I insist you read my author notes before reading this chapter.

I DON'T accept flames, so I'm sorry, but I didn't appreciate your comment 'Latoya'. Firstly, the chapter overlooked and depicted the past month as did chapter 9. It saves me having to section my story into 'several days later's and also showed her father's torture gradually building. Also Yoko's phone conversation was of importance as well as the character's behaviour, so I could add in their usual attitude to make them more in character. I don't have pointless filler chapters and if you don't like my way of doing things, don't read it. It's as simple as that.

Oh, and to 'Guenièvre': their bond will be gradually made throughout the course of the story, because I didn't want them to be like 'omg love at first sight even though I don't know you'. I wanted this to be more realistic… lol, thanks for the review!

I feel I should make sure readers know that this story isn't just showing the development between our two main characters, but the side stories and developments between the other couples mentioned in the first chapter.

ALSO! The recommended song is useful for each chapter since it matches with the chapter's subject… I recommend you listen to it while reading or if you can't do both, listen to it first then read the chapter… or after… whichever really .

Recommended Song: Kelly Clarkson – Beautiful Disaster

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

-Sakura Meddles-

-11-

A long sigh left the pert rosy lips and her eyelids slowly lifted revealing her emerald, shining eyes. Her hands hooked behind her back as she walked along the corridor with a little spring in her step.

The neatly aligned windows she past let the sun shine brightly on her face, but her eyes did not squint. Instead, she enjoyed its warm rays and carried on walking down the recently polished floors. The clean white walls she passed made her frown at the overly tidy area until she came upon different walls of student work, mainly art.

She recognised a few pieces in particular, like paintings of a sole figure in the centre of an open field with huge, blue, chakra-evoked wings sprouting from his back. Across the field stood another taller, more bulky figure in comparison to the small thin male with the wings.

She paused to view the picture further. She had seen the girl who drew it, but she only watched her colour the spectacular wings, the lines and figures were already there. She took a further step closer to the picture and faintly recognised the swirled face of the boy, who wore a green jacket and white scarf. She shook her head not understanding anything more than the fact the picture was a still shot of a certain fight.

Her attention was once again on the plain, neatly boxed corridors. A man began to walk up in a slumped, slow pace. She walked closer in the same speedy fashion and noticed his soft looking grey hair and plump face. Small aged lines showed underneath his eyes and across his cheeks. He was cursing under his breath and looking down to the unusual mess on the floor.

Sakura looked down to find different cleaning products and slip signs in a heaped mess next to his trolley. She sighed and mentally had images of killing the guys who done this. They clearly had no life whatsoever and no reason to do this. It wasn't clever, it was just a hindrance.

"Hey…" She greeted walking over to the smaller, overall wearing man.

He looked up and regarded her before fixing a scrutinising stare upon her. Nervous laughter was fighting to escape Sakura's biting lip.

"Can I help you with those?" She asked changing the man's look from a curious one to a surprised yet sceptical look. "Really…"

She bent down and began to pick up several spray bottles before placing them in a certain order on his trolley. She noticed him struggle to bend down and mimic her movements so instead she looked up and stopped him.

"It's alright! I'll do it!"

"Nonsense… I just have a small crick in my knee… nothing else…" He said with a toothy grin which made Sakura smile.

"Crick?"

"Ah, I took a small tumble a couple of days ago…" He said rubbing his head sheepishly in embarrassment.

"Let me take a look at it… I'm a medic…" She smiled at him and stood him up to walk in the nearby classroom. Once they were in, she sat him down in a chair and kneeled in front of him. After grinning at him, she lifted his leg to place on her bent knees and rolled his overall's leg up to view a swollen, red leg. She hissed at his predicament before looking up sternly at him. "You should have gone to a doctor! Or Tsunade!" she aid angrily before pressing around his knee, looking for any unusual lumps.

"I can't bother Tsu-!" He hissed as a certain spot on his leg was pressed and an apologetic look spread on Sakura's concentrating face. "Tsunade"

"What? She wouldn't mind!"

"You must be Sakura…" He smiled down at the surprise on Sakura's face before she smiled up at him as an answer.

"How did you know?"

"Tsunade talks a lot about you… She'd adopt you in a heartbeat if it were possible…" Sakura's face saddened. Naruto had said the same thing when Tsunade went to his house for dinner with his father. Her heart started to beat erratically; she would kill for a mother like Tsunade instead of that vermin Osamu.

"That would be lovely…" She said quietly, before she emerged her hand in a blue light which had tints of green hidden in the swirled chakra. The man's face switched from wonder to amazement when the light died down. It no longed hurt him and when Sakura stood up away from him, he noticed the improvement in look and when he bent and straightened the joint.

"Thank you very much…" He said honestly as he stood up without needing help and without pausing in struggle. "No one else would bother to do this… so you must be the new girl…" He chuckled moving out of the classroom and eyeing the mess on the floor.

Sakura followed him with a smile and began to pick up the wet floor signs, piling the neatly in the space beneath the top tray of the cart. Out the corner of her eye she noticed him picking up the other bottles and placing them in order before grabbing the dust clothes and folding them neatly in the small draw beneath the top tray. She smiled once they were done and looked to the old man.

"Well… I have to go-" she looked down to his name badge and smiled back up at him, "Louis, see ya!" She turned around after a short wave and began to walk down the corridor once more; directions in mind.

'Left… right… right… straight forward… second door on the left… straight forward… last door on the right…'

Her lips tightened in concentration as she finally came to the head office marked 'Tsunade Sannin'. She grasped the handle and pushed down to release the tall wooden door. She stepped in the office and almost screamed at the sudden presence of another. Instead, she chose to inhale a sharp intake of breath to highlight her surprise.

"W-What are you doing here?" She gasped, frozen into the same spot. Pale silver eyes focused on her in a blank, but serious stare.

"I am to attend a meeting with Tsunade-Sama" He answered plainly turning his head from her direction and closing his eyes.

He was cockily leaning on Tsunade's varnished desk with one foot firm against the side of the desk, while the other supported his weight. His arms were crossed and his head focused on the direction of the window. His school uniform had been neatly pressed but his shirt was undone at the top and hung from his shoulder a little.

"Well… she's in a lesson at the moment…" Sakura answered, walking over to the opposite end of the room and reading the labels of the plants near the opened window. Her hair blew from her face as she came into contact with the gentle draft.

"I am well aware" In truth he didn't need to answer, but he was curious as to how this girl worked, seen as though she had apparently ruffled the feathers of most of the guys in school including the famous Sasuke and the infamous Gaara.

She sighed again, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and moved on to the next plant to read its description from the tag. Tsunade had sent her on a little mission to her office to pick up a specimen of plant which could be used for certain poisons. They had to know he exact compounds of poisons, after all, to know how to cure them and poisons weren't Sakura's speciality. She was good, no doubt about it, but in comparison to the other subjects they looked over poisons were taking her longer to learn.

"Why are you here early then? Surely she wouldn't have booked a meeting with you if she was in lesson…"

Smart girl.

After receiving no answer she furrowed her brows angrily. He obviously thought he was above everyone else. Her frown soon turned into a grin as a thought came to mind almost immediately. She knew some things about this Hyuga prodigy and was willing to use them against him. It was for the good of the school… and her friend Tenten…

Sakura noticed Tenten look over to him sadly. Sakura followed and noticed him smirking at Naruto's comment, still looking away from the small group. Sakura hated the fact that they didn't talk because of such a simple and pathetic reason. She didn't believe people should be separated by their social groups and wanted nothing more than prove how stereotypical their beliefs were. She then realised Tenten's predicament; it was clear after all that she had a thing for Neji.

"You're quite unresponsive huh" She asked with a stern voice, earning her Neji's attention. "Or is it because of who you hang with?"

"What does that mean?" Truly, she had caught his curiosity and he couldn't help but have slight anger in his voice for her judgements.

"Oh you know exactly what it means… you're with Sasuke's little gang aren't you?" A slow smirk rose to his face as he predicted her for being jealous, just like any other girl would be. That was until she continued, "You can't talk to anyone outside your little group because… well, that would be ridiculous!" She made sure to emphasise all of her sarcastic remarks so he got the message.

He didn't answer her and settled for an intense stare so she continued with the inevitable explanation as to why he did these things. He could sense she had some sort of answer within her for this courage to show.

"Well… just from looking at you it felt like you chose your own way, but I guess I was wrong huh?" His eyebrows furrowed. "After all, you're just another pawn to the social groupings…"

"What are you getting at?"

"Simple, you can't decide things for yourself. You aren't free and refuse to choose your own destiny…"

His anger subsided for amusement. She was pointing out exactly how he felt but instead of being angry, he was content with that knowing it was the way things went. "Oh? None of us are free to choose our own destiny… fate will inevitably take its course…"

Sakura laughed turning around with the chosen plant pot in her arms. His anger began to rise again. He didn't like being laughed at and especially when it was his explanations which were being questioned.

"Oh please!" Sakura knew the Hyuga was strong and in the bloodline limit class. He was also a year older than her and she was risking a good beating if she went too far. This was risky. "That is what a teenager in love would say! Fate? Destiny? A truly strong person creates their own destiny… chooses to do things for themselves… follows their own path… I didn't expect the strong Neji Hyuga to be so weak…" She mocked walking towards the door.

She knew he was pissed from the anger radiating from him. His aura was a deadly one but within the wrath he felt, there were signs of hope. Realisation spread across his face no matter show hard he tried to hide it. Maybe, that anger wasn't directed at her, but him; or rather Sasuke and the other people who believed in separating and controlling people through groupings. It had to be done if he was to be broken from these groups and be able to talk to Tenten. She would risk anything for her friends.

"Hey…" She said a little softer making him narrow his eyes at her in wait. "…Ya know, Tenten is being adopted and she needs help moving this Saturday… Hinata said she would help with me… could you please tell Hinata to get there at 10 and for her to bring help…"

With that said she closed the door behind her and let a smile grace her lips. She walked down the corridor and back to lesson leaving a startled Neji to sit by himself, countless thoughts shooting through his mind.

oOo

"It's official! I am a genius!" She bragged walking beside her tall, silent friend who shook his head at her. "You should have been there! I thought he was gonna kill me, sure, but it was sooo worth it!"

Her little spring in her step evolved into being a skip which amused her anti-social friend. Her smiled made a strange warmth radiate through his body and he couldn't help but want to laugh at her statements. He ran a hand through his spiky red hair and continued to walk blankly towards the cafeteria with the pinkette, who had decided to eat with her sand sibling friends.

She was quite the rebellious type. Something about her was different from all the rest. No, not just the girls, but the guys. Everyone in fact, people didn't just defy their instincts and Gaara knew that the students and teachers at Konoha had built into their instincts the defensive mode they took around him. They knew when to keep their nose out of things just like Iruka-sensei had when he was teaching the perverted girl a lesson. But Sakura knew just as well as them that he wasn't to be crossed.

Maybe part of him did treasure this attitude she had. After all, he wouldn't be this happy if she wasn't here talking about nothin with him. Well at him, since he didn't walk much in the first place. She even knew this about him and didn't take offence at his anti-social skills, but instead questioned them and annoyed him into talking to him.

After only five minutes of talking to him that fateful day, he didn't feel like he got to spend enough time with her. He even called out for an explanation as to why she was leaving. She made him act strangely and he wasn't accustomed to this new behaviour he displayed.

Even his usual mid-night walks, which often led to the torture of some punk who thought he could steal or taunt him, were abruptly stopped. He couldn't concentrate much anymore, and he often felt quite agitated or restless but at the same time calm and relaxed with his life at the moment.

He also had taken a sickly fascination to cookies after eating her own. Yes they had been his favourite, but he would only be content with them once a month perhaps. He usually went out once a week to buy several packets of different brands and flavours. None of them stood as highly as he favoured the pinkette's own cookies, which annoyed him to no end. She really screwed up his life and it was confusing and testing him as to how to get back into a normal routine.

"It was quite reckless of you" He stated monotonously.

"Huh? Oh… hey! Are you worried about me?" She teased with a little smile. She noticed that her tone of voice and the words that came out of her mouth would imply she was flirting and her face heated at the smirk from the red head.

"No… Temari would kill me if you died…" He said making her scowl.

"Jeez, thanks!" She crossed her arms emphasising her anger. "But ya know…" Se continued making the red-head's eyes focus on her from the side. "It doesn't mean he will get the hint to help on Saturday… hmm… maybe I could make him want to come… that means I will have to make him think about Tenten and want to spend time with her… but how?"

The ruby-haired 17 year old focused on not rolling his eyes at her. She really was getting in over her head.

"Gaara!" She said suddenly grabbing his arm. He looked down at the contact, which would still make him surprised at her bravery. "Look! Lucky!" She said pointing to Tenten who walked down the corridor happily.

Sakura looked up at Gaara and grinned making him raise an eyebrow at her. She blushed before looking back to Tenten; she still wasn't used to his focused jade eyes staring intently at her. When Tenten looked over to see her grinning suspiciously with the fearful Gaara, who leaned on the wall behind her. She had to smile at her friend's attitude which let her be able to talk to the dangerous Gaara.

"Whats up?" Tenten asked stopping briefly in front of the cunning pink-haired girl.

"Oh, nothing!" Sakura grinned. Her acting skills sure suck.

"Erm… okay?" Tenten had been informed that she was eating with the Sabaku's today so she wondered why they weren't heading for the cafeteria.

Sakura stopped grinning to follow the little sign made of sand Gaara provided for her. It was pointing down the 'T' shaped corridor, from the opposite direction Tenten emerged from. She noticed the cold Hyuga approaching fast and she grabbed Tenten's arm and dragged her down the other corridor they had came from. She turned around and gave Gaara a smile before focusing on Tenten once more.

When her head turned, Gaara's cheeks lit in a very faint red colour, which attracted Tenten's attention. Before she could show him she had seen it, she was snapped out of her thoughts by Sakura who pushed her backwards. She squealed as she fell backwards and closed her eyes waiting to feel the contact of the floor.

Sakura turned around and looked desperately at Gaara as a sign to run. Instead, he grabbed her arm gently and they drifted away behind the curtain of sand leaving the corridor empty.

When Tenten didn't feel the floor, but instead a firm but softer ground beneath her, she opened her eyes to find the corridor Sakura once stood in empty and a pair of silver eyes looking down at her. She was going to kill that sly pink girl she called a friend.

"N-Ne- Hyuga-san?" She said frozen in his lap, her cheeks turning pink.

Instead of an expected scowl from the stone-cold Hyuga, she got a mocking smirk. He was sitting up on his hands from the floor with the small-figured Tenten in his lap looking quite flustered. "Tenten?"

She blushed at the familiarity and pushed her hands on the floor to lift her body from his. What she didn't expect, was Neji's hand to grab her wrist earning her attention.

"Shouldn't you apologise first?" He asked in a lower toned voice which made goose bumps appear on her arms. She prayed he couldn't feel them.

"W-Why should I? You got in my way!" She said stubbornly, snatching her wrist from his grasp and standing up. She turned around to walk down the corridor she came from but stopped in mid walk when she felt a presence beside her.

She looked up into the calculating, amused eyes of the Hyuga. Confusion hit her full force in the face. Since when did Neji Hyuga follow her down the corridor and even talk or acknowledge her presence? Why was he following her? Why did his eyes show amusement? Why was she feeling so flustered around him? Why couldn't she find the words to question his actions? Why was she staring into those mysterious orbs? When did this turn about her?

She shook her head and fixed him with an annoyed glare. "Can I help you?"

"No"

"What do you want?"

"Nothing"

She felt a small vein beginning to show in her forehead.

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm not"

"Then why did you stop?"

"You did"

"That means you were following me!" She shouted curling her hands into fists.

"No, I was accompanying you" He said smartly with a slight upturn of his lips.

The bastard was smirking at her!

"Why?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"I wanted to…"

"Well I don't want you to!" She started to walk again and grew even more annoyed at seeing him walking beside her with a carefree expression which held amusement.

"Why not?"

"Because!"

"Because isn't an answer. Why don't you want me to accompany you?"

That was probably the longest sentence she heard from him. "I don't like you!"

"Then why are you blushing?"

She froze and felt her cheeks in panic to see if they were heated, which earned a dark chuckle from the insufferable Hyuga beside her. She briefly wondered how he ended up the one asking questions.

"I'm not!"

"Oh… you must have a fever then?"

She used this opportunity to agree with him for once. "Yeah! I'm not feeling too well…"

The Hyuga grabbed her arm and spun her around so he could place his cool open palm against her forehead. She felt her cheeks beginning to grow hotter at the contact which only made his damn smile lift even more in his success.

The Neji Hyuga was standing extremely close to her

"Oh yeah…. You are hot" He stated, letting his hot breath run over her face making her shiver, before carrying on walking down the corridor.

She wondered what he had meant by that which tuned her cheeks a deeper red colour before she ignored such thoughts. Of course it was her temperature! That hand explained it!

"Are you coming?" He asked growing a little annoyed by her stalling.

"I'm not going anywhere with you! Go lick Sasuke's ass!" She shouted after him with her arms crossed rebelliously.

He turned around to stare at the stubborn brunette before he sighed and answered, "Why would I lick that egotistical moron's ass?"

Tenten's mouth opened in shock and her eyes widened. The corridors were still empty because of the dinner break, meaning the school's students were most likely outside in the sun or in the cafeteria. The hallways were suddenly so quiet and Tenten realised just how alone they were.

"I thought he was your friend? Is this how you treat our friends?"

"He is not my friend… nor does he control me…"

"Then, why aren't you talking with Shino or… or Sasori or someone right now?"

"What? I cannot be here talking with you?"

"You never talked to me before! Why is now any different?" She shouted angrily. All of her emotions for the Hyuga were beginning to run throughout her body like adrenaline. She wanted answers and was shocked by his sudden attitude change. It didn't make sense.

The Hyuga remained silent pondering this question. Why was he talking so openly with her now? Why had he suddenly become so interested in the weapons mistress? He knew that if that conniving pink haired girl hadn't came along, he wouldn't have been able to talk to the beauteous brunette in front of him, like he had longed to.

"Better late than never…" He answered before walking down the corridor.

She let her heat calm down before the thoughts and feelings took over.

Better late than never?

Better late than never?!

Did that mean he wanted to talk to her eventually? Did that mean it was for the best that they spoke to one another than not at all? Of course it did! It couldn't mean anything else!

A small blush appeared on her cheeks. She didn't know what had been happening lately but the school was gradually changing, mainly; it's inhabitants. It didn't take a genius to work out the change in attitudes… she just didn't understand why. Maybe they were all just growing up?

oOo

"They haven't come back yet…" She said to Gaara as she tilted off her chair to reach over, so he knew she was directing the question towards him.

"Hn…"

Sakura sighed and looked back down to raise a spoonful of fruity yogurt to her pouting lips.

The rest of the cafeteria was quite loud and little food fights started in different tables where someone would find it funny to flick a little soup at their friend or let a neatly wrapped sweet bounce making a satisfying connecting sound with their other friend's heads.

She looked around the room at the work she had cut out for her. The popular table always sat in a certain order, which meant that Sasuke was in the centre, making him the overall focus of any onlookers. Saki and Ino sat beside him and Shino and Neji would usually sit opposite him, only Neji was missing thanks to Sakura's genius plans. They were all eating in silence, except Saki and Ino who would start up conversation, or mainly rumours, about other students for their own mirth.

She looked to the tables surrounding Sasuke's and, as predicted, they were all tables full of fan loving girls who would whisper and giggle about Sasuke, and the other hunks at his table.

A few tables away was her usual table, filled with the energetic blonde, who was the one flicking soup at Shikamaru trying to wake the lazy ass who sat opposite the fox-like guy. Hinata sat at the end looking uncomfortable. Guilt panged through Sakura as she realised she had taken Tenten away from the purple/black haired Hyuga, meaning she was the only girl at the table. All guilt washed away however as she noticed Naruto kick the other chairs backwards and grab Hinata's, pulling her to his right side, where she usually sat next to Tenten. She grinned as the Hyuga heiress blushed and looked down to her food she had grabbed before he pulled her unwillingly to his side. Kiba sat next to Naruto, on these circular tables, followed by Choji and then Shikamaru and Rock Lee, who had been sitting next to shy Hinata.

She noticed a white ball under the table and smiled softly at the sleeping Akamaru, who curled near Kiba's feet. Nearby dinner ladies eyed the white bal suspiciously pointing their ladles' at the unruly table of noisy eaters.

Compared to Sasuke's table, Naruto's table looked a whole lot more fun and she was surprised everyone clung to the boring, broody Uchiha. Even if she hadn't talked with Naruto that day, she was sure she would have favoured his table over the other.

A small distance away, Sakura noticed smaller tables which were often neglected or abandoned. She noticed a blacked haired guy sitting with a bowl of noodles to his chin, while chopsticks worked the ramen into his mouth. He wore a grey shirt under his usual uniform and his face was unusually pale, with short black bangs covering the sides and sticking up in different positions.

She made a mental note to ask about this boy before she noticed Tenten open the door shyly and make her way over to the table with a faint blush on her cheeks. She smiled at her success before watching her friend question the bun wearing girl about her absence. She simply smiled them out of questions and made the table eat in an orderly fashion, meaning Naruto should stop grabbing the almost fainted Hyuga's shoulders for hugs and for him to sit down properly and eat nicely.

Sakura looked over to the red-head who had followed her line of sight before smiling. He looked over to her and then back down to the sketchpad in front of him. She frowned at him before turning back to her desert. He always looked away when she smiled at him. She hoped he didn't find her annoying.

To Be Continued…

Anonymous Reviews Accepted! But, like I said: no flames.

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But thanks to the majority of you who always leave nice criticism and helpful comments as well as compliments. You really do make updating worth it .

Oh! I forgot to mention: I am offering my beta services to any writers who need a hand out there... click my profile and take a look at my beta page to see. So if you need help, just ask. I'd be glad to help!

Next Chapter: Tenten moves in with some unexpected help. The Hyuga Prodigy's attitude confuses a lot of people and Sakura is confronted…