Always Remember Me
A/N: Hi! I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and alerted and favorited. It inspires me to write more. I was really ecstatic when I read them, and saw them. They're so touching :P. Carry on, my friends! XD
In this chapter, I'm sorry to all Karin fans or SasuKarin shippers. I apologize to anyone who may be offended. If you like Karin, better skip this chapter…
Thanks for sticking to the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or its characters, and possibly never will. Also, in the summary, the quote ('They say memory…') belongs to Oscar Wilde in 'The Importance of Being Earnest".
Summary: 'Hi! I'm Sakura. I'm a new student at Konoha High…and I have amnesia.' They say memory is the diary that we all carry around with us, but what if that diary is taken away? To top it all off, she has a freak going after her. What a life! (AU, SasuSaku)
Chapter Four: Getting Slapped and Getting Hungry
"Hey, we've been looking for you for a while now. Where the hell did you run off to?" the voice asked me. It was oddly familiar – the sternness, the depth, the growl hidden in the sentence.
Sasuke.
I turned around and smiled at him sheepishly. He looked a bit annoyed, but that was nothing different.
"Well, I got trampled on – hard, mind you – by a horde of your fangirls, got lost, got all the living daylights scared out of me, and got lost again," I began to lose my temper. "I mean, how big can this school get, damn it! I still have bruises and-" I looked over at him. Where were Naruto and the others?
"The other guys are looking for you too," he answered my unasked question, "and I'm positive those bruises will heal. I have ointment with me right now, so put it on and let's go find them. This time, try not to get separated from me." He held out a jar of ointment. I gratefully took it.
I feel quite happy, despite the last stinging comment. I do have reason to believe he's not the kind of person to hand out help like candy. After bracingly applying ointment to the bruises, the swelling stopped a bit, and the pain abated a little. Thank God.
"Let's go now," Sasuke grabbed my hand and dragged me with him.
"Okay," I answered, fighting back the urge to pull my hand back. Well, no, his hand feels quite warm and nice actually.
We looked around for any sign of the bubbly blonde or the rest of the motley folk – what? I can't think of anything else to call them! And Cornelia Funke is a genius, I tell you…genius!
My thoughts were stopped as a red haired girl bounded towards us. She was smiling at Sasuke creepily.
Scary woman…
"Hi Sasuke-kun!" she chirped sweetly, leaning closer to him.
He gave her a frosty glare, leaned farther back, and said, "Goodbye." Swiftly, he turned and dragged me in the direction we came from.
"We're going back to the place we came from!" I hissed at him.
"Anything to get away from that madwoman," he muttered under his breath.
"WAIT, Sasuke-kun!" the redhead's voice rang. My God, she was right next to us.
Panting like a dog (I wonder how she does in P.E.), she said, "Wait, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei wants to speak to you, he's in the library."
Looking at Karin suspiciously, he turned to me and said, "Come on then, Sakura."
I'm glad, at least, that he knows my name.
"But you can't bring Pinky with you! Kakashi-sensei wants to speak with you privately," she stressed the word 'privately'.
"She has a name, Karin, it's Sakura," he growled angrily.
So this is Karin! Life ruiner, rabid fan girler, world renowned first mass woman murderer under the crime of terrorizing innocent girls who just want to talk to Sasuke.
Well, not quite extreme as that, but you get the point.
"Fine, I'll go privately," he copied her. "When I come back, Sakura still better be here."
That sounds…ominous.
He left me alone with Karin. We stared at his retreating figure. When he was gone, Karin turned to me. Think horror-movie where you enter a dark room, and there's someone whose back's turned to you, and then suddenly, before you know it, he's turned around and giving you a scary grin and laughing like crazy and carrying a knife and-
I'll stop now.
It was more or less like that with the redhead, though.
"What were you doing holding my Sasuke-kun's hand?" she demanded. But I didn't even notice I was holding his hand. I felt myself blush a little.
"Answer me, Pinky!" she screeched. God, I hate that name.
"Well, I'm sorry, I didn't know Sasuke was your property. And like your Sasuke said, I have a name," I retorted.
I watched, satisfied, as her jaw dropped.
"Who do you think you are to answer back to me?" she said mockingly.
"Who do you think you are to live at all?" I answered back.
She raised her hand and deftly slapped me. There was a ringing noise in my ear after she did that.
I slowly raised my hand to the place where she slapped me. I flinched as it stung painfully – she may be stupid, but she damn sure knows how to slap. She was smiling smugly as if she knew how much it hurt.
I glared at her as hard as I could. Bitch.
Sasuke scanned the library for any sign of his white-haired sensei (in his head a chibi Kakashi waved a fist threateningly and cried "SILVER, DANGIT!").
"Hey Sasuke-san! I haven't seen you around for a while now. I suppose schoolwork's been keeping you away, huh? So," she leaned in and conspiratorially whispered, "do you want those ninja comics you've always come here for? I know you want to keep your addiction a secret, so I've kept them near the borrowing station so you won't be seen."
Sasuke flushed a little when he heard Shizune mention his –ahem- obsession, but quickly regained his composure and said coolly, "No, sorry, Shizune, I'm looking for Kakashi-sensei, have you seen him around?"
Shizune's reply was quick. "Ever since Tsunade-sama banned the Icha Icha books from the library, Kakashi has never been here."
Sasuke frowned and said, "Thank you, Shizune. I think I'll borrow some of those comics first."
She smiled brightly and gestured at him to follow her. "Right!"
Damn Karin, I can't believe she tricked me. I hope Sakura's all right…why am I even caring?
Karin smiled menacingly at me and raised her hand again, getting ready to deliver another stinging slap. I closed my eyes in anticipation for it…
But it never came.
Slowly, I opened my eyes and saw Karin's hand being stopped by another hand. Turning my head, I saw that the hand was attached to the arm of none other than Tsunade-sama. Thank goodness.
She raised a manicured eyebrow at Karin and said, "I don't think you're allowed to do this kind of thing. I think it's listed under bullying in-"
"-Section 25 Number 12 of the Student Handbook, Deliberate Harm to Fellow Students, where the consequence is the lowering of conduct grade by either two or three levels depending on the magnitude of the event, and calling the parents of the offender for a meeting with the principal. It is also possible to suspend said offender, or in serious cases, expel her from the school." I shot off, unable to help myself.
Tsunade-sama looked at me amusedly and said, "Well, yes, what the young lady said." She looked back arin, "I'll have you know that I have the full authority to do what she just recited word for word from the student handbook."
I flushed a little at her comment.
"I-I, s-sorry Ts-tsunade-sama, I- d-don't c-call my p-parents!" Karin stuttered, even worse than Hinata.
Tsunade gave her a frosty glare and replied, "Right, I'll be keeping tabs on you. Next time you do this, it won't be pretty."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," she said respectfully. Then, while Tsunade wasn't looking, she whispered to me, "Nerd," and stalked off.
Tsunade looked at me and gave a friendly smile. "You got to be strong. If you're wimpy, others will just pick on you, just like that bitch." My eyes widened at what she said.
"Anyways, stay out of trouble," she winked and walked away.
I was still stunned by her choice of words, but looking at my watch and listening to my stomach, I'm certain it's time to eat. I'm hungry…
Walking around aimlessly, I stopped in front of a bulletin board and saw the honor roll. Well, maybe reading it will be interesting enough to forget my hunger.
Let's see…
KONOHA HIGH TOP 10
1ST UCHIHA SASUKE
2ND HYUUGA NEJI
3RD SUBAKU NO GAARA
4TH ABURAME SHINO
5TH HYUUGA HINATA
6TH ROCK LEE
7TH TENTEN (…does she have a last name?)
8TH NARA SHIKAMARU
9TH YAMANAKA INO
10TH AKIMICHI CHOUJI
I looked at the familiar names and grinned. So Sasuke was top here, huh? We'll see about that, when I'm done with him!
Turning around and feeling satisfied, I started walking, my hunger ebbing away. I caught sight of a man with brown hair.
It couldn't be…
"Iruka-sensei?" I cried. He turned around with a surprised look on his face.
"Sakura! I didn't expect to see you."
"What are you doing here?" I asked curiously.
"I'm applying for a job here," he grinned at me.
"Oh!" a joyful smile crossed my face. "Well, I hope you get it!"
"Thank you."
We both said our goodbyes and I left him feeling even happier, until I realized Sasuke was still missing. A bit annoyed, I looked up at the heavens and said, "Whoever's listening right now, please make this day better and let Sasuke come here. Now."
A hand clapped on my shoulder after I finshed my prayer. I jumped about a mile into the air.
"SASUKE! You know you don't have to do that!" I exclaimed. Hello? This was like the second time! God!
"You weren't there. What did Karin do?" he ignored my statement. I narrowed my eyes.
"None of your business." He looked a bit irritated. Why did he care so much anyway? I decided to ignore it.
"What did Kakashi want to talk to you about?" I asked him.
He glared at me. "None of your business."
Jerk.
…well, I guess I deserved it.
"Are you hungry?" he said abruptly. A soon as he said that, all my previous hunger rushed back into me.
"HECK YEAAH! I'M STARVING!" I shouted. He looked amused. I guess rich kids don't get starved a lot. Unless they're anorexic, which I don't think Sasuke is, because he's hot and I think he knows it…
BANISH THESE BAD THOUGHTS!
"Let's go to the cafeteria. We can look for the others after we eat," he said, oblivious to my internal battle.
"Where the hell is Sasuke and Sakura?" Naruto said, frustrated.
"It's 'Where the hell are Sasuke and Sakura,' not is," Neji corrected automatically.
Naruto grinned at him and said, "Okay!"
"Maybe they ditched us," Chouji said forlornly.
A grin suddenly formed on Kiba's face. "You don't think they're-"
"NO! Kiba, you will not corrupt our innocent youthful minds with your unyouthful and vulgar thoughts!" Lee declared.
"Yeah, man, we're about to have lunch," Shikamaru drawled.
"Let's just go," Shino snapped, which was most OOC of him, which was why everyone stared.
"No! Friendship forever! We always eat lunch together always!" Naruto shouted.
Grrrrrr, went Naruto's stomach. They winced at the sound.
"Dude, that was like, so loud."
"It is not supposed to be humanly possible, but that sound can be heard all the way to beyond our galaxy."
"See?"
"That was most unyouthful."
"No comment."
"FOOOD."
"…All right, let's go eat now." Naruto jauntily headed for the cafeteria. They rolled their eyes and followed him.
"Worthless fools! What has become of you, Kabuto? Sakon and Ukon were unsuccessful as well! What is this?" Orochimaru spat.
Kabuto cowered underneath his wrath. "They got the wrong school, Orochimaru-sama."
"If I will ever want to do what I want to accomplish, I need that formula!" Orochimaru's eyes widened in rage. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE, KABUTO?"
"No! But-but there's one last school left-" Kabuto faltered under his master's gaze.
"Well?" Orochimaru glared.
"There's still Konoha High."
"Then go! But your time…your time is running out."
A/N: Oro's on the trail! I'm going to lay off on the evilness for a while, and try to build it up gradually, so please bear with me!
I love how Sakura memorizes the entire handbook. I could probably add it somewhere…XD.
Can you guess who said what during Naruto's growling episode?
Once again, review! Thanks!