Fading Dreams and Blossoming Faith

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! Only this plot is MINE! XD

Reminders: Italics for inner thoughts/past/narration; Inner Sakura's dialogue will be all underlined.

Read and...

Chapter 2: Fragments of the Plan

"Sakura!Run!"

"B-but..."

"Just go! I can handle it from here!"

"But..."

"Go! Now!"

"I'm s-so-"

"Don't be. This is also partially my decision"

"But"

"Go..."

When the school bell rang, the students behaved themselves, and went to their classrooms and to their assigned seats, while the teachers themselves went to their proper classrooms.

As Umino Iruka entered the room, holding his thin book with small papers sticking out at his shoulder, all the students watched him as he faced them. He noticed that there were at least five seats that were not yet occupied, and gave a large sigh. All of the students had noticed his sigh, and they already knew why he did that, since the five seats that were not yet occupied were probably 'them,' except for the one who actually liked to be by himself.

Their sensei then set down the book, and took out one of the papers sticking out of it, which was the class list. He took a rundown of the list, and checked for attendance for formalities, school rules. He called them one-by-one, in alphabetical order.

"Aburame Shino?"

Sakura then glanced at Shino, who raised his hand to let Iruka-sensei know of his presence. 'Shino was one of the few men that could be described as 'a man of few words.' Unlike Sai, who would always try to make conversation (even if unnecessary or delicate issues were opened),' Sakura sighed as she thought. 'While Shino would just be around and say nothing, as if he was just a shadow. As also indicated by Obaa-san's booklet, Shino's clan, the Aburame, was also a known clan of Konohagakure, where the clan expertise was chakra bugs. And Shino himself was a total freak and genius in the field of insects, when no other human being in the school would try to take interest in it,'she thought.

'And I really wonder sometimes, what's behind those sunglasses?' Inner Sakura thought curiously.

"Akamichi Chouji…?" Iruka-sensei called out. "Akamichi Chouji…?" Even though Iruka-sensei already knew that Chouji was not inside the room, it was still just for formalities.

'Poor Iruka-sensei,' Sakura pitied her sensei.'Chouji also had an ancestral ninja clan, which was the Akamichi. He totally represented the clan, since the clan used to need their people to be bigger, since they were known to be able to manipulate their body size. I do wish he was slim though, and then maybe some girls would take an interest in him.'

'You're right about that!'Inner Sakura agreed

Iruka-sensei then called out some names after, and all were present, which at least made him feel content. Sakura was already eager to hear her name called out, since she already wanted to slack off and contemplate as she looks at the sky again. 'Please call my name!'It was when her name should be announced, but then Iruka-sensei called out "HyuugaHinata."

Sakura felt her disappointment like a slap to the face. Here she was, eager to hear her name, and it was skipped. Something like that always made her remember the times when her beloved Sasuke would just look past her, even though she built up an excessive amount of courage, to try and make a scene for him to notice her. The class also giggled at the little mistake the teacher had caused, although Sakura knew it was the way Iruka-sensei teased his beloved students. She bumped her head on the table as she groaned, which made her forehead a little bit red.

'Really, you haven't gotten used to this kind of teasing?'Inner Sakura said. Sakura just grumbled in annoyance.

Hinata's face reddened, as if red paint was splashed all over it. She fidgeted, and tried to look back-and-forth towards the back, to at least signal to Iruka-sensei that he had missed calling Sakura's name. Iruka just gave a little grin in Sakura's direction, which almost made Sakura snapped in anger, but she kept in control. She laid her hands on her lap, and clenched them. 'One day, Iruka-sensei, I will honorably strangle you for making me remember the unwanted memories that I have,'she thought, and Inner Sakura was cursing her teacher as well.

For some reason, Sai actually detected her murderous aura, but he didn't flinch, since it didn't matter to him (as usual).

Iruka then called out another sets of names who were present as well. Only the names Inuzuka Kiba and Nara Shikamaru didn't respond as they were called. 'The two were also descendants of ninja clans from the old days. The Inuzuka were one of the clans who were able to interact with their partners, which were beasts, and for some odd reason, there was always a dog with Kiba named Akamaru. For the Nara, they were more known to be a clan that specialized in manipulating shadows as they wished, for offense or defense. And as for Shikamaru, he was also one of the honor students, but lacked of motivation. Only Ino-Pig or our senpai, Temari, were able to handle him, and maybe Naruto too,' Sakura sighed.

'Uzumaki Naruto was one of the biggest factors in my life. That is, a big nuisance to me, getting the attention of my beloved, since he proclaimed that he was heads-over-heels for me, and also, he was such a…' Sakura was cut off in the middle of her thoughts.

"Uzumaki-" Iruka-sensei was also cut off, as the class all heard a great turbulence coming its way from the hallway. The door slammed open, and four boys came in, getting their breaths back. There was a blond (Naruto), a fat guy who was still eating chips, even as he was panting hard (Chouji), a guy who was a little bit dizzy from running, since he never used much energy and just slacked off (Shikamaru), and the last one was a brunet (Kiba).

The blonde answered. "Here, Iruka-sensei! Naruto Uzumaki is present!"

'…loud-mouth,'Sakura finished her thoughts on Naruto.

Then he was slapped on the head by the three other guys with him, which made him fall to the floor. Both three said in unison "We're also here, Sensei," and they also raised their hands at the same time, as they walked and stepped over poor Naruto and went to their seats.

'That was funny,' Inner Sakura rolled with laughter, along with the rest of the class.
Iruka-sensei then continued calling out names. "Uchiha Sasuke…?"

'I feel I should point out that, alphabetically, Sasuke-kun would come before loud-mouth,' Sakura thought. She then looked at the back door, and saw her raven-haired beloved had made a swift entrance. 'Ah~ how can he walk so gracefully, even though he just stepped on the loud-mouth?' she thought, while Inner Sakura was drooling. He also raised his hands to answer Iruka's question as he went to his seat, which was just behind Sakura's.

Ino, on the other end, was pissed, glaring at the drooling Sakura as she watched her beloved stride to his seat.

As Sakura's attention went back to the front, she saw Sai again looking at her, as he also turned to look back to the front, with a smirk plastered on his face that totally made Sakura pissed, and made her foot kick one of the legs of Sai's chair.

This was always the routine of her school life.

When the lunch bell rang, Sai again tried to start a conversation with Sakura that just pissed her off. "Ne~ Ugly…" He again felt a kick to his chair, which meant that Sakura was listening. "So, what's your failed plan again to make your beloved notice you?" he asked in monotone, yet slightly stressed the word 'failed.'

'As if he cares, but at least he's trying to be social,'Sakura sighed.

"You know, getting to school early just to look out the windows, waiting to see him, is stalkerish, and it's not even a move to get his attention," Sai continued.

That last sentence that the heartless Sai gave surprised her. 'Was it that obvious of me?'Sakura asked herself. "How did you know?" she asked, with mixed feelings that she couldn't describe, something like anger, horror, and disbelief, that Sai knew the reason why she always got to school so early, and the fact that it was Sai, of all people, who noticed.

"It's just that I always take notice of you, Ugly," Sai said, with a smirk plastered on his face.

Sakura kicked him for the third time, annoyed with his teasing. "No, I haven't prepared a plan yet." She didn't even know why, of all the people that she could confide in, it would be Sai. She then peeked a little behind her to see her beloved, who was sitting there still, annoyed at all of the noise inside the classroom.

All of the sudden, someone blocked her vision of her beloved. Naruto was on his knees, begging. "Sakura-chan..." he pleaded like a lonely dog, "you're doing it again." He gave her puppy-eyes.

Annoyed as ever, "I haven't done anything yet, ba-ka!" she said angrily, as she turned back to face Sai, who was just watching from the sidelines, which annoyed Sakura even more.

"But, you were peeking again at-" Naruto was cut off when Sakura put an entire melon bread in his mouth. "Dear, I think you're hungry and imagining things. Have my lunch, please," Sakura said in a girly manner, with blinking eyes.

'Hell yes!' shouted Inner Sakura.

Sakura then caught a glimpse of her beloved, who was staring at what had happened. Shocked, she faced the grinning Sai again. 'Of all the times he could finally take notice of me, why would it be the one time when I have to bully Naruto for a good reason?' She then slammed her head in total defeat. She then realized that her surroundings were quite still. She finally realized that everyone had watched the entire show, while Naruto, on the other hand, tried to gulp the entire melon bread given to him by his goddess.

'Oh my gosh...! My perfect, honor student image was suddenly crushed by this stupid, blond jerk!' she thought, devastated. After all, one of the few reasons she acted like one was to at least make her beloved Sasuke take notice of her during classes or at school. Sakura had a mental imagine of everything being dark, with herself weeping, as her image was now forever tarnished.

There was a low chuckle, which was then followed by the laughs of her classmates. Inuzuka, on the other hand, was bent over in laughter."Way to go, Sakura," Kiba said between laughs.

Then Shikamaru said "You should try that a lot more often."

Lots of compliments were showered upon her, since everyone thought that for once she actually snapped and got angry.

'Poor classmates, they still haven't known my existence yet!' declared Inner Sakura.

Sakura felt embarrassed, and relieved when she saw that her beloved Sasuke had gone back to his own thoughts as if nothing had happened.

"Well, I may have a good plan for you." Sai took Sakura's attention off of her beloved Sasuke. She gave him a confused look. He continued to his offer. "You know, I found a book..."

'Another 'book'?'Inner Sakura intervened in a sarcastic way.

'Would you just shut up for once? At least he finally got something good from his books,'Sakura snapped back at her inner self.

"It's a fiction boyfriend told the story of how he came to be with his girl. That certain girl of his took advantage of someone else, just for him to notice her..." he concluded his story. "You're in the same boat as she was, as he doesn't notice you, even if you are physically present in front of him," Sai continued.

Sakura was dead silent. Some facts that she didn't want to admit had just hit her, slapped her in the face, by someone who was pretty sharp when observing her life.

'Can I interrupt... again? Since it's your fault you made me shut up earlier,'Inner Sakura said as she smirked at her pitiful self.

"Well, anyway, it's up to you. If you want to use the same plan, you better prepare for it. It could also backfire, but there's still a good chance of it succeeding, since she was able to grab hold of the boyfriend." Sai then stood up as he went to the door. "You know, you become much uglier with that kind of face," he teased again, without facing her. He went on his way to the cafeteria, leaving behind Sakura, who finally snapped back to her surroundings as she realized what he had said to her, using the word 'UGLIER.'

To be continued...

Preview: Some of the failed attempts of Sakura shall be revealed!

A/N: ...Review!