to do some work at least.

But as Sasuke and Sakura walked away, I remained stalk-still, not leaving my spot, only staring straight ahead. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Shikamaru rolling his eyes before kicking a ball forward, somewhat near my pale legs. I bit my lip lightly.

Please don't recognize me.

Please don't recognize me.

Please don't recognize me.

It was a repeating mantra, singing itself inside my head as I flipped my lone bang over my eye.

"Oi, Yamanaka, let's go." His masculine voice intoned. My heart fluttered and my stomach dropped. I could remember the same voice, moaning above me, groaning and whispering in the night air of his room, his open window causing the wind to slip through-out his dorm, the curtains flapping in rhythm with the rush of air. I shivered.

Slowly, I ambled to Shikamaru, my sky-blue eyes turned to the ground. I stood next to him, nearly tripping over my words as I spoke to him, my voice squeaking and cracking.

"Um, Nara-san, what do…um…do…um….you want me to….uh…do?" Fuck, I sounded like some timid fan-girl asking their long-time crush out. I wonder if he noticed it too.

He gazed at me, scrutinizing my figure, as though trying to grasp at some sort of revelation. I shrunk.

Gruffly, he replied, "We'll stretch for right now."

Now, I didn't want to sound like a nerd, but then again, when he said to stretch, he meant he wanted to talk. If we were to pass, we would be too far away from each other. And I really didn't want to have a conversation with a man I fucked in a drunken stupor (not to mention a not single guy!).

"Nara-san, Gai-sensei has always said if you stretch cold muscles, you are at risk of pulling them and I really do not want a pulled muscle, so I suggest we each take a lap separately and then join in some passing drills and then juggle individually and then stretch at the end of class in the locker room." And then never pass each other in the halls, never share the same classes, and never talk to each other, and never mention this incident again. Did I mention we should probably NEVER talk to each other? Ever again? Like, for all eternity?

His face contorted into puzzlement and antagonism and I flinched somewhat.

"Ino."

I gulped, "Oh, you know my name? Haha, that's funny because I know your name too, but only because Gai-sensei told us who you were, not because I know you personally; I mean, I just met you and stuff and we're nowhere near the level of love Sasuke and Sakura share, so you can get that idea out of your head because I have never met you ever, and I am meeting you for the first time in my life this very moment…" Oh yeah, rambling never leads to suspicion. Never!

"Ugh, troublesome."

That bitch! Who did he think he was? Calling me troublesome? I have not done one troublesome thing to hi—

Oh yeah, I kinda slept with him. And he's dating Temari. And that probably means they will break up if she finds out.

A small voice echoed in my head, echoing after the first one.

But if they break up, you can have sex with Shikamaru all the time; at parties, at school, in closets—

A shudder ripped through my body.

If Temari doesn't kill you first…

I squinted and twitched.

Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow, commanding me, "Sit and stretch." Sit and talk. It was so obvious he wanted to get this predicament off his chest.

I huffed and plopped to the ground, sitting in a butterfly pose, pushing the soles of my shoes together as I bent my knees and pulled them in closer to my body. He sat down across from me, casually crossing his legs.

Stretch my ass. What the fuck was he doing? Exercising his butt muscles?

"You know," he started, and I cringed, "I see right through you."

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

I was so screwed. I had to play it smooth. Act normal. Don't sputter. Make it flow, like a river, Yamanaka. You can do this. You are the wall. Nothing slips past you and your cemented layers of tough-ness. Nothing—

"PERVERT!"

SLAP!

Oh, fuck my life and instincts and self-forming plans and thinking smartly, then reacting blindly. I was a genius, which was totally serious business. (No, really, I called him a pervert?! What the fuck was wrong with me?!)

Apparently Nara was just as confused at my actions as I was and blinked slowly before raising his hand to touch the red imprint on his cheek.

I looked away and from the corner of my eyes, I saw Sakura gaping, Tenten laughing, and Hinata pressing a hand to her open mouth. I died a little inside.

"What the hell was that?"

I stammered, "Um, well, I'm wearing a white shirt and you said, 'see and through,' and I thought, oh, um…oh my gawd, he can see through me! And then, uhm, I got angry because I thought you were staring at….well, those things around that area, namely the boobie vicinity, which means you were gawking at me chest because it was see through—"

"What?"

I groaned inwardly again, for the second time that day, and replied, "You were doing—"

He shook his head. "No, don't answer that. It was more rhetorical than anything. I was simply questioning your brain capacity."

THAT WAS IT. I HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT. SERIOUSLY.

I growled, "How so?!"

He smirked maliciously, "Your jacket, which is green and not see through, is completely covering the offending clothing you are implying." He snorted. "Besides, my former comment was not mentioning how I could see through your fucking clothes, but your plot-hole. Your mistake."

I had the sudden urge to turn invisible or melt into the floor or be kicked in the head or whisked away by Gai-sensei; anything but be verbally assaulted by some smart-mouthed pine-apple.

"What mistake?" I was heading into dangerous territory now. He probably knew all about it.

Shikamaru fixed me with a hard stare and I returned it with an ominous glow surrounding my enraged figure.

I had always been an optimist, seeing the outcome of every situation as a happy one. The glass was always half-full from my view, my stand-point never changing in the passing years. It all began the day I met Sakura, the pink-haired, angelic, apple-green eyed best friend of mine.

. . . .

It was a dismal and dull day, the rain pleating down hard on the sopping grass and on a poor little girl—Sakura Haruno. Her bruised skin was bleeding from the various abrasions adorning her soft, porcelain skin; who would have guessed that children at the age of five could be so merciless (and the beatings were too realistic, it was ridiculous).

I had been playing in the sleet—my father and I had been in a big fight over something I don't remember and I had run away from home—slipping and falling on my pale knees, crying when a particularly large scrape carved itself onto my tibia. I hiccupped and stutter-stepped forward, rolling down the grassy hill, rain splashing my face and water running through my wind-swept clothes. I was cold, my childish mind responded as my body shivered. But as I gently pushed myself up, I spotted her. Pink hair blowing haphazardly over her dead eyes, mouth opened slightly, cuts and bruises marring her epidermis. And a long, weeping gash across her wide forehead—it was bleeding profusely and in the near future, it received stitches.

I stumbled over to her, yelling over the thundering storm, "Who are you and why are you here?"

She looked up with wide eyes and crossed her frail arms over her head, cringing away and biting her lip. As though she was anticipating a blow to her crown. As I remembered the situation now, it made me disgusted that those fucking brats managed to scare the living shit out of some small girl so much that said girl was afraid of everyone.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I had said in a weak voice, almost snorting.

She eyed me carefully before replying in a tiny, meek tone, "I'm Haruno Sakura…some girls dragged me away from Sasuke-kun and Naruto and Mikoto-chan without being seen…" She trailed off, "I don't think anyone wants to come look for me."

She had said the word with such malice, you wouldn't have guessed she had been talking about herself—no one could have hated themselves so much, right? Yet her words were covered in such disgust. It was shocking.

"Me and daddy got in a fight, so I ran away." I had said proudly, when in fact, I was missing home with every passing second. The roar of the thunder and the wind picked up.

"Wow!"

I shook my head, "You want to wait with each other until someone comes looking for us?"

Shyly, Sakura flinched and nodded. "I don't think anyone wants to look for me, uh…"

"Yamanaka Ino."

"Ino-chan."

"Why wouldn't anyone come look for you?"

Sakura shut her eyes tight and I could tell, even with the rain water washing down her face, that she was, indeed, crying. "All the other girls say I don't deserve Sasuke-kun or my handsome daddy or my loving mommy. My forehead is too big and I'm too ugly. No one cares if I go missing."

I had narrowed my eyes. "You only believe those stupid things because some dumb chicks told you that? Sakura-chan, you're silly. I'm sure your family cares for you and I bet you they will show up any minute!" I had no idea why I was encouraging her so much. I hadn't understood why I was helping this pink-haired girl with the tiny voice. It was as though I had ESP or something and I could just tell; this Haruno Sakura was going to be there for me when I had my ass up in the air. She was going to my best friend through thick and thin. And it was true.

She had smiled. Bright and big and prettily. Her teeth glistened and brightened the clouds and the grey and soon enough the sun was shining, the rain dissipating when Sakura flashed her grin.

And that's when my five year old mind concluded—

I was crying about a scrape on my knee.

Sakura was bruised and cut and had lacerations littering her body, gushing blood.

I was complaining about a fight with my dad.

Sakura was being bullied by girls twice her size and ridiculed and beaten.

I always saw the bad things in life.

Yet Sakura's tired smile brightened the (my) day.

I was crying, complaining, and spurning.

Sakura didn't cry, didn't complain, and didn't spurn. She ignored it all. And with a small smile showed me how life was meant to be lived.

I had no idea how long we sat there in the after-mass of the storm, but eventually they found us. We were rescued by our families.

After that fateful meeting, though, we began this rivalry that settled itself out in the end, but it was for the best.

From that day on, I looked at the glass half-full, never half-empty.

. . . .

Shikamaru retorted quietly, "You know what it is."

I hissed, "No, I'm afraid I don't. Care to elaborate?"

Nara heaved a breath, rubbing his forehead. "Last night…I was completely drunk. I didn't mean what I did."

My mind lapsed, spiraling downward. What was I supposed to expect? An apologetic monologue explaining his reasons as to why he fucked me? This shouldn't have mattered to me. I had slept with countless guys, so why was this Nara Shikamaru ruining my moments of lust?

"No kidding." I muttered, turning my head to the side, not looking at the brown haired man across from me. "Is that all you wanted? It was obvious we were both drunk. Why bother bringing it up?" I pressed on, wanting to finish this silly argument.

Shikamaru stayed silent for a few minutes before murmuring, "I don't want Temari to find out."

I snorted. "You're not the only one. She'll break up with you, but she will murder me." I tried to lift the mood, but I was failing miserably.

He clucked his tongue slightly, thinking. "Troublesome women."

I laughed bitterly. "If you don't mind me asking; what were you doing at that party in the first place? It was hosted by Jiraiya, of all people."

Jiraiya was an old perverted man who held ties with our current principal, Tsunade. An old love affair, as Tenten and I would dub it. He was seen around our school and was pretty popular with the students and usually gave seniors and juniors invitations to his many "sexy parties." He was a lecher, but he knew how to throw a god-damn good party.

Shikamaru shrugged, "Temari dragged me and she ended up running off somewhere." He grunted, "She was tipsy and it was obvious—she had tied a red ribbon from her hair around my wrist and told me it was so "she wouldn't lose me." A tracker of sorts."

A red ribbon…

That was vague, but I could have sworn I remembered something like that.

(…hot breath caressed her bare neck and she moaned breathily, her heart pounding raucously against her chest. His hand slid lower and lower and gently rested itself atop her frail wrist. Under half-lidded eyes, she could spot a faint scarlet cloth entrapping her arm and through her overwhelmed feelings and haze, she could feel the silk brush her hand and cool her warm skin. Blearily, her blue eyes wandered over to look at his drunken face. He leaned forward, chest gliding over her own breasts and lips pressed roughly on her mouth.

"You're my prisoner." He spoke against her as he tied the ribbon tighter around her wrists…)

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Naruto's voice boomed and resounded, startling everyone.

I spun around and the scene made me want to go on an angry rampage.

Sakura was clutching the back of her head with a great force, her body leaning on her knees as she fell forward, her elbows bracing her weight. A soccer ball was located off to the side of her writhing form and even from where I was standing, I could see the swell of the bump that had formed from the top of her head. I noticed a group of seniors crossing their arms over their chest as they sniffed indignantly whilst a red-head pushed her glasses further up her nose.

Karin.

I clenched my fists as they shook uncontrollably.

Karin was a fan-girl. A chaotic, over-obsessed, diabolical, uncouth, boorish fan-girl. She absolutely adored torturing Sakura, though—considering my pink-haired friend was dating Karin's object of affection, Uchiha Sasuke. She had repeatedly hurt my friends, Sakura and Hinata and Tenten alike, for her growing need to feel bigger although she was an inferior being and nothing but a small spec on everyone's radar.

I marched over to Sakura just in time to see Sasuke sprinting as fast as possible to get to Sakura's prone body. As a side note, Shikamaru had followed me and grouped around my best friend as our gang circled around her, asking her questions of—"what happened?" "are you okay?" "who did this?"

Sasuke knelt down and gripped Sakura's wrists in each of his large hands, gently prying them off her injured head. Sakura moaned and struggled against his hold, apparently the urge to hold her head being an effort to keep the pain subsiding. Sasuke didn't budge.

"Sakura, what happened?" His voice was cold and laced with a tinge of concern, but it was barely noticeable. Carefully, his right hand shifted so that it landed in her pink hair, rubbing softly and assessing her current health. When his hand brushed by a swollen lump, Sakura groaned and cringed and leaned into Sasuke's chest.

"Sasuke-kun…it hurts."

That was his spoken cue and the Uchiha lifted Sakura off the ground bridal style, making sure her head was resting at an angle on his shoulder so that it didn't disturb her injured self.

Gai hurriedly pushed passed students as he made his way to Sakura and Sasuke.

"Uchiha-san, please, tell me what happened." He spoke, his shiny teeth not showing due to the frown on his square face.

Sasuke shook his head, "I can't. I don't know myself."

Gai swallowed, "It would be best to take her to the nurse's office…that bump looks like the start of a very severe concussion."

I saw Sasuke's grip on Sakura tighten and watched him grind his teeth, contemplating over his thoughts.

I spoke, "I think I know what happened!"

By now, every student in the period was crowding around us.

I pointed to the guilty soccer ball that had been sitting next to Sakura's crouched figure, "Someone kicked that into her head, or at least threw it, you know? And I could've sworn," I turned to Karin, "I saw you acting all high and mighty, considering you were standing next to the crate full of soccer equipment!"

Tenten rounded on the red-head, "You were the one that hurt my best friend, you bit—"

Neji grabbed Tenten's arm and dragged her away from Karin. The female brunette blushed slightly, whether from anger or Neji's hand on her arm, I never knew. Naruto glared, his tattooed cheeks frowning.

Shino, Chouji, and Kiba were huddled near Naruto, holding him back, trying to prevent the blonde from throwing a few punches. Hinata gulped and padded over to me, holding my arm in an assuring way. Although it was more like she was assuring herself rather than assuring me.

And Lee was crying out, "Sakura-san! My beautiful flower of youth, whatever has happened to you?! Your youthful spirit has been prematurely dissolved by an innocent soccer ball! Oh woe—" He was silenced when Sakura whimpered and shifted in Sasuke's arms and buried her head further in his chest, blocking out the offending noise that was Lee's fiery confession.

Sasuke growled low in his throat before gliding through the crowds of kids, purposely ignoring Karin's resentful shouts of protests that she was not the culprit. He cared for Sakura's health more than exacting revenge against an obsessed fan-girl.

No, no, no. Exacting revenge against an indignant red-head? That was our job.

. . . .

Whoo! Glad I finally got this chapter typed out. :DDD

And no, the whole thing with Sakura getting a concussion and Karin and everything is very relevant to the plot. In other words, it was not another way to try and incorporate my OTP SasuSaku. Nope. All of it is connected and pertinent. Kay??? (:

And as a final note, the parts where Ino is comparing herself to Sakura is exactly that—Sakura does not have the perfect life. It is Ino proclaiming that because she is jealous of Sakura. She just hasn't realized it. Yet. (secret!) Tata for now! C:

--Atsune 3