Somebody
By. Misery's-Toll
Chapter Two: Left Out
Spin me round again
and rub my eyes,
this can't be happening
When busy streets amass with people
would stop to hold their heads, heavy
- "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap
The sun blares through the window on to Sakura like a magnifying glass on an ant. She tosses an arm over her eyes when the light becomes brighter, the clouds floating away from the sun in the breeze.
Hide and seek is no fair when your hiding spot moves for everyone to see you.
The girl removes the twisted blanket from her person, and walks over to the window, placing her hand on the glass.
She thinks that maybe if she frees her mind of worrisome thoughts, that maybe this clear force field will let her pass through, and she could leave this dark room full of past disappointment and painful memories behind, and maybe an angel would outstretch his arms to her, his life-force the sun, and she would become light as a feather, and she could dance upon the ray of light he has laid out for her as though she weighed nothing, dancing over the treetops and dismal buildings, something stronger and more lovely than gravity pulling her towards him, and when she finally reached the angel, he would take her into his warm embrace, and there would be no such thing as hell, even if his life-force burned her with its intensity, because he would be breathing his majesty into her, and she could fly away with him-
Her thoughts are interrupted when she feels a harsh pressure on her arm --the spot she knows is a pressure point; she taught it to Ino when she needed to be prepared for an explanation in science -- and she turns to see the blonde with an angry expression marring her lovely countenance.
She is roughly shoved against the window, and for a moment, the pink-haired girl wonders if it will allow her to pass through, so that she could avoid Ino's anger like she should be able to, and she could sprout wings and fly away, and Ino would be left on the other side of the glass to watch.
But she's such a good friend?
If Sakura had the opportunity, would she take Ino with her? Where they could become angels together?
Her thoughts are interrupted once again when she feels the hard glass digging into her shoulder blade, and she suddenly knows --the clouds are moving over the sun again-- that her angel isn't coming for her. Not today.
"This is your fault! It's all your fault!" Ino shrieks, her voice unrecognizable in comparison to its usual melodic self.
Sakura's shoulder is lifted and forced into the glass two --three times.
Sakura knows its her fault, and so she takes her punishment willingly, keeping her eyes down, and she traces the lines of her bare feet, and as she feels the heat of the glass on her newly-forming bruise, she wonders when the last time it was she had been permitted to shower.
The shower is in Ino's room. Ino had persuaded her mother to give her the master bedroom. And while they live in upper-middle class status, their house only has one bathroom. She can feel the clumpy mess that is her hair clinging to her back and her neck, and she doesn't like it, but she accepts it. She hopes that Ino might go out shopping or something, so that she can quickly use the shower while she's gone. Maybe Sakura would leave the shower door and the window open so that the water would dry up faster --that way if Ino wants one, she won't know that someone's been using it. That way, even though she knows she'd deserve it, she won't get punished again.
It takes Sakura a few moments to register that Ino has released her shoulder, leaving just a few bloody imprints of her fingernails on her bare shoulder in her wake.
The blonde huffs, looking down at the floor for a moment, and Sakura wonders if maybe Ino is curious of what Sakura always looks at when she's ashamed, until she looks up, just to deliver a sharp slap across her cheek bone.
Within seconds, the girl is gone, Sakura left behind.
Now and then
I get a little bit lonely
and
I know that's bad of me
when I have a friend
so nice
like Ino
who
never makes fun of me,
never ignores me,
never forgets I exist.
Ino speaks to me
unlike the other girls
who always seemed to just
forget I was there.
You are faceless.
But now and then
when Ino has left the house
to go be with her other friends
You know they laugh behind your back.
and mother and father
are at work
I feel
useless.
But
when I shower
its like I'm
washing away the sin,
the sin that is me
like the way I felt
when
the water was pelting down on me
when
I pulled the
fire alarm
four days ago
even though
the principal was glaring
and the students were staring
and
Ino was crying.
I felt
the water caressing
my skin
like maybe it cared
and it was trying to sooth me.
I think
Ino's mad at me
for she has
come to punish me
every day since
my expulsion
since
she found out that
I was ruining her life by
making her leave her school,
her friends,
her boyfriend,
and I felt that
maybe I shouldn't be so happy that
I was leaving it behind if it
made Ino sad
because
she was
so
nice
to me.
Rain pelts the window, and Sakura wonders if this is a sign --if her angel is sending rain to her to tell her that he's not mad, she is pure (for now), and that they're just not ready for each other.
Ino lets Sakura shower the morning of their first day at Konoha High school. Ino says that she doesn't want to be embarrassed by walking into the school with a dirty girl. But Ino showers first, so that Sakura's impurities don't rub off on her.
"You're like a disease, Sakura. I'm sorry hun, but you're ugly and you've no redeeming qualities. And I just don't want that to rub off on me."
Sakura nodded, and accepted it. She didn't want Ino to be rejected like she was. And it had felt wonderful when the cold water ran over her skin (she didn't mind that Ino used up all of the heat; it was Ino's to use).
The school is large, and Sakura has trouble navigating through it. They are here early. Ino can drive, but Sakura's mother does it for them because she needs to speak with the counselor about Sakura's transcripts. Ino and Sakura pick up their schedule, and the latter is disheartened by the lack of classes she has with Ino.
The former is elated.
Sakura doesn't know how to make friends, and she was hoping that Ino would set the example. Sakura hates her classes.
Her first period class is art. She has a block schedule here --something she's unused to-- and she has approximately two hours of each class, alternating every other day.
Sakura doesn't know how to draw. The students have been working on a project for half a week. She's new, so she has to finish an original piece by the end of the week. She's in a beginners class, and she sits next to a boy named Kiba. He grins at her when the teacher --a nice woman by the name of Kurenai-- tells her to sit by him. He doesn't speak to her though, and she doesn't speak to him. He has a conversation with a blonde boy sitting across from him.
Sakura doesn't catch his name, but she thinks he looks kind. He sends her soft smiles, and they reach his shining blue eyes. He has odd whisker-like scars, and she thinks maybe they could get along if they had a chance.
A short girl with cropped blue hair trips over a leg placed in the middle of the floor (Sakura knows it was on purpose; she's been subjected to that sort of thing a lot) and sends her paint tray flying into the blonde boy's back.
His orange jacket is splattered with blue.
For a moment, Sakura gets a fearful expression when the navy-haired girl's beautiful pale eyes tear up, the class ridiculing the girl for her clumsiness ("How could you be so blind, Hinata? Aren't those eyes of yours supposed to be brilliant?"), and Naruto for being so unaware of the paint tray that had hit him ("You're hopeless!").
Instead of getting angry, the whiskered boy just helps the girl stand, and says to the girl named Hinata, "You know what? I've always liked orange and blue together."
Kurenai-sensei sends Naruto to the restroom to clean up his jacket, and Hinata to the nurses office to check on the scraped heels of her hands.
Sakura thinks that maybe there are other nice people, like Ino, at this school, and she feels hope well up in her chest.
English class is
something that I am
good at.
I like English
because
it is the one class
that I'm better at
than
Ino.
She's absolutely perfect
Ino is my friend
but
sometimes
I wish that there was
maybe just
one thing that I was better at
than
her.
When I first
enter
the classroom
I think that
maybe
I've entered the wrong room
but I
double-check
my schedule,
and I see that
I'm correct.
I think that I might
come to like English class
even more.
English only has
seven students (including myself)
due to a
scheduling problem.
But
only four are in the room
when I walk in.
I
make
five.
A boy with
long
well-kept
brown hair that
looks very silky
and beautiful
pale eyes
They look like the girl's from art class.
tells me that
Kakashi-sensei,
the teacher,
is always late.
He
speaks to me
coldly
and looks very tough
in comparison to
the teary-eyed girl
from
art.
A brunette boy with
his hair in a short
spiky
ponytail
sits in the corner
sleeping.
He doesn't even
acknowledge
me.
A girl with
fire-red hair
and large breasts that
bulge out of her clothes
You know she does that on purpose.
and expensive-looking glasses
looks at me with
distain
and I can't help but think that
maybe
she might even be prettier than
Ino.
She sits next to
a
beautiful boy
who looks
less than happy that
the new student is
a girl.
He's closed himself off.
His face is a lovely
pale color
with dark
painted eyes
and
raven's-wing
hair.
He looks like
an angel
Could you fly me away from here?
but
maybe a fallen one
for
he's so dark-looking
and
he looks like
maybe he's dating that
beautiful
red-head.
And I think maybe
this is why
its raining today.
Ten minutes late, a blonde boy rushes into the classroom. Sakura recognizes him as the smiling boy from art class.
His jacket has had blue strips of cloth sewn onto it, lining the top and the bottom, covering the splotches of paint, redesigning the article of clothing. Sakura can't help the awkward smile that breaks onto her face, and as their eyes meet, her smile is outmatched by his large gleaming one.
He winks at her, before letting out in one heavy breath, "Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet, right? Please tell me he isn't here!"
The sleeping boy from the corner of the room opens one eye, and says, "Troublesome. No, he's not here."
"Geez, Naruto! You're so loud!" the red-headed girl complains. Her voice is nice too. Sakura thinks its much nicer than her own plain voice.
The blonde --Naruto, turns back to Sakura and gives her another grin. Sakura thinks that smiling-boy is a good nickname for him. His smiles are infectious.
"So, what's your name?" he asks her.
She feels uncomfortable when she sees that everyone is looking at her. She swallows loudly, and she says as clearly as she can manage, but its still soft, "Sakura."
The brunette boy with the long hair and pale eyes snorts (but doesn't sound nearly as stupid doing so as one would think), and says, "Figures."
"Tell me, Sakura," the red-head girl says, obviously not pleased that she's no longer the only girl in the class to be picked from by the boys, "Is your forehead naturally that large, or were you dropped on the head as a child?"
Sakura stares at her for a second and says nonchalantly, "I don't know."
The 'troublesome' boy (as she has labeled him) chuckles, "Nice response. I like you, kid."
"Whatever," the red-head rolls her eyes, "I'm Karin. Don't forget it, bitch."
Sakura is used to being called names, and simply nods.
"How could she possibly forget a name as ugly as yours?" Naruto laughs. Sakura frowns. She thinks Karin is a very pretty name, but since she wants to fit in, she says nothing.
She's still not heard the voice of the onyx-eyed angel though, and she wants to, so she turns to him, "Ano...what is your name?"
He stares at her for a moment, as though measuring the danger of telling this obnoxiously-pink-haired girl his name, before murmuring, "Uchiha Sasuke."
His deep voice is pretty, and it matches his face well. She nods, and looks away before Karin can get mad.
"I'm Hyuuga Neji," the boy with the pale eyes says, and he glances over at 'troublesome', who has fallen back to sleep, "And that's Nara Shikamaru."
She doesn't think this boy likes her very much, so she just nods, before looking down at her feet again, which are covered with torn up black Sketchers her mother bought her at the beginning of her freshmen year, and she wonders for a moment why her mother didn't take her to buy shoes at the start of her sophomore year.
"Where's fuzzy brows? He's never late or absent!" Naruto asks loudly.
There's a collective shrug from the members of the classroom, and everyone goes back to what they were doing prior to Sakura's entrance. Neji is scrawling something in his notebook, Shikamaru is sleeping, and Karin is speaking in hushed tones to an annoyed-looking Sasuke who is listening to his mp3 player.
Naruto sits on a desk close to where Sakura is standing, and pats the place beside him, signaling she should sit. She stares for a moment, contemplating.
Ino tells you not to get too close to guys.
She doesn't need to know...right?
Finally, she complies, sitting beside him.
"So, what do you think of Konoha?" he asks, swinging his legs as she speaks.
She glances to the faces of everyone in the room, her eyes finally resting on Naruto's, "I...I don't think I've been here long enough to form a substantial opinion...People here seem nice though."
He laughs, "I'm surprised you've gotten that impression. So far you've seen someone trip Hinata, me get splattered in paint, Karin ask you if you've been dropped on your head, and Neji, the guy with a stick shoved up his ass."
Sakura doesn't quite understand, but says, "But you were nice."
He chuckles, "Thanks. You seem nice as well."
Sakura's silent. She's never heard anyone tell her she's nice before, so she just offers him a small smile, as she withdraws into her shell once again.
Kakashi-sensei has arrived, forty-five minutes late, and its time for her to get to work.
Lunch is...
confusing.
We sit outside
on
the picnic tables
or
on the ground
or
even in a tree
if we want
instead of
sitting inside
lined up in plastic seats
at
long white tables
that look so white
that maybe
an operation has taken place on them
and
they've been bleached.
So
I sit
under a tree,
on top of my raincoat
so that
the wetness of the grass
(it stopped raining awhile ago)
doesn't mess up my
jeans.
Ino sits
with Shikamaru
whom she met during
first period
she tells me
in the hallway
on the way to
lunch.
She
has a crush on him
and
doesn't want me sitting near him
so that
I don't scare him off.
Shikamaru sits
with a large boy
with golden-brown hair.
He eats his lunch
and then
most of Shikamaru's.
But
I don't watch for long because
if Ino catches my gaze then
she will be mad at me
so
I eat my food
in silence.
Third period is
Speech.
I hate
Speech
but
Hinata
is in my class.
The teacher,
Gai-sensei,
a very exuberant man,
sits me beside her.
I find out that
she is Neji's
'less-competent'
cousin.
Her father runs
a dojo,
and she is
supposed to take it over when
she comes of age but
her younger sister
and her cousin seem like
more likely selections
to her.
She wants to become
a woman who
makes medicines.
It makes me happy
because
I want to be a doctor
even though
I know I can't be
You're not good enough.
so I think that maybe
Hinata and I could be
friends?
Sakura is assigned a uniform by the coach in P.E. Ino is in this class too, so Sakura is happy. But when she and Ino are changing, she realizes how much prettier Ino is in the uniform than she is. Ino seems aware of this too, and has a slight smirk tugging at her lips.
"I don't want you talking to me during P.E.," Ino says to her, stiffly, uncomfortable changing in the same room as the pink-haired girl.
Sakura looks sad, "Oh. Okay."
Ino seems frustrated, "Oh, fine. If you can manage not to talk to me during P.E., I'll help you find your locker after school."
Sakura's expression immediately lifts, and she is very happy, "Thank you, Ino! You're such a good friend!"
Ino laughs, "I know."
Suddenly, the blue-eyed girl's look becomes somber, "You can't tell anyone how you got those bruises or anything, okay? If you do, I won't help you after school."
The girls' uniform is a white, thick-strapped tank top, and short blue shorts. The bruises and cuts from her punishments are still apparent on Sakura's arms.
She nods, "Yes, Ino."
"Good."
Today is
conditioning
in
P.E.
We are to
be paired in
groups of six and
spend three minutes at
each station
performing
different actions like
push-ups,
line-jumps,
crunches,
et cetera...
But
my arms hurt
and
the bruises on my shoulder ache
with each
jumping-jack
and
pull-up
so
I don't get nearly as much done
as
the other people in
my group.
The boy named
Kiba
from my art class is
in my group.
He is
the only one to
question me about
the bruises.
So
I lie and
tell him that I
fell
down the stairs.
He looks doubtful
considering the distinct
nail-shaped crescents
imbedded in my skin but
says nothing
about it.
I don't know
anyone else in my group
and
they don't bother to give me their names
except for
a girl named
Ami
who
only tells me so that
she can let me know
not to get in her way
and
not to go anywhere near her
Sasuke-kun.
When
class is over
its a relief.
My
arms and
shoulders
and
stomach muscles hurt
and
I smell like sweat
and I'm bothered
because
I know that
I won't get to shower
two days
in a row.
When no one approaches Ino about the damage done to Sakura, she agrees to help. She takes Sakura's packet and examines the sheet with her locker number and combination. Ino realizes that their lockers should be on opposite ends of the building, and tells Sakura that this is the only time she'll show her.
Every locker is taken so Sakura shares a locker with someone, and Ino does as well.
The two girls walk down the hallway, where they see a boy their age with onyx hair and onyx eyes, with pale skin and smooth features rummaging through his locker. A red-headed girl with glasses and stylish tight clothing stands behind him, speaking to him.
The hallway is mostly empty. It has taken Sakura and Ino a long time to find this area, and most students have left. Sakura's mother is probably waiting for them, but then again, maybe she isn't.
As they get closer they can hear the boy and girl's conversation, and they also come to realize that Sakura is sharing a locker with this beautiful boy.
"Oh, Sasuke-kun, please go out with me!" Karin begs sweetly.
"No."
"But, Sasuke!"
"No."
"What are you even doing? Why are you getting rid of so much stuff?" she motions to the pile of items on the floor beside the boy's feet.
"I have to share my locker now. I'm clearing space."
Karin looks up when she notices the approaching girls, "What do you want?"
Sakura blushes and looks down as she clutches her folder to her chest. She's happy she gets to share a locker with Sasuke.
"This is the locker I've been assigned to, so back off!" Ino says irritably, before smiling sweetly at Sasuke, who doesn't acknowledge her arrival.
Sakura's head jars up abruptly. But...this was her locker, right?
"Ino..." Sakura murmurs lifting her hand to touch her friend's sleeve, and points to the sheet of paper Ino is holding, that says
Haruno Sakura
Locker # 348
10-44-06
Ino glares at Sakura, "I know, forehead."
Sakura looks down again to escape the harsh gaze of the blonde.
"Here. I've finished. Just don't touch any of my stuff," the Uchiha says as he sticks his belongings in his over-stuffed backpack, and throws it on. He walks away towards the exit of the school, and Karin runs after him.
"You're trading lockers with me," Ino says, "I'm just protecting you. Many girl here have crushes on Uchiha Sasuke, and I don't want you get hurt because of it."
Ino has a crush on him too.
I think she's telling the truth.
Sakura smiles, "Thank you, Ino."
We had
run out of time
for me to
go to my new locker
so I
was going to
have to find it
on my second day.
When
we got home
Ino was
so happy about
her (my) new locker,
since she
got to share it with
such a
"Sex-God"
that
I didn't
get punished.
And since
my father was
out
as he was
every Monday
I could sleep.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...yeah. So there.
A/N: So...quick update (for me, at least). This one was much longer. By about 2,000 words. So, I hope you liked it. If this story ever gets to be too much melodrama, just tell me, 'cause I don't want it to get annoying.
Oh, by the way, I've wanted to start a request fic. Scroll to the bottom of my profile, for detail (not that I have much).
And I'm glad that you all liked the first chapter. This is kind of different from anything I've written before...so...yeah.
Please review!
-MT