Always Remember Me
A/N: Much LOVE to all those who reviewed, faved, and put me on their alerts! I hope this chapter is good enough for you…
REVIEW!!!
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 Five: Meeting Rin
The cafeteria isn't as packed today as it usually is. It's probably something to do with them going home for the weekend. Well, that's a bummer…
I wonder what's for lunch today.
"Hey there, new girl."
I twitched a little at the name and whipped around. The girl, definitely older than me, had straight brown hair. She grinned and waved.
I wanted to screw politeness right there and then, but I didn't.
"Hi, I'm Sakura, and you are?"
"Rin. First day here?" she asked.
"Nope, actually it's my second," I answered. She looked amused at my answer.
I got a look at her arm. It had a tattoo slithering up its length.
She caught me looking and grinned again. "Like it? I got it six months ago." She extended her arm to me, beckoning me to look.
Sasuke forgotten, I stared at it. It was beautiful in a way. Thorns and chains ending in two joined snakes at her hand, and the word "ORO" inscribed underneath. Oro is supposed to mean gold, isn't it?
I was completely mesmerized by the complex arrangement of the tattoo. I threw away any misgivings I had about her.
"SAKURA-CHAN, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto's loud voice streaked through the silence.
I tore my gaze away from the tattoo to look at the blond. He was running towards me with the rest of the guys.
I had to hide a smile. You don't see a running pack of boys with a shouting one at the lead everyday.
"Looks like your friends are here," Rin commented. She looked a bit disgruntled. "Anyway, see you around."
"Sakura, where's Sasuke?" Chouji asked when they reached me.
"Huh?" I furrowed my brows. Sasuke, Sasuke - "Oh! I completely forgot about Sasuke!" I mentally slapped myself. The tattoos had totally grabbed my attention.
"Well, never mind. He'll show his face sooner or later…" Naruto grumbled. And so did his stomach.
We all shot disgusted looks at him.
"I'm shamed to be with you," Neji sniffed.
Kiba looked disconcerted at the noise. "Well, let's eat then. I don't want to hear any more of that."
We hurried towards an empty table and sat down on it seconds before someone was able to. The best part about a half-empty cafeteria was that you get to get the best seats that were normally taken by the early-risers. Hell yeah! Score!
After we'd all gotten comfy, Naruto cleared his throat and gave me his best puppy-dog eyes.
"We're really sorry we left you behind! But we actually didn't, because of the fan girls! But we still left you lost, so whatever! But-"
"Shut up. I can see why Sasuke calls you dobe now. So troublesome." Three guesses who that was.
Naruto glared at Shikamaru (what? You didn't get it? Whoa…) "Anyway. We…got separated from you because…"
"SASUKE-KUUUUUUN!!" thousands upon thousands of fan girls were screeching.
"Oh, dang. Time to run, guys," Kiba called.
"To the restrooms! I don't think they're maniac enough to go to the male's!" Shino, whose mad leadership skills had suddenly surfaced due to times of great need, declared.
They all pointed towards the restroom and charged, looking like complete idiots but who cared?
Once in the safety of the restrooms, Naruto bravely poked his head out and saw the fangirls chasing an innocent by-stander, who was wearing blue, thinking it was their one and only beloved Sasuke-kun. They were but a dust cloud in the distance.
"The coast is clear, guys! Sasuke fan girls out of the vicinity!" Naruto trumpeted.
They all breathed a sigh of relief. "Good call there, Shino."
Shino didn't answer. Naturally.
Lee suddenly burst out, "THAT WAS SUCH A YOUTHFUL RUN! I WANT TO DO IT OVER AGAIN! THE ADRENALINE IS RUSHING THROUGH MY VEINS!"
They slowly edged away from the never-exhausted lad, but he harped on anyway.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK, NEJI? WASN'T IT SO AMAZINGLY YOUTHFUL?"
All the boys gave Neji a save-us look. Even Sasuke.
Neji raised an aristocratic eyebrow at Lee. He decided to go for the safe answer.
"…Hn."
"Guys," Naruto began, trying to avoid another Lee-episode. They turned to him. "Where's Sakura-chan?"
It seemed Lee wasn't finished, though. He adopted a thinking pose, and then gave them a horribly horrified face. "Maybe…" he lowered his voice. "Maybe…she was crushed under the weight of the unyouthful fan girls of the youthful Sasuke!"
Some of the guys gasped theatrically.
"Or maybe, our youthful cherry blossom got lost and is now walking around, with nowhere to go, possibly lost, when suddenly an unyouthful man jumps up in front of her and-"
"Lee. Shut up."
"It's all your fault…" Naruto scrutinized the faces around him, randomly choosing a face to find fault in. He stopped at Sasuke's.
"It's all your fault, TEME!"
They all rolled their eyes. "Don't start now, Naruto. You actually seemed smart shutting your trap the past ten minutes."
Shikamaru sensed a troublesome fight coming up, so he quickly said, "How's about let's go look for her instead, eh?"
"Fine."
"Whatever."
"Hn."
"I'm hungry."
"Shikamaru, you are full of youth!"
"All right."
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh. And that's what happened," ended Shikamaru.
"You certainly had a journey," I commented. They all nodded vigorously.
"You guys, it's teme! YO, TEME! OVER HERE!" Naruto waved towards him, standing up. The people around us gave him looks.
I pulled him down and hissed, "Naruto! You're making us all look bad."
Naruto pouted at me as Sasuke sat in between us. He greeted everyone with his customary growl.
"Where the hell have you been?" Kiba asked.
"Fangirls…" he muttered moodily.
We all gave him knowing looks.
"It's such a good thing I don't have fangirls. So troublesome," Shikamaru said.
"Well, I want," Naruto piped up.
"No one's gonna fangirl you," Chouji said.
He glared at him and looked at me. "Sakura-chan! They're being meeeaaan!" I laughed and patted his head. After some light banter, the conversation steered towards homework.
"Right. History is about…is about…" Naruto's brows furrowed, trying to remember what the assignment was. Geez, hadn't he done it already?
I took a deep breath and started. "Essay composition about the life, battles, and downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Printed, indented, black ink, 1.5 line spacing, Times New Roman, size 12, due next Friday. For extra points, include a picture, preferably colored."
I was met with blank stares.
"WOW! THAT WAS SO YOUTHFUL!"Lee exclaimed.
"I agree with Lee, dattebayo!" Naruto said.
We then stood and left, walking aimlessly and talking about random stuff. I felt so at ease with them, I didn't need to reach for my stone at all.
Speaking of my stone…
I dug into my pocket which felt strangely empty. My eyes widened. No – no, anything but my stone!
I turned my pocket inside out, and checked the other one. It still wasn't there. The only thing I had left of my past. Gone.
I turned possibilities in my mind. Why would anyone want to steal a stone? That had a low chance of happening. The most logical thing that could happen was that it fell out of my pocket while I was walking around.
Damn it!
My panicked expression was enough to catch my escorts' attention.
"Eh? What's wrong, my youthful Sakura?" Lee asked.
"You lost something," Shino stated. It wasn't a question. I guess my actions were obvious. I nodded mechanically anyway.
"What are you looking for?" Chouji asked as they followed me back to the cafeteria. For a moment I couldn't say anything, shocked at the loss of such a precious possession.
"A…stone. I'm looking for a stone," I said, swooping under a table, hoping to find it, but only finding gum.
I sank into a bench and buried my face in my hands. This couldn't be happening.
"We can help. What does it look like?" Shikamaru asked me directly.
"It looks…blue, I guess. And it's smooth," I added.
Sasuke immediately took charge. "Sakura, check the dorms. You won't get lost there. We will check the other places." He turned to everyone else. "Understand?"
"Thanks guys. I'm sorry I'm bothering you with something so trivial," I mumbled.
"I can tell it is something important to you," Sasuke replied. "Now let's go."
"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Naruto and Kiba mock-saluted Sasuke.
"Meet back here in one hour," Neji added. We parted ways, looking for my stone. I have such amazing friends.
"Did you find it?" I asked Shino and Kiba mutedly, a little disheartened at my unsuccessful search.
"Sorry, we didn't find it," Kiba said.
"It's not around the cafeteria," Shino replied.
I sighed, "Chouji and Shikamaru weren't able to find it either."
Not long after that, I caught sight of Lee and Neji. The look on their faces told me they hadn't found anything either.
"I am sorry, my dear youthful cherry blossom," Lee looked at me gravely. "For my failure I shall be sure to do 1000 push-ups."
"No! That's fine, it's okay, Sasuke and Naruto aren't here yet anyway, they may have found it," I said, partly to convince him, and partly to control the growing dread in me.
Time crawled on, slow as a turtle. I found myself counting minutes…seconds…Naruto!
"Did – did you find it?" I asked hurriedly, running up to them.
Naruto gave me a pained look and hung his head. "We didn't…we're really, really sorry Sakura-chan."
"Oh…I see…"
"Sorry," Sasuke muttered. I tried to force a smile.
"It's fine, guys! I'm really sorry I wasted your time! I better get going now…homework and all!" Turning away from their pitying looks, I tried to fight the massive lump in my throat, trying not to cry. I didn't want to make them feel bad.
I guess…it's gone now. The only thing that really mattered.
"Hi Sakura! How was your weekend with the guys?" Tenten asked me cheerfully.
"It was…okay, I guess." I had decided against telling them about the lost stone. It would make thing worse if they thought I was a moping whiner.
"Well, I had the time of my life. The mall over at fifth street had a huge sale, and I found this amazing shirt. Then, there were these skinny jeans that I couldn't wait to try on and-" I tuned Ino's rambling out. When she finally stopped for breath, Hinata cut in,
"Y-you m-must have been r-really tired after th-that."
"No, not really. After that, I went to this other mall on third street and I got a-"
"YES! We get it Ino! You went on a shopping spree yesterday, and we're gonna be late today." Tenten interrupted. Ino glared at her playfully and we headed off to Chemistry.
"Right, kids," Anko-sensei began, "Today we're going to choose your new partners for this semester!" She jiggled a jar with little papers in it.
"New lab partners?" I asked.
Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! We get new ones every semester! Last time, I was paired with Hinata!" Naruto said really loudly.
"Uzumaki! Keep it down!" Anko-sensei grabbed a sharp pencil and threw it at Naruto, missing him by a millimeter. Tenten "ooh"ed at sensei's show of marksmanship and hurried over to look at the damage. Nobody else looked surprised, though. I should think this was common in the class.
I glanced at Naruto and saw him trembling. The pencil was quivering, its point embedded in the wall. That pencil is really sharp…
"Right. Our first pair is…" Anko dug into the jar and pulled out two papers.
"Uzumaki Naruto and…" she began.
"Please no. Please, lord, no," Naruto prayed.
Anko looked at the other paper and grinned ferally.
"…Yamanaka Ino."
"NOOOOOOOOO! OH WHAT KIND OF CRUEL FATE DOES THE WORLD HAND TO ME!" Naruto wailed. Neji gave him a dirty look for desecrating 'his' fate.
A sharp 'ping' was heard as another sharp pencil sailed across the room to join the other one, missing Naruto by a hair's breadth.
Scary teachers do teach here at Konoha High.
"Rock Lee and Nara Shikamaru."
"Hyuuga Neji and Akimichi Chouji."
"Tenten and Inuzuka Kiba."
"Gaara and Hyuuga Hinata."
The only ones left were Sasuke, myself, Shino, and…Karin. I don't want to be partners with her. If there's anyone listening right now, please grant my prayer. I already have my own problems.
"Kaimi Sakura and…"
A/N: I hope it's not boring or suckish…is it? (The title is. I hurried it, it was a last-minute thing...)
Poor Naruto. By the way, the partners do not suggest any pairings at all. Just wanted to clarify that…
Will Sakura ever find her stone?
Thanks for reading! Please review…