Fading Dreams and Blossoming Faith

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!Only the plot is MINE! ;)

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

Read and...

Chapter 3: Wonderful Memories?

RECAP:

"It's a fiction book. The 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.'

End of RECAP

"...I asked Kakashi and Yamato to take care of you from here onwards."

"..."

"I'll be there."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Thank you."

As Sai went to the cafeteria, Sakura realized some major points were made by the emotionless boy, which gave her some harsh truths that she couldn't accept. One was that Sasuke would never acknowledge her existence, and another was the fact that Sai had called her uglier, instead of the normal Ugly!

'How can I let myself be called that!' a flaming Inner Sakura fumed.

Sakura was about to run after Sai, but stopped herself, because there was nothing to argue about because it did hurt knowing there are something true about what he told. The whole day, Sakura just looked at the sky, and did her role as a respectable student.

The school bell rang to close the day, and the pink-haired honor student just stared at the sky. She was so focused that she didn't realize that almost all of her classmates, including Sasuke, had already left the school, and that the emotionless Sai was staring at her, while Naruto was grinning off to the side, admiring her focused face.

Sakura let out a sigh, thinking back to what Sai had told her. "Aa!" she gasped when the black-haired pineapple-head, Shikamaru, placed a cold can against her cheeks.

"Yo! You've been staring at the sky for a while now, and maybe you didn't notice, but everyone has left, except for us," he stated, and moved a little for Sakura to see that it was only Naruto, Sai, Chouji, Kiba, and Shikamaru left in the classroom.

"Oh," Sakura realized. "I was just admiring the sky, that's all," she said honestly. "And you!" she looked at the drooling Naruto and the emotionless Sai, who were just staring at her. "Why didn't you guys tap me or something when class got over?"

Sai stood up and got his bag, and silently passed Sakura and went to the door. "Well, it's fun, observing an ugly woman looking at the sky," he smirked.

"Why you!" She grabbed the cold can Shikamaru was holding, and threw it in Sai's direction.

'Hit him,'Inner Sakura prayed.

"Ow!" someone responded, it was not Sai who got hit, but the bushy-brows from the senior class.

'Shit,' Sakura thought. 'This will be a long day yet again,'Inner Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Lee-senpai!" She walked over to him, leaving behind Shikamaru, who just stared blankly as his cold drink was taken away from him. "I'm so sorry!" she apologized.

"That's alright, my Cherry Blossom! It was a YOUTHFUL bang for me," he said in assurance.

They heard a chuckle. "That's okay, Sakura-chan," a two-bun haired girl appeared beside them, "you could always do that to release your anger, and I'm pretty sure Lee wouldn't mind." She winked.

"Tenten-senpai!" Sakura greeted. The two then assisted Lee in getting up. "Here," Sakura handed her white handkerchief to Lee, "dry yourself with this."

"Thanks!" Lee said happily. "This will be a good, YOUTHFUL remembrance for the sudden YOUTHFUL outburst of my Cherry Blossom!"

"Yes, yes," Tenten grabbed Lee by his collar, and dragged him out of the place. "Bye Sakura-chan!" Tenten waved back.

Sakura felt embarrassed as she saw the grinning faces of the boys, and Naruto with his jaw dropped to the floor. Sai tapped her shoulder and waved goodbye.

"Well then, I should be going home as well, it seems," Sakura sighed, and went to the back of the classroom to get her bag.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, do you want me to walk you home?" Naruto asked pleadingly, as he gave her his puppy-eyes look.

'Aww~ What an adorable kid, but hell no!' Inner Sakura replied.

"Sorry, Naruto, that won't work with me," Sakura replied as she grabbed her things. "And Shikamaru, I'll pay for that," she winked. Shikamaru just smiled in return. "And by the way, I got that habit from you," she pointed to the sky.

Shikamaru laughed, and the other guys just gave them confused looks. "Troublesome," Shikamaru murmured under his breath. 'Never thought that I could influence her like that,' he thought.

After Sakura left the classroom, "Hey, guys, why isn't Sasuke paying much attention to Sakura-chan, even though Sakura-chan is trying her best to be acknowledged by him?" Naruto blurted out all of a sudden.

"Don't know?" Kiba shrugged.

"Hmmm... If Sasuke doesn't want her, then I'll be taking her!" Naruto declared.

Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba laughed it off. "That's what we a call a dream," Chouji said, and Shikamaru and Kiba nodded in agreement.

As Sakura went home, her mind wandered to the past, to every place that had a significance to the plans she'd made to get the attention of her beloved Sasuke. She both smiled and sighed for every minor thing she remembered.

She laughed when she saw the lamp post across the street. 'I pretty much remember that,' she chuckled. 'That was the time where I waited for Sasuke, and wanted to give him my homemade bento, and as usual, he just passed right by me, leaving me behind, offering my bento to a lifeless post! That was embarrassing, since there was a lot of kids from the school who happened to see that.'

'Well, there are more embarrassing things that have happened to you! And I totally discard you as my physical body!'

'Really, Inner Sakura? If that's so, then leave me be!'

'Grumpy!'

She passed another block, and saw a familiar street, and she chuckled again.

'I know that place. It was the time that my stupid self had a great chance to walk with my beloved Sasuke! But all failed as she walked over a stupid hole! Really, how can someone just step in a hole without noticing it?'

'You know, thanks for making me remember that! I shall now take my revenge!' Sakura walked over to where the hole used to be, and stomped over it. 'This is for revenge!'

There was a faint chuckle. Sakura turned to look around, but she wasn't able to see anyone. She ignored it, and took her revenge yet again. When she felt satisfied with her stomping, she went on her way. She passed by the neighborhood grocery store.

'Ha! I remember that place! Pretty much a hilarious moment! The place where some kids thought you peed! Really that was funny!'Inner Sakura rolled while laughing.

'I did not pee! I spilled that damn apple juice, remember! I was so shocked that Sasuke would be in front of me at that time. I never expected him to be doing a few errands by himself, especially since they are rich, and that both his parents are in the government,'Sakura explained.

'Excuses, excuses. Still, you were so clumsy you dropped it!'

Sakura shook her head at the memory. It took almost three months for the kids to forget what had happened. Whenever they saw Sakura, they would call her names, such as Miss Pinky-Pee.

'Great nickname.'

'Shut UP!, stupid Inner Sakura,' she fumed, shaking her head so that Inner Sakura would at least be dizzy too.

She continued walking again, and passed by the church.

'And yet again, another TOTAL humiliation!'

Sakura sighed. 'Yeah, I know that. If we could only turn time back.'

'Hey, you're lucky time doesn't go back. That place was where you got so tired you fell asleep while the priest was having his sermon, and then you, after waking up and suddenly seeing Sasuke from the window, just SHOUTED his name, interrupting the whole place! Really, how could you be so stupid, Miss Honor Student?'

Sakura responded by sighing in defeat.

'Now I feel pity for myself.'Inner Sakura also gave a large sigh.

She went on her way again, and stopped by the riverbank. The place was not as solemn as that morning. There were a lot of people in the area. There were kids playing ball in the field, there were women chatting while walking, there were dog-owners who played with their mischievous dogs, and so on. She stood at the same place where she was that morning as she flustered at all of her failed attempts in getting her beloved's attention.

'Should I take his advice?'she thought. The advice Sai had given her. She gave another large sigh.

Suddenly, she was thrown forward by a wandering, flying ball that hit her in her back. 'SHOOT, I'm going to fall in the river!' she screamed in her mind.

'Grab ahold to something! I don't want to die yet!'Inner Sakura yelped as well.

To be continued...

Preview: Better watch for the next chapter! He's finally going to make his appearance! ;)

A/N: ...REVIEW!