Song of a Cherry Blossom
by Diana-san

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 11

Sakura stepped inside the large and spacious office. She never understood why so many kids feared ever having to be summoned to the principal's office. If there wasn't the possibility of having being sent back a grade or having your strict parents notified about your straight F's last week then the principal's office wouldn't be much of a threat.

The principal stood in front of the vast window where itf overlooked the campus grounds. He turned and gestured towards the seat across the desk from him. Sakura slowly made her way to the chair. She sat down as she tried not to imagine the many students who sat in that chair while awaiting their doom. Sakura laughed to herself. She must have been hanging around Naruto too much. Her imagination was getting the best of her.

The principal raised an eyebrow as Sakura laughed to herself. "Is there anything funny that you would like to share with me Miss Haruno-san?"

Sakura abruptly stopped laughing. "No, not really."

He sighed as he sat down in his armchair. "Now, Miss Haruno-san…"

"Please, call me Sakura. Miss Haruno-san is a little too much for me," Sakura interrupted.

He nodded. "Sakura-san then. I consider myself fair when it comes to giving students here a chance to explain things. That privilege also holds for you"

Sakura sighed. "Look…" Sakura trailed off as she tried to find an appropriate name to address the principal who may decide her fate in the coming minutes. Her jade green eyes scanned the desk in front of her and spotted a shiny gold name plate. "Sarutobi-sensei…I could explain why we are sitting here chatting today but then I would just be wasting my breath on explaining a situation where I know you will just tell me 'you should have been the bigger person' and then that would be getting us nowhere now, wouldn't it?"

The principal sighed. "Sakura-san, as you can see, I am an old man. Your deliberate attempt at trying to get away with not explaining the situation at hand is not helping."

Sakura blinked innocently. "Really? But you don't look a day over fifty."

"You're completely missing the point Sakura-san."

Sakura sighed. "Okay, so you really want to know?"

Sarutobi nodded.

"Really?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Sakura-san," Sarutobi-sensei warned.

Sakura raised her hands up in defeat. "Okay, I will tell." Sakura clenched her fists. "That little conniving bratty…" Sakura said in a disgusted tone as she described Aoi.

Sarutobi cleared his throat. Sakura paused as she unclenched her fists. "Right, sorry." Sakura continued on as she sat back against her seat, "She went out of line and said some things that she shouldn't have and I dumped spaghetti over her head," Sakura finished as she summed things up.

"You dumped spaghetti over her because of that?"

"I believe that's what I said," Sakura stated.

Sarutobi closed his eyes and crossed his arms as if deep in thought. "You should have been the bigger person."

"Knew that you would say that."

"I'm afraid I still have to give you a punishment."

Sakura frowned. "Even though I explained things?"

The principal nodded. "Aoi's father donates a lot of money to this school and if I don't give you a proper punishment, then the school may lose some of its funding. As you know, Sasuke's father owns this school but this school is the least of his responsibilities so even though we get a large annual donation from him, it's still not enough to cover all the extra programs we have going on at this school. "

The cherry blossom didn't look fazed by this. "Typical. Money controls everything, doesn't it?"

"I didn't want it to be like this either but even I can't have the final say. The school board is the one who controls everything."

Sakura got up. "Forget it. I will take my punishment. I don't really care otherwise."

"You would have to clean up the entire kitchen."

"Done," Sakura replied nonchalantly as she turned to leave.

The principal smiled. "You are a strong girl."

Sakura turned back to look at him. "This isn't about being strong. I made a mistake and now I'm paying for it."

"A mistake, you say? In my opinion, I applaud you for standing up for Miss Hyuuga-san. No one ever dared before to stand up to those group of girls."

"Then I guess they have their first challenge." With that said, Sakura left her words hanging in the air as she walked out the door.

Sarutobi closed his eyes as he looked at the file in front of him. "Haruno Sakura" was boldly written at the top of the folder along with a school picture of the girl. "It surely wasn't a mistake to let you in to this school."

Sakura leaned against the door of the principal's office. "The whole kitchen? That's impossible by myself. Why did I agree to such a stupid thing?" Sakura muttered as she scolded herself. Sometimes, Sakura wondered how she could live with herself at times. "I must be insane. Only someone insane would agree to such an insane thing."

Sakura slumped all the way to the cafeteria. She might as well skip the rest of her afternoon classes even though she was looking forward to music class. Kurenai-sensei would just have to wait. She would understand. Understand how crazy Sakura must be to take such a heinous job of cleaning a whole kitchen up by herself.

Sakura pushed open the doors of the cafeteria to see that it was dark inside. It would have been a tad creepy if it weren't broad daylight outside. Sakura rolled up her sleeves and marched into the kitchen behind another set of doors. She flipped on the light switch as she scanned the area. It was a large kitchen and it was larger than Sakura's own bedroom. No, probably her entire apartment room.

Sakura stomped in with a determined look on her face. She wouldn't let the thought of having to clean up whatever mess was in here stop her from completing the job.

"It's so clean already. There must not be anything to clean anyway," Sakura noted to herself.

She had spoken to soon. A littler further down the kitchen was stacks of dirty plates and trays and eating utensils. The large mess in front of her made her eyes pop out as she tried to gasp for air. "This is impossible!" she said out loud.

She slid down to the floor as she groaned loudly. "I don't even wash my own dishes sometimes. Much less the entire school's population of dishes."

A giant dishwasher caught her eye as she hurriedly got up on her feet and rushed over. She fingered the buttons on the dishwasher and gazed in amazement at the size and the high tech quality. "This is like a gadget of the future," she said in an excited whisper.

Sakura glanced at the pile of dishes next to her and back to the dishwasher. "Okay, time to start washing dishes, Mr. Dishwasher!" Sakura went and grabbed a few dishes from the top and then carried them back to the dishwasher. She opened it and stuck the stack of dishes in. After closing the dishwasher, she proceeded to push the buttons. Her finger stopped in midair as she glanced at all the buttons in front of her. "Hmm, which button am I suppose to press?"

"Maybe you should add detergent-water to it first before pressing anything." a voice said from behind her.

Sakura whirled around. "Sasuke!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you doing here?" she questioned.

Sasuke walked down the row as he glanced left and right at the pile of dishes surrounding them. "I heard that you got dish duty as punishment and how could I pass up the opportunity to witness this?" He smirked at her. "It's amazing how you get passed the punishment of cleaning the dishes here in the kitchen yet you can't work a dishwasher machine."

Sakura glared at him. "Oh, like you can work one yourself?"

Sasuke nodded. "It's so simple that even a dummy like you can do it."

Sakura cracked her knuckles. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"Step aside amateur," Sasuke said as he stood up from his leaning posture against the door.

The pink-haired girl reluctantly moved aside to let Sasuke walk through. She gritted her teeth and glared at him when he walked by.

Sakura tried to see what he was doing as she peered over his shoulders but he had already closed the door shut. He pushed a button and Sakura could hear it starting. Sakura smiled in relief that it work until she heard the unpleasant sound of a breaking dishes.

Sakura's jaw dropped as the sound of dishes breaking entered her ears. She motionlessly stood there as she was too shocked to do anything. After the sound of the dishwasher breaking down stopped, Sakura turned and looked at Sasuke.

"Y-y-you!" she sputtered out at him as she watched her only hope be crushed by her enemy no less.

Sasuke turned to run but Sakura latched herself on top of him. "Don't try to get away! You broke down my only hope of completing my task of washing all these dishes!"

Sasuke tried to shake Sakura off but she firmly held onto him. "Don't run away from me! Stay here and face me like a man!"

"Get off of me!"

"No, not until you agree to help me!"

Sakura and Sasuke continued to struggle as Sakura yanked Sasuke's hair. "HEY! Not the hair!" Sasuke cried out. Sakura smirked. "Do you want a fashionable haircut done by me?" she asked evilly.

"Oh ok, FINE!" Sasuke gave in. Sakura jumped off from Sasuke's back as she turned around angrily. "I'll help you if you don't come near me anymore."

Sakura smiled. "Deal."

Sasuke grumbled under his breath. "Stupid woman."

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing."

Sakura filled the sink with water and gestured for Sasuke to come over. He grudgingly walked over and glared at her. "What?" he asked irritated.

"Roll up your sleeves and start helping." Sakura gave him a pile of dishes and he stumbled backwards as he tried to keep his balance with the large stack. She smiled. "See, we are making progress already."

He glared at her as he placed the dishes down in the warm water. "Am I done here now?" he asked annoyed. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why don't you try actually washing the dishes by scrubbing it?" she said sarcastically as she tossed the Uchiha a towel. "Use that," she instructed him before continuing on with her own pile of dirty dishes.

The towel hit Sasuke in the face and dropped down to his hands. He gritted his teeth while trying to not lose his temper and flare up at the cherry blossom who seemed to be unaware of the fact that she pissed him off. If she was then she was doing a good job of hiding it. Sasuke smirked before dropping the towel on the floor.

"This is what I don't like about you commoners. You people have absolutely no resources."

Sakura glanced up without changing the unmoved expression on her face. "You say something?"

"One push of a button on my phone and I'll have all this work done for me."

Sakura continued on with scrubbing the spaghetti sauce off a plate. "Really then?"

"You don't believe my words?"

"No, I believe it. I'm sure that there isn't anything Uchiha Sasuke couldn't do. It's just a shame that you would think so beneath yourself and hire someone else to do your own work."

Sasuke frowned. "What's that suppose to mean?"

The petal haired girl picked up another plate and began to scrub off the spaghetti sauce. "Nothing," she replied nonchalantly.

Sasuke scowled. "All right. You don't think I can wash all these dishes?" Sasuke took off his black jacket and tossed it to the floor. He rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt and loosened his collar. "I'll show you what an Uchiha is made of," he muttered as he forcefully grabbed one plate from a tall pile of dirty dishes and began to scrub hard like he was attacking someone.

Sakura whistled lowly as she turned her attention back to her own pile of dirty dishes. A wide grin was spread across her face as she hummed silently to herself. "Baka," she whispered. She peeked at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye and saw that he started scrubbing madly on another dirty plate. Sakura couldn't help but continue to have the same stupid grin plastered over her face. She looked down so that Sasuke wouldn't notice as she tried to stifle her laughs. Really, guys act so stupid when you say one little thing to them, Sakura mused to herself. Ah, well the faster I get him to work, then the faster I can get out of here.

After what seemed to be the tenth thousandth plate, Sakura slowed down her pace and began to work slowly as she tried to loosen up the stiffness in her shoulders. She took a glance at Sasuke who had been working silently for the past hour. The kitchen was eerily quiet except for the sounds of water swishing back and forth and plates clanging against each other. Sakura cleared her throat which earned her a brief stoic stare from Sasuke before he turned away. Sakura made a face at Sasuke for his rude look before turning back to her own still never-ending pile of dirty dishes.

Fling

It was an accident. She swear it was. She didn't mean it to happen but it did. Sakura smiled nervously as she tried to avert Sasuke's angry gaze. She couldn't help but peek at his face where one side of his cheek was completely covered with suds.

"Oops?" Sakura nervously said with a chuckle.

Sasuke wiped off the suds with the back of his hand with an enraged look on his face only you wouldn't even be able to tell he was angry since he still looked like the same emotionless Uchiha that was washing dishes a few minutes ago. But Sakura could sense the bad vibes emitting out of Sasuke and the dangerous glint in his onyx eyes.

Sasuke took a step towards Sakura.

Sakura stepped back. "W-what do you think you're doing?" she stuttered. Sakura quickly glanced around her and grabbed the thing nearest to her. Just her luck, she happened to grab a dirty plate. Sakura made a slightly disgusted face at the contents still on the plate as she held it up in front of her as a shield. Sasuke momentarily stopped before glancing at the dirty plate that was suppose to be some sort of a defense weapon. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"You know…you should clean that plate up," Sasuke said in a bored voice.

Sakura hesitated before answering. "Y-you're right," she replied. "That's why you should go back to where you were and I'll just stay over here with this dirty plate."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Or…" he drawled out. "I can do this!" Sasuke grabbed the nozzle of the spray used to clean dishes and aimed it at Sakura.

The rosette haired girl gasped. "You wouldn't dare."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. "Or would I?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Sasuke. "If you push that button Uchiha Sasuke, consider yourself a dead man."

The raven headed boy thought for a moment. "I guess it's a chance I have to take."

And he pushed it. Water shot out and hit Sakura in the face. Sakura shielded her face with her arms as she took a step forward. Unluckily, Sakura happened to step in a puddle of water and it caused her foot to slip. Sakura screamed as she waved her arms for balance. Sasuke instinctively reached forward and somehow through that split second, Sakura managed to grab an object to stop her fall. Unfortunately, she was able to pull that object down with her.

The two of them fell down on the slippery floor as water continued to spray crazily around the kitchen making everything completely wet. Sakura sat up with water still in her eyes as she spat out water that she choked on. Sasuke groaned as he sat up when a spray of jet cool water hit him in the face. The cherry blossom coughed as she fumbled with her hands for the uncontrollable spray.

"Sasuke…" Sakura said while gritting her teeth. Sasuke looked up as he noticed that it stopped raining inside the kitchen. A very damp and very angry pink headed girl loomed over him with an evil glint reflecting off her emerald eyes.

Sasuke braced himself for it. Angry, loud, and possibly ear splitting was what Sasuke expected to be coming for him. But when an eerie silence came followed by laughing, Sasuke couldn't help but let his jaw drop wide open and his eyes gawking at the girl in front of him.

Sakura was laughing so hard that she had to clutch her stomach in pain. She collapsed down on the ground on her knees as she leaned against the door for support. Fits of giggles erupted as Sakura tried to calm herself down.

Sasuke got closer to the laughing girl. "Hey," he said after awhile. Sakura couldn't respond but she waved her hand at him to show that she heard him. Sasuke couldn't help but give a small laugh. It was only for a split second but Sakura caught it. Something resembling that of not a frown or a grim face, but of a smile. It was a lopsided kind of smile but it was a smile alright.

Sakura's laughing died down as her emerald eyes gazed into Sasuke's own eyes. For a split moment, Sakura didn't feel like she hated the guy any more than she should. Sitting there in the kitchen with both of them dripping wet and her laughing like an idiot and him giving the slightest smile felt almost peaceful and serene. Maybe the two of them would be able to work out their differences after all…

"I'm out of here."

Or not.

Sakura watched as Sasuke got up and shook out the water in his ebony hair. He grabbed his black jacket and tossed it over his shoulder. He took a step towards the door before turning his head back. "I think you can handle all that," he said in a dull voice as he gestured towards the pile of dirty dishes.

She said nothing but nodded. Sasuke turned around and walked out without another look back. Sakura silently watched his retreating back as the swinging door finally closed so she couldn't see him anymore.

Sakura glanced at the sink where the dishes were piled up. They were nearly done even though before it looked like the pile would never end. Sakura went over and picked up one of the dirty plates and began absent-mindedly scrubbing at it. An uneasy feeling tugged at her heart. She didn't understand why but she felt kind of lonely without Sasuke standing next to her and listening to him curse for five minutes at each single plate while making some foul remark as if each plate was his enemy.

Why didn't I stop him?

That thought popped into her mind and jolted Sakura out of her daze. "This is stupid," Sakura muttered. "Why should I care if he stays or not? He wasn't much of a help anyway. And all he did was complaining in the first place."

Sakura angrily scrubbed at the plate until her hands turned red from clutching the scrubber too hard. "That idiot! And to think that I thought we could make amends but no, he had to be his emotionless I-have-nothing-to-be-happy-about-in-this-life-so-I-will-just-sulk-about-it-and-make-everyone-around-me-miserable self and walk away and leave me to finish all the work." Sakura scrubbed madly to forget her overwhelming anger at Sasuke. "It really does seem impossible not to be mad at him," she muttered.

Sasuke rummaged through the pockets of his jacket as he looked for his watch. He finally found it and glanced at the time. It was close to six o' clock. Sasuke continued his walk down the empty hallways of the school as he reached the main door that leads out to the front of the school. He glanced outside and noticed that the sky had darkened and dark, gray clouds had gathered in a group.

It's going to rain, Sasuke thought as he pulled out his cell phone. He punched in a few numbers as he leaned against the wall.

"Hello, Yashiro? Pick me up at the front of school," Sasuke directed. The Uchiha closed his hand phone and stood waiting for his driver to pick him up. Yashiro arrived almost immediately in a black Sedan as he stepped out of the car and into the pouring rain. Sasuke watched as a black umbrella went up and as it continued its way towards him. Sasuke proceeded outside as he took the other umbrella that Yashiro held in his other hand. Without saying a word except for his subtle nod to leave, Sasuke walked to the car and got in. Yashiro followed after the stoic teenager and got inside the driver's seat as he started up the engine.

Sasuke stared out the window as the car started to move forward and his view of the school disappeared behind him.

She's probably still washing dishes, Sasuke thought with a smirk. The thought of the pink headed girl getting frustrated and then physically breaking a plate or two popped into his mind and he chuckled to himself.

Oh, she probably didn't bring an umbrella. Not that Sasuke could care if Sakura got wet or anything. It was below any of his concerns that the girl would have to come to realization that today was just not her day. But she's such an idiot sometimes. She might get herself sick again like last time.

Sasuke frowned at his reflection in the tinted car window. He didn't like these thoughts entering his mind. He was starting to feel guilty if that was what you call it.

"It's not like it's my fault," Sasuke muttered.

"Did you say something, Young Master?" Yashiro asked as he glanced at the rearview mirror at Sasuke.

Sasuke gave a glare which was something Yashiro was used to. After all, Yashiro had been with the Uchiha family before either of the Uchiha brothers had been born. Watching the two Uchiha siblings grow up, he knew what each of them was like.

"No," Sasuke responded sharply. A look of uncertainty flicked across his eyes which Yashiro caught. "Uh," Sasuke started as if in hesitation. "Go back to school. I just remembered I forgot something there."

Yashiro nodded as he started to turn the car around. When the car pulled up in front of the school, Yashiro started to get out to open the door for Sasuke.

"Don't bother," Sasuke said as he grabbed his umbrella and got out of the car. Sasuke quickly ran to the door leading inside the school as he tried to kick it open only to realize that it opened the other way.

"Stupid doors," Sasuke muttered under his breath. "Remind me to do something about this later."

Sasuke closed his umbrella as he ran through the dark and empty hallways. His footsteps echoed and filled the silent hallways.

Sasuke pushed open the door to the kitchen only to find that it was empty. The lights were turned off so that it was dark inside and there was no sign of the rosette haired girl.

Sakura shivered as she walked in the cold rain. It was pouring heavily and her pink hair was clinging to her face. She walked to the bus stop which was a block down from the school. The tired girl crouched down as she waited for a bus to arrive. Sakura buried her head in her arms and shielded her face from the rain.

It's raining so hard. What if it…

Sakura rocked slowly back and forth as she tried to calm herself down. The sky got even darker as the gray clouds began to make a rumbling noise.

"No," Sakura whispered as she buried her head even deeper within her lap.

Lightning flashed across the sky followed by a loud rumbling of thunder.

Sakura's body tensed up as she closed her eyes shut. "Make it stop. Please make it stop," Sakura whispered.

Footsteps echoed in the rain as it drew closer to the cold and scared girl. Sakura made no effort to move or even look up to see who was coming. She only covered her ears to drown out the sound of the booming thunder overhead and shut her eyes tightly to block out the flashes of lightening that lit up the dark sky.

The rain stopped pouring over Sakura as a black umbrella went up above her head. She could hear the heavy pouring of rain splattering against the umbrella. Sakura slowly opened up her tightly shut eyes to see who it was. A dark figure loomed in front of her but the rain made it hard for her to see.

"Sakura."

Sakura's vision of the silhouette figure wavered and then everything turned black. She could feel the hard ground beneath her as the rain came pouring down on her. The next thing she felt before her mind went unconscious was someone picking her up and carrying her away.