A/N: I think it's only fair to say "I'm sorry" for the late update. But if I can get a dollar every time I say "I'm sorry for the late update" then I might be rich by now. hehe! Just a little joke to lighten up the mood!
ATTENTION READERS! I have made some changes to this fanfic. It's nothing big really. Sakura and Neji are NOT in high school, they are in Junior High School. And there are some scenes I cut off and add in. So if you come across something that you thought suppose to happen, but was not mention later on, then most likely I cut that part off.
Note: See my profile for the changes I made and for additional information.
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Summary: Neji x Sakura Meet Haruno Sakura, a typical junior high school prankster. When her prank got out of hand, the school principal decides to assign Sakura a mentor. Sakura thinks it's going to be a hell but things might not be as bad as Sakura thinks. As Sakura was starting to behave herself, a new problem occur that made her more rebellious than before. AU and hopefully not too much OOC
Genre: Drama/Romance
A/N - Author Note
Italic - thoughts
Bold – emphasis on the word
Troublemaker
Chapter 9: Don't Forget March 28
9 days later
Sakura was walking home from school like always. When she arrived home, the door was opened and there were a couple of suitcases at the doorstep. Then she saw her mom walking toward the door while checking her purse for something. Sakura approached Kaede but her mom didn't seem to notice Sakura was there.
"Mom…?" Sakura started.
"Hmm…?" came Kaede replied.
"Where are you going?" Sakura asked while looking at the suitcases.
"Didn't I tell you? I'm going to Kyoto on a business trip."
Then Sakura glanced at the calendar that was in the living room. "But today is March 26." she said. Kaede turned to Sakura and thought about what her daughter told her for a few seconds. Then it finally hit Kaede and she realized what Sakura was talking about.
Kaede gasped, "Of course! March 28 is your birthday! I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner!"
Both Kaede and Sakura knew that whenever Kaede go on her business trips, it usually took 5-7 days for Kaede to come back. Sakura knew that well and she didn't want to get her hopes up. "It's ok; you don't have to worry about it." Sakura muttered while she sat down on the couch.
"No, no, this is important. We should do something together...just the two of us…" Kaede trailed off the last few words. "I know! How about the both of us go to the salon and get a complete make-over when I get back?"
That had caught Sakura's attention immediately and her mind started to reminisce the time that her mom and she did it together. Then Kaede said exactly what Sakura was thinking, "Just like the old days."
Sakura smiled at her mom but then frown again. "But what about your business trip?"
Kaede pondered about that for a few seconds, and then it turned into minutes. "I think I come back it in time for your birthday."
Sakura raised her hopes, "Really?"
"Yeah…just give me a sec to calculate the time." Then Kaede started to mumble to herself. After a few minutes, Kaede finally made a conclusion. "Yeah! I can return in time if I work fast enough."
"That's great! But don't push yourself too hard, mom. I'll understand if you don't return on time." Sakura tried be to as understandable as possible, but inside she wanted her mom to come back in time for her birthday.
"Don't worry, I won't push myself too hard. And besides, it's been awhile since we last bonded. It used to be a tradition with us whenever it was your birthday. We always go to the salon and then we go window shopping until you find something you like and I buy it for you."
Sakura giggled as she to recall those good memories. "Speaking of gift…." Kaede interrupted Sakura thoughts. Sakura the looked at her mom for her to continue.
"Is there something you like that I could buy for you as a birthday present?" Kaede asked.
"Well…..there is something…" Sakura started to blush. It's been awhile since she last asked her mom to buy her something.
"What is it?"
"There is this bracelet….." Sakura hesitated to finish and she lowered her head. Kaede just simply smile at her daughter, "Tell me all about it." Then Sakura began to describe the bracelet that Ino showed her before. (Chapter 7)
"Well, I guess it's decided then. I'll come back before or at March 28 and I'll buy that bracelet for you."
"OK! Thanks mom! You're the best!" Sakura hugged her mom.
"Kaede, it's time to go." a voice called out. Sakura and Kaede turned their heads and saw Fuji was at the door. The suitcases at the doorstep was gone, it seem he already put it in the car.
"Coming, Satoshi." replied Kaede. Sakura was frowning when Kaede looked at her daughter.
Then Sakura knotted her eyes. "You're going with Fuji-san?"
Kaede nodded and Sakura looked away, still frowning. Kaede lifted Sakura face with her hand, forcing her daughter to look at her. "Listen to me, Sakura. Be good while I'm gone ok?"
Sakura simply nodded and Kaede continued. "And when I get back, I promise to do all that you want me to do and I'll buy you that bracelet. How does that sound?" Kaede gave Sakura a reassure smile. Sakura smiled back and nodded again.
"Promise?" Sakura held out her pinky. Kaede looked at Sakura's pinky for half a second and then said, "Promise." And both made the promise by connecting their pinkies together.
"Kaede!" Fuji called out again.
"Coming!" Kaede took a look at her daughter before she stood up and walked toward the door. Sakura followed her mom to the door and stopped when she stopped. Kaede turned around and gave Sakura a hug.
"Remember to behave yourself while I'm gone, ok?"
"Ok." replied Sakura. Then they released their hug.
"I love you." Kaede said.
Sakura smiled. "I love you too." Then Kaede walked out of the door and toward the car. "Take care!" Sakura yelled as she waved her hand at her mom. Kaede waved back before she got in the car. Then the car drove off and Sakura was left alone at home again.
-
The next morning
It was Sunday and it was Sakura's big day. It was March 28, which meant it was her birthday! Sakura jumped out of bed and did her usual morning routine. She was in high spirit because there was no school today and on top of that her mom was coming home, and then they could spend the whole day together.
Sakura finished brushing her teeth, got dressed, and ate some breakfast. So now she was just sitting on the couch watching TV. Then suddenly the phone rang. Sakura got off the couch and answered the phone.
A few minutes later
Sakura dropped the phone and dragged herself to the couch and turned the volume of the TV on higher. She sank into the cushion of the couch and hugged one of the small pillows. Tears were threatened to overflow from Sakura's eyes, but she immediately wiped it off. She wouldn't let a small thing like that get the better of her.
But her mind wondered back to a few minutes ago, and Sakura was recalling who was on the phone earlier.
"Hello, this is Haruno house." said Sakura.
"Hello, Sakura dear. I'm glad I caught you in time." answered Kaede.
"Mom? Oh hi. I'm done getting ready, so now I'm waiting for you to come home so we can spend the day together and huh…caught me in time for what? Sakura asked.
"Here's the deal." Kaede started to explain.
"Here's the deal? Uh-oh, this doesn't sound too good." Sakura thought.
"My flight got delay because of a terrible thunder storm, so I don't know when I will make it back."
"Oh…" that took Sakura by surprise.
"But don't worry; I'll make it up to you. We will have a mother and daughter bonding once I get back ok dear?
Sakura sighed, and gave up on the idea of spending any time with her mom today. "Ok, I guess it can't be help. I'll wait for you to come back."
"Good girl. Mama misses you."
"Miss you too. Bye." said Sakura reluctantly.
"Bye." Kaede had already hung up the phone, but Sakura was still holding on to it. Then she had an idea and turned on the TV a little louder, and switched to the whether channel. Sakura's mom was in Kyoto right now, so all she had to do was listen to the whether broadcast there.
"Up next is Kyoto, the whether there today will be partly cloudy in the morning but will be sunny for the rest of the day. It's the perfect day for anybody to have some outdoor fun in the sun. The temperature will reaches to 75 at most. I repeat 75 degree at most." the whether man announced.
Sakura had a hunch that the whether over Kyoto was not as bad as her mom said, but listening to the whether broadcast confirmed her suspicion.
"Does mom still thinks I'm a five years old? Jeez, what a stupid, idiotic, and obvious lie." Sakura thought.
-
The next day
It was first period of the day for Sakura. She was taking her English test that she had been studying for the past week. Sakura gave out a big yawn, she could feel her eyes were getting heavier and heavier by the second. She glanced over to Naruto to see how he was doing on the test. He looked confused as always, but at least he was able to open his eyes. Then for some reason, he seemed to be more confident than before, or maybe her tired eyes were deceiving her. Sakura had stayed up all night last night for reason beyond her. She yawned again and she tried to focus on the task at hand, which is to finish her English test. She raised her pencil as she once again re-read the questions on the paper.
Then Sakamoto-sensei called out, "Ok, you have 5 minutes left to finish what you're doing."
That caused some students to groan and some to gasp. And Sakura was among one of them who were worry as hell because she was only on question number 15 and there were about 50 questions total! Sakura didn't have time to read the rest of the questions, so she started to bubble in the remaining answers randomly. (A/N: The test is multiple-choice)
"Time's up. Put your pencil down and pass up your answer sheet." Sakamoto stated.
Sakura quickly finished marking the last blank bubble and drop her pencil on the desk and handed the answer sheet to the person in front of her. She sank into her desk and banged her forehead on her desk. Then the bell rang and everyone ran out to their next class.
It was now lunch time; Sakura and Naruto sat their usual spot and ate their lunch. Then Naruto noticed some people were running down the hallway and he recognized some of them from his English class. They must be headed toward the score board, which meant Sakamoto already posted up the grades from the test.
"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan let's go see our grades." Naruto suggested.
Sakura was finishing up her last mochi before she could answer him. "Sure."
Afterward, the two teens followed the crowd to the score board. But when they got there, the score board was crowded with students, so they decided to wait until there were less people. Then when the crowd was finally reduced to only a couple of students, Naruto went up to the board and started to search for his name first.
"Hell yeah!!" looks like he found it. Sakura was just behind him, but she didn't bother to look at the scores yet. "What cha' got?" she asked.
Naruto turned to look at Sakura and he put on the biggest grin that he had. "I got a 71!"
Sakura smiled back at him. "That's great."
"So, what did you get Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know yet. I haven't check." Then Naruto immediately turned around and began to search for Sakura name at the top of the list.
Then suddenly a voice called out, "You won't find her name at the top."
The second she heard the voice, Sakura knew exactly who it was. She tilted her head slightly and she saw Neji stood right before her. He looked pissed off, somewhat annoyed, and he had a dark and angry aura all around him. All the people around him were shivering out of fright and they made sure to stay out of his path. Too bad, Sakura failed to notice the aura surrounding him, and she casually spoke up.
"Oh, hi senpai." she greeted her mentor. Neji didn't say anything and he continued to glare at the girl in front of him. When Sakura didn't received a "hi" back, she knew something was wrong and she might just have an idea of what it could be. But then she shoved that thought aside and pretended like nothing happen. "What did you just said earlier, senpai?"
Neji looked at the score board that Naruto was searching so hard to find Sakura name, and then back at Sakura. "I said you won't find your name at the top."
Then as if by cue Naruto said the same thing that Neji just repeated. "I can't find your name anywhere, Sakura-chan." then he turned around and found his friend was having a glaring contest with her mentor.
"That's because her score is at the bottom of the list." Neji said as he continued to glared daggers at Sakura. And in return she still pretended like nothing happen.
"Ehh……? That can't be!" then Naruto turned to face the score board again, but this time he search at the bottom of the list. "Found it! Let's see Sakura-chan got a…."
Neji began to narrowed his eyes as Naruto was about to tell them what Sakura score was. On the other hand, Sakura looked calm and bored. It was as if she knew what her score was going to be. She wouldn't be surprise if it was-
"25!!" Naruto shouted as he was about to lose his balance and fall down. But he prevented himself from doing so. Naruto then looked at Sakura with a worried face and he was about to ask why but Neji beat him to it.
"What's the meaning of this, Sakura?! Why did you score so low?" Neji asked with an angry tone. Sakura merely looked away to avoid Neji gaze.
"Sakura! Answer me!" Neji half shouted. He was trying his best to control his anger. Even Naruto was starting to be scare of Neji and he nudged Sakura slightly on the shoulder and begged her to answer the older teen. "Sakura-chan, please answer him."
A few seconds had pass and yet Sakura did not speak up. Neji was starting to lose his patient. And Naruto hid behind Sakura just in case Neji reached his maximum angry level. That wouldn't be a good sight to see.
Then Neji was prepared to give out a full shout, "Sa-" but he was cut off by Sakura.
"I get it already for God's sake! I scored really low this time! So what?! I'll make it up on the next test. There! Are you happy now?!" but before either Neji or Naruto could answer, Sakura spoke up again. "Good! Now if you don't mind, I'm going to my next class to get this stupid fucking day over with!" Sakura began to walk away from the boys.
"What's her problem; I'm the one who should be angry." It was as if Neji was talking to Naruto, but not directly.
"Who knows." Naruto shrugged, but on the back of his mind, "Why is this guy so concern about Sakura-chan? I know he is her mentor, but I'm sensing something more…"
Just as Naruto was thinking harder about Sakura and Neji relationship, the school bell rang, which meant that lunch was over.
"Oh crap, I still haven't finished my lunch yet." Naruto remarked and dashed away. Unfortunately he was lured away by food before he could finish his thought. (A/N: sweat drop)
-
Later that day
School was over, but for some student like Sakura had to stay behind because she had to do class chores. Sakura muttered some curses words as she clean the chalkboard. When she was to finish cleaning the board, she has to make sure all the chairs were slid under the desk, that there are no trash on the floor, and she had to clean one of the window because one of the boy in her class felt like throwing pudding on the window. He got detention for it, but she was the one stuck cleaning it up. Just the thought of it made her want to kill him right away.
Sakura was done with the chalkboard, pushed all the chairs under the desk, made sure there was no trash on the floor, and her final task was…gulped…cleaning the window. She pulled up a chair from one of the desk and she was about to stood up on it when suddenly the door slid open. Sakura turned her head to see who it was at the door. It was none other than Neji himself. This time he didn't look pissed off or angry at all. His face was back to its normal facial expression, which was no expression at all.
"Can l help you, Neji-senpai?" Sakura asked.
Neji looked around the room and then at Sakura before he replied, "I heard you have class chores, so I thought I come to see if you need some help."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Why…?"
"Oh, nothing, I just thought you might want some help so you can go home earlier. But I guess I was wrong." then he motion to stepped out of the door.
"Wait!" Sakura called out. Nej halted and slowly turned around. "Well…, do you need help or not?" he asked.
Sakura knew it wasn't that simple. Neji would not just come in and offer to help her out. Something was up and she would find out what it was. But in the mean time, she could use some help.
"Yeah, I can use some help. Thanks for your offer, Neji-senpai." Sakura said cheerfully.
"Aa," was his replied. Then he walked over to Sakura and grabbed another chair and a cloth, and started to clean the window with Sakura.
A few minutes later, both had finally finished cleaning the window and put the chairs where it belonged. "Thanks for the help, Neji-senpai. I couldn't finish this early without your help." Sakura said.
"You're welcome." Neji was heading toward the door again, but then he just remembered the reason why he looked for Sakura in the first place. Then an idea hit him and he turned around and called out to Sakura.
"Yes?" Sakura turned toward her mentor and gave him her full attention.
"A-Are…" Neji couldn't believe he was shuddering again, but he gathered up all his courage and spoke up. "Are you going to practice archery today?"
Sakura blinked twice before she answered, "Uh…sure…why not…I'll be there!" she said the last three words more loudly than the rest. Neji gave her nod and waved his hand to say good-bye. "I'll see you there then. Bye." then Neji left as he closed the door of the classroom, leaving only Sakura in the room.
She had thought Neji was still mad at her about what happen during lunch, but since he went out of his way to asked her to come to the dojo, she couldn't refused to come. Sakura would let everything happened today as a bad day and continued with her life. Then her mind went back to a few minutes ago and realized she would see Neji again today, and for some reason Sakura smiled at the thought of it.
-
Later that same day
When Sakura was finish with her class chores, she stopped by her house to get her training that she brought home to wash. It has been a few days since the last time Sakura went to Neji's dojo. "I wonder why he asked me to come today." Sakura thought. She was just a few more blocks away from the dojo. "Guess I'll find out soon." Sakura smiled at the thought.
When Sakura reached Neji's dojo, she greeted him, grabbed a bow and some arrows, and started shooting. For the first few shots, Sakura did well, but afterward her aim got worse and worse. Neji, who was standing right next to her, sweat dropped at how bad she was doing. Finally, when Neji couldn't take it anymore, he was about to tell Sakura to take a break or something, but then Sakura put down her bow and walked to the table on her own.
After awhile, Neji decided to sit down as well. Sakura was sitting and staring off into space. Neji, who was drinking tea again, looked at her with a worry face.
"Sakura, what's wrong?" Neji asked.
Sakura stayed silent. Neji looked over at the mochi.
"You didn't even eat your favorite dessert." he added.
That took Sakura by surprise. "H-How did you know mochi was my favorite dessert?" she asked.
Neji just simply gave out a soft chuckle and then it turned into a smirk. "Anyone could tell it's your favorite dessert. You eat it everyday."
"Oh…" Sakura started blushing. She didn't think anyone noticed she liked strawberry mochi.
"You can eat it if you want. I'm not a big fan of sweets." Neji sipped his tea.
"Uh…oh, thank you senpai." Sakura said in a low voice. "Did he bring the mochi out just for me to eat it?" Sakura thought as she took a bite of the strawberry mochi.
Even though mochi was Sakura favorite things to eat, she couldn't help be feel uncomfortable while eating it. The atmosphere around Neji and her was very awkward. After eating a couple of mocha, Sakura was starting to feel thirsty. She looked ahead and noticed the tea pot next to Neji, as he was staring off to nowhere, and there was two tea cups as well. One of them was use by Neji and the other is still unused. But Sakura was too scared to reach out to grab the extra tea cup, so she decided to go find another one.
Just as Sakura was about to stand up, Neji called out. "Use this." Neji handed Sakura the extra tea cup. Sakura looked surprise for a second and unconsciously held the tea cup in her hand. "It's for you to use from now on." Neji finished his sentence.
"Uh…oh, yes thank you senpai." replied Sakura.
It was as if Neji was reading Sakura mind, he handed her a cup when she needed it and said she could use it.
"So wait a minute now…… Does that mean I get my own cup?" Sakura thought as she poured in some tea for her cup. Then, she took a closer look at the tea cup and noticed that there were some cherry blossom petal patterns on the cup. "Hehe, a cherry blossom tea cup matches with my name. Hehe." Sakura smiled at the coincidence, or was it really?
(A/N: You must know what happen; if not then do I need to spell it out for you?)
-
The next day
The bell for the last class of the day had rang and everyone strolled out of their classes. Naruto has just come out from his Chemistry class and was mumbling to himself while crossing his arms against his chest, almost in a thinking position.
"Ok, so if oxidation means that it losses electrons and reduction means gaining electrons, but then why does reduction means gaining? Doesn't reduction mean to lose? So maybe then reduction means losing electrons after all? I- Ugh! I don't get it!" Naruto was about to bang his head onto a locker when a feminine voice called out to him.
"Hey, Naru…to…" the voice trailed off when she saw that he has already banged his head on a locker. Naruto looked up from where he shoved his head on and gave a small smile.
"Hey, Ino." he greeted.
"Um…do I want to know why you smash your head onto the locker?" Ino asked with a half concerned and half teasing voice. Naruto straightened himself and pretended nothing happened and laughed it off.
"Heh, it's nothing. By the way have you seen Sakura-chan?" Naruto tried to change the subject.
"Yeah, I saw her. But after our class was over, I haven't seen her since then. Why?" Ino answered.
"Oh, I just wanted to know since I haven't seen her since lunch. Is it just me or is Sakura-chan been acting weird lately?" Naruto questioned himself.
"Hm…you might be right. She is more distant from me than usual. At least when we pass each other in the hallway, she would wave hi, but now she does nothing." Ino dejected.
"Yeah, you got a point. She rarely speaks to me now. We mostly talk about school work and that's it. I wonder what could have happen to her." Naruto said.
"Do you think we did something to her that made her like that?" Ino asked.
"I don't know…maybe we did…" answered Naruto. Suddenly, the speaker came on and the principal voice could be heard.
"Attention, tennis player. Tryouts will be held on April 2nd at 4 o'clock. Tardiness will not be permitted. If you are going to be late, then don't brother to show up at all. I repeat tennis tryout will be on April 2nd at 4 o'clock. That is all, have a good afternoon." Then the speaker was off.
"Hmm…April 2nd… April 2nd…April 2nd… April 2nd…wait a minute! Isn't today March 30th?" Ino asked herself and glanced over to Naruto, who was staring at the locker that he just slammed his head to.
"Hey, Naruto. Isn't today March 30th?" she asked him. Naruto thought about it for a second and answered, "Yeah, I think so." He raised an eyebrow.
"So that means that March 28 have passed, right?"
"Yeah…" he answered again. "What is she getting at?" he thought.
Ino was about to whack him on the head for his stupidity. "Na-ru-to, don't you realize what's on March 28?"
"Um…it is something important?"
"Only to you and me."
"Ok, what is it?"
"Ugh! Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"…"
"Ugh! How can you forget your friend's birthday, you idiot? Especially, when we used to celebrate her birthday."
Then suddenly a light bulb turned on inside Naruto head and he realized what Ino was trying to say.
"Sakura's birthday is on March 28 and today is March 30, which means her birthday has passed!" They both said at the same time.
"Ah! I can't believe I forgot her birthday and I didn't buy her a present yet either!" Naruto mentally slapped himself over and over for forgetting Sakura's birthday.
"Yeah… didn't think I would forget it either…" Ino muttered. There was a silence followed after their outburst. Then all of a suddenly Naruto spoke up again. "Oh I know! I'll go buy her a present today. Better late than never, right Ino?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"But…"
"But what…?" Ino cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't have enough money to buy her that bracelet she likes so much."
"Hmm…yeah, that's a tough decision…" Ino putted her hand on her chin and made a thinking pose.
"Oh I know! I can borrow Iruka-sensei for some money, I'm sure he won't mind."
"That's great! So where is he now?"
"Hmm…I believe he teaches the senior in our school, so he should be upstairs."
"Ok then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ino exclaimed.
Iruka was finishing up the last couple of test paper and he would be on his way home. Then when suddenly he heard the door slide open and revealed a white-eyed teen with long brunette hair that was tied to a pony tail holding a broom and a broom duster, and began to sweep the floor. Upon seeing one of his students, Iruka pondered why Hyuuga Nji was doing here.
"Neji-kun, what are you doing here?" Iruka asked.
"I have classroom chores today." answered Neji. Well, that was straightforward answer as one could get.
"Oh yeah…I forgot about that." was all Iruka could think of. Then suddenly, Iruka could hear his name being called from the hallway. Running footsteps could be heard also. The voice and the footsteps were drawing nearer and nearer to Iruka classroom. Neji ignored the sounds and continued with his duty.
"Iruka-sensei!" yelled Naruto while slamming the door wide open.
"Na-ru-to, no running in the hallway. And please don't yell neither." Iruka said tiredly. Neji could tell by Iruka reaction that this was not the first time it happened.
"But this is a emergency, sensei!" Naruto stated.
"What's the emergency, Naruto?"
"I need to borrow 30,000 yen." Naruto said in a serious tone while panting.
Iruka sweat dropped, "Forget it." he answered straight away. "And I thought it was something serious, but he was just asking for money." Iruka sighed.
Then suddenly, another loud voice called out in anger. "Naruto!" It was Ino and she was out of breath from the running. "You didn't have to run so fast." Still panting
"Well, blame yourself for being so slow, Ino." answered Naruto
"What did you say!?"
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Iruka tried to stop a fight from happening. He looked up and saw Ino face looked similar but couldn't remember her name. "The girl at the door, what is your name and classroom number?"
Ino has calm down and politely bow to Iruka. "Nice to see you again, Iruka-sensei. My name is Yamanaka Ino. Classroom 2-B. Perhaps you still remember me, I'm a friend of Haruno Sakura, who is a friend of that blond idoit over there." Naruto shouted "Hey!" in anger after hearing that comment.
"Yamanaka Ino. No wonder she looks similar. She and Haruno Sakura, along with Naruto used to hang out together. Haruno Sakura. Sakura. Sa…ku…ra…. If I remember correctly, Sakura is currently being tutor by that Hyuuga Neji over there." Iruka sneaked a peek at Neji who was still sweeping the floor.
"Oh, I remember. You are Yamanaka-san. It's been a while. How have you been?" asked Iruka.
"I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking." Ino said.
"Glad to hear it. So what brings you here to the third floor, Yamanaka-san."
"Actully, I'm here with Naruto to ask you a favor."
"Favor? What favor?"
"Hey, you didn't ask him yet?" Ino nudged Naruto shoulder.
"I did! But he said no!"
Ino and Naruto looked at Iruka and Iruka could only tilted his head with a question mark. "Iruka-sensei, please lend us 30,000 yen." Ino pleaded.
"Oh, so that's the favor they were talking about." thought Iruka. "May I ask what the money for?"
Naruto and Ino looked at each other and communicated using eye contact. Then Ino spoke up, "The money is for buying a present for a friend."
"And who is this friend of yours?"
"It's for Sakura-chan, sir!" Naruto proudly announced.
"Sakura? Haruno Sakura?" asked Iruka.
"Yes, sir!" said Naruto.
"What's the occasion? It's a little early for Christmas present don't you think so?" asked Iruka.
"No, sensei. It's for her birthday. Sakura birthday was on March 28, but we forgot to wish her a happy birthday. So we thought of making up for her by giving her a special present." said Ino.
"I see. I'll be glad to help. But I don't have that much money on me right now."
"That's okay. We can go to the bank to withdraw some money." said Naruto.
"But we have to hurry, the store is closing early today." Ino said while looking at her wristwatch.
"Ok, give me a minute. I have to pack my paper work first." Iruka scambled to put in the papers that he have to grade. "Oh, and before I forget. Neji-kun…!" Iruka looked where Hyuuga Neji suppose to be, but there was no sign of the boy there. "He left? When did he leave?"
"What!? Neji was here? How come I didn't see him?" Naruto asked no one in particular.
"Neji? Who's that?" Ino thought.
"There's no time to waste. Come on. Let's go!" said Iruka. Naruto, Ino and Iruka left the classroom in a hurry.
-
Somewhere in town, at the store called "Gift Ideas"
When the door opened which triggered the bell on top of the door, and got the attention of someone in Gift Ideas.
"How can I help you young man?" asked a middle aged man.
A teen in his uniform walked in with long brunette hair and white, clear eyes and said, "Mister, I would like to buy that bracelet." The teen pointed to the bracelet with cherry blossom petals. (A/N: Sorry, I know that's not a good description.)
"Oh! Good choice, young man. That's the last one that we have." The middle aged man pick up the bracelet and wrapped it up nicely.
The brunnette teen stepped forward to pay for the bracelet, then the old man asked, "Did you know that this bracelet comes in a set with a necklace and earrings?"
"No." the teen answered softly.
"It's too bad that the necklace and earrings already sold out. But if you like I could reorder the complete set for you."
"Why would I want the whole set?" the teen cocked a eyebrow.
"You're buying for your girlfriend right?"
"……" the brunnette boy kept silent.
-
Back to Naruto, Ino, and Iruka-sensei
"Damn it! That ATM machine purposely trying to slow us down! It kept saying Error! Shit!" yelled Naruto in Iruka car.
"Naruto, watch your language." Iruka warned.
"I don't think we'll make it on time." said the worried Ino.
A few minutes later a car stopped near a store Gift Ideas, and three people rushed inside. The blond boy was the first to enter, then Iruka and Ino. "Hey, old man we like to buy the bracelet with sakura petals on it."
"Naruto, couldn't ask more nicely?" questioned Ino.
"Sakura petals?" asked the middle aged man.
"He meant a bracelet with cherry blossom petals in the middle of it."
The old man thought for a while and a stroke of memory came back to him. "Oh! You mean this bracelet?" he hold up a picture for the customers to see.
"Yes! That's the one." answered Ino.
"So sorry, I sold the last piece to another customer already."
"What!?" said Ino, Iruka, and Naruto in unison.
"I guess we were too late." said Iruka.
"Oh man…" Naruto whined.
"Sold out? Who could have…?" thought Ino.
A/N: I finally finish chapter 9. I'm so sorry for the super, duper late update. I hope you enjoy this chapter. See you again in chapter 10!
Next Chapter: ………not gonna tell you. It's going to ruin the surprise.
sacredairbga7
