Song of a Cherry Blossom
by Diana-san

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 13

Sakura covered her head with her math textbook as she closed her eyes for a quick nap. Kakashi's voice droned on as he continued reading from the textbook. The day was unusually peaceful and there were no disturbances for Sakura. Sakura removed the textbook from her face as she glanced back at the empty chair behind her.

The ice block is absent for once.

Sakura turned her gaze to in front of her. The seat where Naruto sat was also empty.

Naruto's absent today also.

Sakura glanced up and caught the eye of Hinata who turned her head to look at Naruto's empty chair. Hinata's cheeks turned a deep shade of red as if she was a little kid caught with the cookie jar and she quickly turned away.

"Interesting," Sakura mused as Kakashi's voice continued to talk about the wonders of geometric figures. For awhile it was peaceful as Sakura continued her nap. She wasn't sure when but suddenly a commotion stirred her awake. She glanced up with half an eye opened as she and the rest of the class watched the classroom door slide open.

"Oh, it's just Naruto," Sakura murmured as she watched the blond jumped in with a grin on his face. Sakura was about to go back to sleep when she saw Sasuke come in after Naruto. She sighed. "Just when I thought I could have peace," Sakura muttered. As she began to close her eyes, her body froze when she saw the last person coming through the doors. "No way!" she gasped as her head bolted upright from the desk. Walking through the doors was none other than the idol star himself. "Sai…" she whispered faintly. Suddenly, her throat felt dry. Oh my god. Why is he here? Sakura panicked. He knows! He knows I'm Saki and he's here to bust me!

Sakura's mind went frantic. He must know! That's why he is here. What other reason could there be? Oh my god. Did he find out from Naruto? I'm going to kill him if he said anything.

Sakura glared at Naruto, her eyes shooting daggers and possibly flames of hell. Naruto blinked as he glanced at Sakura who was giving him a very dark and scary look. He shivered. It was almost like the look of death. I hope that look is directed at Sasuke, Naruto thought as he pulled on his shirt collar nervously.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Well class, it seems we have some late arrivals to our class."

The class who was unusually quiet and still during the interruption suddenly erupted as chaos ensued. The girls who were probably containing their excitement began to jump up from their seats and crowd around the front of the room presumably to get near their idol Sai.

Squeals erupted from all over the classroom.

"SAI! OMG! YOU ARE HERE!"

"I LOVE YOU! I WATCH ALL OF YOUR CONCERTS!"

"MARRY ME!"

"KYAA! KYAA!"

Sakura winced as she covered one of her ears. The shrill shrieks and cries were enough to make you want to scratch nails on chalkboards. As dire as the circumstance is regarding Sakura's own social identity crisis, she felt like gagging a little at the sheer stupidity of some of the girls in her class.

Sai flashed a fake smile at his fans. "I would love it if every one of you would stay approximately ten feet away from me."

Apparently no one heard him as they crowded even closer. Sasuke gave a irritated look at them as Naruto backed closer to Kakashi.

Kakashi smiled as he placed his teacher's book down on the podium. "Children, it is best if we all sit down in our seats," he said calmly with the same smile on his face. The crowd of girls continued to hovered around Sai. Kakashi went behind the group of girls as he lowered his head to their height. The fan girls turned to look at their sensei who loomed before them with a dark and eerie look on his face. "OR ELSE I WOULD HAVE TO TAKE DRASTIC MEASURES." Everyone gulped. As soon as that was said, the whole class scuffled to their seats, not wanting to take any chances with Kakashi.

As everyone settled into their seats, Kakashi smiled and cleared his throat. Sasuke stepped up and handed a plain yellow folder to Kakashi. The silver-haired sensei took the folder into his hands and opened it up as he looked inside at the contents of the folder.

"Hmm…very interesting." Kakashi closed the folder and tucked it underneath one arm.

"Well, class, I'm sure you are wondering what is happening today. We have a new student with us who will be staying with our class for a few weeks. I hope you will all welcome him warmly and treat him nicely."

Many of the girls in the class murmured among themselves as the level of excitement in the air grew. "WE WILL KAKASHI-SENSEI!" they chirped in unison.

Sakura could only blink and gawk in surprise as she tried to comprehend what just happened.

Kakashi glanced around the room. "Hm, would you like to introduce yourself Sai?"

Sai smiled as he turned to face the class. "Hello everyone. My name is Sai and I'm here to observe what it is like to be a student in high school so I hope you guys will treat me the same as anyone else here."

Kakashi nodded. "Uh, let's see…where should we sit you…" Kakashi trailed off.

A few girls in the back of the room jumped up.

"He can sit by me, Kakashi-sensei!" one of them squealed as she pointed to a seat next to her.

"You idiot. I'm sitting here." The voice came from Shikamaru who was sleeping during the whole fiasco.

The girl who had earlier called out frowned at Shikamaru. "It's not like you do anything in class. We might as well give the seat to someone more deserving and charming and…" The girl started squealing before she could finish her sentence.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered.

Kakashi frowned. "Hmm…" He scanned the room and noticed an empty seat near the windows. He pointed in that direction. "You may sit there Sai. Right next to Sakura."

Sakura's mouth dropped open. "Say WHAT?" she exclaimed as she stood up and slammed her hands hard against her desk.

Kakashi smiled. "Thank you Sakura for letting Sai pinpoint your location in the classroom." Kakashi gestured to Sai who began to make his way over to his seat. Sasuke and Naruto followed after as they headed towards their seat.

Sakura turned her head to look at the empty seat next to her as she stared blankly at the empty space. You have got to be kidding me. The phrase repeated over and over in Sakura's head as she drowned out Kakashi's voice. She sunk into her seat with a slouch.

"Hey, you." Sakura's head snapped up as Sai's voice called out to her. She froze in place, her arm twitching as she tried not to look into Sai's gaze.

"Are you listening to me?" Sai asked this time with an annoyed tone.

Sakura turned her head slightly. "Yes?" a barely audible whisper escaped from her lips.

"Can you stop gawking at my seat? I can't sit down if I know you are going to be looking at me the whole time."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. But before she could retort, she hesitated and turned her head away to look at the windows. It's best not to say anything. Not until I know for sure if he knows my identity.

Sakura glanced at the guy sitting in front of her. She narrowed her eyes at Naruto. He must have felt Sakura's deadly gaze because his body tensed up as shivers ran up and down his spine.

The bell rang signaling the end of class and the start of lunch. Sakura stood up abruptly and grabbed Naruto by the shirt collar before dragging him out of the classroom.

Outside in the courtyard, Sakura dragged Naruto to a grassy spot by the trees. "Okay Naruto. Spill. What is Sai doing here?"

"S-sakura-chan-" Naruto said nervously.

Sakura's eye glinted evilly. "You are forbidden from calling me by that name until you tell me why Sai is here at our school."

Naruto sat cross-legged as he crossed his arms. "That's a very good question…"

"AND?"

"…but I don't know why," Naruto finished.

Sakura groaned.

"He's here to study. Do you have a problem with that?" a voice came from behind Sakura.

Sakura froze. She turned around to see Sasuke and Sai standing before her. The wind rustled against her hair as she glared at the two of them. "It's rude to eavesdrop."

"It's even ruder to talk about someone behind their back," Sasuke replied.

"Then you have to excuse me for the other times before when I talked about you behind your back," Sakura replied.

Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glare at each other.

Sai smiled. "A sharp tongue there," he remarked. He walked up to Sakura. "But I don't know why you seem to dislike me even though we have never met."

Sakura blinked. "Never met?"

"Have we?" Sai questioned.

He doesn't know me. He doesn't even know who I am!

"O-of course not!" Sakura stammered as she tried to hide her glee.

"Now that I think about it…you do kind of remind me of…"

Sakura slapped a hand over Sai's mouth. "We haven't met. Period." Sakura plastered a huge smile on her face, hoping it was enough to convince him to drop the matter at hand. "Well, today is a nice day. Let's go Naruto," Sakura said chirpily as she made her escape route.

"Wait…just a minute there," Sai said. He ran over to Sakura and peered at her face. "You know…that face, the voice, and the horrible attitude seems all too familiar."

Sakura clenched her teeth. "Excuse me…?"

Sai clapped his hands in realization. "Ah, that hag in that movie with the big head and-"

"HAG?" Sakura grabbed Sai's shirt collar with both hands. "I'LL SHOW YOU A BAD ATTITUDE-"

But before Sakura could do anything, Sai leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Sai smiled as he felt Sakura's violent shaking come to a halt. Sakura's mouth dropped open as she let go of Sai's collar. Naruto's eyes popped open as his jaw dropped to the floor. Sasuke remained passive but a look of annoyance flickered in his eyes.

"Here," Sai said as he pulled out an invitation from his shirt jacket as he handed it to Sakura. "This Friday, I'm hosting a party at my cousin's house. "You're invited to come."

With that said, Sai smiled and patted Sakura on the head. "I would like to see what kind of outfit a scary person like you would wear to the party. See you then."

Sakura held the invitation as she gazed absentmindedly at Sai's retreating back. "Cousin?" she echoed. "Party? EHH?"

Naruto jumped to his feet. "SASUKE! HOW DARE YOUR BASTARD COUSIN TOUCH SAKURA-CHAN WITH HIS FILTHY LIPS!"

The cherry blossom whirled around. "Sasuke?" she softly asked.

Sasuke glanced over at the pink-headed girl with a bored look. "What?"

"THAT KISS-SNATCHING GUY IS YOUR COUSIN?"

"More or less," came the blunt reply.

"Is that why he enrolled here at this school?"

"Perhaps."

So it seems Sai doesn't have a clue that I am Saki, Sakura thought. Suddenly, the image of Sai kissing her cheek earlier flashed in her head. "AHHH! I'm so mad! Why did he violate my face?"

Naruto ran over to Sakura. "It's okay Sakura-chan. I can kiss it better," he offered happily.

Sakura pushed Naruto's face away. "And who said I would let you kiss me?"

Sasuke walked past the two of them. "Wait," Sakura called out. Sasuke stopped. "Um, about the party…"

Sasuke turned around as he glanced at the invitation in Sakura's hand. He walked up to her and took the invitation from her hand. Then as quickly as that, he ripped the invitation in two letting the ripped pieces fall to the ground.

Sakura stared in shock as she watched the ripped invitation drop in front of her.

"You don't have to come now," Sasuke said coolly as he turned to walk away.

The rosette haired girl looked down at the ground, still in shock. Then she glanced up in anger. "What right do you have to rip up my invitation?"

Sasuke stopped short of his tracks. "Don't think that the invitation was given to you because Sai likes you. I don't know why he invited you but it's better if you do not go to save yourself the embarrassment."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. She scoffed. "I could care less if he likes me or not. I wasn't even planning on going in the first place. But that doesn't give you the right to make my own decision."

"Then what just happened shouldn't make a difference."

Sakura clenched her teeth. "Jerk," she said through her gritted teeth as she watched Sasuke retreat back to class.

"Sakura-chan…did you really want to go to the party?" Naruto asked.

The cherry blossom stood still with her clenched fists by her side as the seconds passed.

"I'm going to get lunch now," Sakura said absentmindedly as she evaded the question.

"Ahh, wait for me Sakura-chan!"

Friday afternoon

"S-s-sakura-san!"

Sakura turned towards the direction of the voice. Amidst the crowd of students that was pouring out from the last class of the day, Sakura managed to find Hinata standing by the water fountain with a meek look on her face. Sakura weaved her way through the crowd to reach Hinata.

"What's up? Is something wrong?" she inquired as she bend down to peer into Hinata's face. Hinata faintly blushed and glanced away quickly.

"Um…I was wondering…um…whether …well you see…tonight …there's this …um…well…can you help me…"

Sakura sighed. "Hinata, I'll be celebrating my 100th birthday before I can figure out what you are trying to ask me."

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut. "Please help me on asking Naruto-kun out!" Hinata exclaimed as she bowed her head down low.

Sakura blinked. "Well, this is…unexpected."

Hinata lifted her gaze from the floor and glanced hopefully at Sakura. "Is that a no?" The question came out barely as a whisper. Sakura scratched her head as she closed her eyes with the look of being in deep thought written across her face. "It's hard to say…I mean it is Naruto after all. Probably the densest person to walk the earth." Sakura opened her eyes as she shifted her hand to tap her chin in thought. "I guess I can take some time off from my free schedule to help you."

No sooner than had Sakura finished her sentence, the look of worry on Hinata's face quickly changed into a bright smile. Hinata grabbed hold of Sakura's hands in her own as she joyfully jumped up and down.

"Thank you, thank you Sakura-san!"

"Hey, none of that Sakura-san stuff. It's Sakura remember?"

Hinata smiled. "Right. Sakura."

The cherry blossom grinned. "So, how do you plan on doing this?"

"Tonight. At the party."

"At the party," Sakura repeated. She narrowed her eyes. "This party wouldn't happen to be hosted at Sasuke's house, would it?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes, my parents will be there also so that only just adds on to my already nervous state but I hope that won't show up during the party because then I might make a fool out of myself in front of Naruto-kun and then he'll think I'm strange or weird or something like-"

"Hinata!" Sakura rubbed her temple. "You're rambling."

"Yes, I do tend to do that when I'm nervous but I don't know why I should be since everything will be fine because you'll be helping me out…" Hinata paused. "Right?"

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, no problem." She lifted her head and forced a smile. "I'll make sure to pull Naruto aside for you to be able to have some alone time with him."

"Thank you!" Hinata jumped up and hugged Sakura tight.

"Ow!" Sakura exclaimed. Hinata stepped back with a gasp. "Oh, I'm so sorry Sakura-san! Are you okay?"

Sakura nodded as she rubbed her back. "Yeah, I'm fine. I actually had this crick in my back but now…well I think it's gone. Amazing."

Hinata smiled. "Then I'll come pick you up at five."

Sakura nodded begrudgingly with a weak smile as she waved goodbye to Hinata who was already getting inside her limo ride.

Hinata's head popped back out as she waved over to Sakura. "Oh, and it's a formal party so be sure to wear something nice," the violet haired girl called out. "See you later, Sakura-san."

The pink headed girl blinked as her hand drooped down. "…formal?"

EH?

"Jeans, jeans, jeans….ooh, here's something…nope, still jeans…"

Sakura sighed as she collapsed on top of her bed which was already piled high with clothes tossed out from her small closet.

"I wish I didn't donate all of the dresses that Grandma gave me," Sakura murmured. She turned in her position on the bed and caused a small avalanche of clothes to collapse and hit her on the face. She sighed underneath the pile of clothes as she dug her way back out.

She sat up as she combed through her hair in frustration. Sakura glanced at her cell phone which was sitting restfully on top of her drawer. She wistfully stared at it as she thought about calling Hinata and saying she was not feeling well or something. No, I can't. I promised I would go.

Suddenly, the phone rang as it began to vibrate off the table. Sakura quickly caught it before it hit the floor. But if Hinata decides to cancel, then there's nothing I can do about it, right?

She flipped open up the phone. "Hello?"

"SAKURA!"

Sakura winced as she held the phone at an arm's length. She sighed as she brought the phone back to her ear. "Tsunade-sama, I know we are separated by a long distance but I can hear you perfectly fine if you speak just a tad bit quieter."

"Never mind that!" Tsunade answered. "About tonight…"

"Oh right, tonight I'll be perform…" Sakura stopped in mid-sentence as she just realized what tonight was.

"Wrong! How could you not tell me about this, Sakura? After all we've been through, I thought you would be able to come to me with anything that's on your mind."

"You're right. I'm sorry." Sakura racked her brain to figure out what she was apologizing for. "And this is about what again?"

"The party! Naruto stopped by just now and asked if I was going to let you go. How was I suppose to respond to that when I wasn't even aware that there was even a party to begin with? Is it because you were afraid Jiraiya might say no because let me tell you something-"

"No, this is good actually because…" Sakura interjected.

"Haruno Sakura. You are going to that party. I don't want to see you at all anywhere near this club tonight. You are officially fired for today. Return tomorrow and give me the details about what happened. Have fun." With that said, a click came from the other end of the line as Tsunade hung up leaving a speechless Sakura on the bed.

"But, I don't want to go…"

"You look fine Hinata," Sakura said for the umpteenth time as the two of them walked down the long front pathway leading to the Uchiha mansion. "I'm sure Naruto will fall head over heels when he sees you in this."

Hinata's face turned white. "I-I should go back and change. I wouldn't want Naruto to hurt his head." She turned around to head back to the car.

"It's an expression, Hinata," Sakura said as she steered the nervous girl back to the front door. "And you shouldn't be the one running away. If anyone should be leaving, it's me."

Hinata glanced back at Sakura who was slowly following behind. "Did something happen between you and Sasuke-kun?"

"No," Sakura replied flatly. "What makes you think that?" she asked sharply.

Hinata nervously smiled. "N-no reason."

Sakura frowned as she glanced at her watch and watched the minute hand land on the three. "Fifteen minutes pass five. At least we arrived early."

"A bit early, isn't it? I wasn't planning to arrive until six since it starts at seven."

Sakura's eyes glowered at the door. "Early means you're on time, on time means you're late."

"I can see you and Sasuke-kun had a fight," Hinata murmured.

Sakura's ear twitched. "You say something, Hinata?"

"N-nothing."

Hinata sighed in relief when Sakura nodded and crossed her arms. The violet haired heiress walked up to the door and pressed at the doorbell. Instinctively, Sakura shielded herself behind Hinata. Moments later, the door opened and a maid peered out at them. Hinata smiled when she heard a sigh of relief escape from behind her. The door immediately swung open as the maid gestured them in.

"M-miss Hyuuga-sama," the maid said in respect as she bowed low. "And…your guest?"

"Yes, this is Sak-" The rest of Hinata's sentence was muffled off by Sakura's hand.

"Guest is fine," Sakura replied coolly. "No need to announce my presence." Her eyes darted from side to side. "Let's proceed in."

Hinata laughed nervously as the maid watched in surprise when Sakura darted in and crouched behind a vase. The young maid turned to Hinata with a questioned look on her face reading, 'Is she really a guest here?' Hinata nervously smiled as she hurriedly walked in behind Sakura.

"Sakura-san, I think this is going a tad bit overboard isn't it?" Hinata whispered when the maid went to close the door behind them.

Sakura glanced up from her position behind the pedestal. She cleared her throat as she abruptly stood up. "Sorry," she bowed her head.

Hinata extended her hand out to motion over to Sakura. "Sakura-san, let's get ready then shall we?"

Sakura nodded meekly as she hugged the shopping bag with her outfit for tonight close to her chest. She slowly followed behind Hinata up the grand staircase and down a long hallway. The heiress stopped in front of a room and brought out a key from her pocket. Sakura watched as Hinata unlocked the door and stepped inside. She followed behind and blinked in the dark cloak of the room. "It's dark," she commented. Sakura suddenly felt like slapping herself for stating the obvious.

Hinata nodded in the dark or at least what Sakura thought was a nod since she couldn't see anything anyways. Suddenly the room got a lot brighter as she blinked in the glare of the setting sun. Hinata stood by the windows as she held a curtain to the side.

"It'll be dark soon. Sakura-san, can you please turn on the light switch near you."

Sakura nodded as she turn to flip on the switches. "Why didn't we do this earlier?" she muttered.

Hinata walked up behind Sakura. "This was my room when Neji nii-sama and I would come here to play when we were kids."

"You used to play with Sasuke?" Sakura asked in shock.

"Ah, only for a short while before my father decided to make me stay at home to learn flower arranging."

"Oh…" was all Sakura could say.

"I'll be changing in the dressing room so you're free to use the bathroom or here if you like."

Sakura clutched the bag in her hand. "Here is fine," she squeaked.

Hinata smiled as she walked off to another part of the room which opened up to be a large walk in closet. The door closed behind Hinata and Sakura walked up to the bed. She dropped the bag on top of the bed as she plumped down beside it with a sigh. With her head in her hands, she glanced at the bag as the creases on her forehead increased.

"Sakura-san, are you ready?" Hinata's voice rang out from within her dressing room.

"Mhm, yea," Sakura murmured as she struggled to fit her head through the black shirt. She quickly placed on her black blazer while slipping into a pair of one-inch heels.

Sakura hobbled over to a full length mirror in her heels as she stared at the reflection of herself. A look of uncertainty crossed her face as she turned a little sideways.

"Is something wrong?" Hinata stepped out from the dressing room and walked over to Sakura.

The cherry blossom whirled around and blankly stared at Hinata. "I look like I'm attending a funeral," Sakura replied dully. She glanced up and down at Hinata's evening dress which was a lovely lavender color that came down to her feet.

Hinata tilted her head to the side. "I-it…doesn't look that bad."

Sakura sighed. "This was the only nice skirt I could find."

"And it is…nice."

Sakura glanced back at the mirror. "For me to wear this here, you and Naruto better get married or something," she muttered.

"Did you say something, Sakura-san?"

"N-nothing."

"Psst-Naruto!" Sakura hissed behind a curtain. She was standing near the windows in the grand ballroom adjacent to the patio door opening out to beautiful courtyard. Sakura begin wringing the curtain in frustration as she tried to get Naruto's attention. She pondered over stepping out into the bright lights and revealing her disastrous black outfit as she continued to wave frantically at Naruto. A waiter walked by carrying a huge platter of hors d'oeuvre in one hand. Sakura immediately reached out and practically dragged the waiter over to her. The shocked waiter nearly dropped his tray but Sakura caught it as she handed it back to him.

"Hey, do me a favor and call over that blond-headed boy with the stupid grin on his face." Sakura added a forced smile but the clearly disgruntled waiter shuffled over to Naruto with a huff.

Sakura sighed as she popped a deviled egg she swiped from the tray earlier into her mouth. Tapping her feet on the ground, she waited impatiently as she watched from a distance at the waiter pointing towards her direction and Naruto scratching his head. Finally, after what seemed to be like forever, Naruto made his way over to the balcony.

"Sakura-chan! I'm so glad you ca-" Naruto stopped in the middle of his sentence as he saw the deathly glare hit him from underneath Sakura's pink cherry locks. Naruto laughed nervously as he took a step back. "S-sakura-chan, you look kind of…scary…" Immediately, the blond regretted uttering those very words as he felt the chill of a dark deadly aura emit from the girl in front of him.

"Do I now?" Sakura said with a evil grin. Naruto gulped as he pulled at his collar.

Sakura peered at the object in his hand. "Are you going to eat that?"

Naruto glanced at the quiche he was holding and then back at Sakura. "Here you go, Sakura-chan!"

Like taming a wild dog back to a lovable pup, Sakura reverted back to normal as she happily took the quiche in her hands. The pink haired girl munched ferociously as she talked. "Naruto," Sakura began as she peered out into the crowd of people inside, "what do you think of Hinata?"

A blank stare came across Naruto's face. "Who?"

"Hinata. You know? Hyuuga Hinata who is cousins with Hyuuga Neji who is going out with Tenten who is friends with that bastard Sasuke who is your friend. Do I make sense?"

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration. A light bulb seemed to have dawned on him because he quickly snapped his fingers in realization. "That girl who sits in front of me and never speaks!"

Sakura tilted her head to the side. "I guess we can go that way."

Naruto scratched his head. "Well, what can I say? She never even looks at me or talks to me. I barely know her. Even when I visit Neji, she always runs away when she sees me. I think she's scared of me or something."

Sakura sighed. "This is going to be hard."

"What is?"

"Naruto, go dance with Hinata."

"But," Naruto complained, "she hates me!"

"Trust me. Have I ever been wrong?"

Naruto hesitated. "You've never been right either."

"What did you say?" Sakura glared.

"Okay, okay I'll go talk to her."

Sakura watched as Naruto walked off to find Hinata. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as she prayed that everything will work out for the best.

Sneaking a glance at both sides, Sakura darted out of the dark cloak of the curtain's shadows and scurried off to a long buffet table where less people were gathered. Grabbing a plate, she took her cue to stockpile anything that looked like it cost more than her paycheck onto her plate. When she was satisfied with her two plates of food, she headed to the patio doors to the courtyard. Finding a quiet spot by a fountain near the pool, Sakura sat down to dine.

Happily humming while starting on her second plate of food, she didn't notice when someone walked up.

"Look who we have here."