Sakura exhaled in a rush and turned to Mr Hatake. "Look it was just supposed to be for the weekend. After working at the clinic in the morning I dyed my hair and went to the show. There isn't much more to it than that."
Naruto wasn't about to let her skip what was obviously a juicy story. "Whoa, whoa. Slow down. What clinic? Where are you working at a clinic and why?"
Sakura made a face. "Oh what difference does it make."
"Well it's part of the story, right? Help me out, bastard!" Naruto appealed to Sasuke who played at disinterest by fiddling with his fingernails.
"Now, now Naruto," chided Mr Hatake. "It might be time you started watching your language. Sakura, answer Naruto with regard to the clinic."
"What?" Sakura stared at Mr Hatake, gobsmacked. He looked back calmly. "Gah, fine! I have a part time job at a free clinic downtown. Happy?"
Naruto was not deterred. "But what do you do there? And what is the clinic for? And how'd you get that job?"
"Are you kidding what does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything!" Naruto exploded. He half rose in his seat, face growing pink and then red as he spoke. "Why would you be such a good girl that you even have a part time job at a free health clinic downtown and then you go dye your hair some crazy color and go out partying and how does it have to do with getting into a fight and ending up in detention?!" He practically reverberated with excitement.
"Wha-?" Sakura couldn't quite close her mouth as she goggled at the idiot.
"C'mon! You're telling the story! You started at the clinic, what do you do there? What does the clinic do and how did you end up working there." Naruto was sitting again but his intent gaze made it clear that his sights were set on getting the story out of Sakura and would be dogged in his pursuit.
On the other side of Naruto Sasuke idly bit down on a hangnail. Only a split second glance her way told Sakura that he was listening carefully. Mr Hatake was, of course, absolutely no help. It reminded her of his favorite advice for winning races. "Run faster than the other guy." He regarded her with the vague interest he showed in any student fumbling his way through a presentation. Sakura cursed the three males in front of her silently but bitterly.
"Augh! Ok, fine." Sakura threw her hands up then flopped back in her seat. "It's an outreach clinic for poor people who have no money. A lot of them are homeless and in desperate need of someone to take care of them. Many of them have problems with drugs. It's run by Dr Tsunade Senju, I work for her. She has enough money from a grant from the government to keep the clinic open but she can barely afford a staff.
"Two years ago when I took biology with Ms Shizune I did a project on certain blood markers ...uh... just certain traits in the blood that react differently from person to person. Ms Shizune liked it and I happened to tell her that I want to be a doctor, maybe with a specialty in researching blood diseases. Ms Shizune introduced me to Dr Tsunade. Um, Dr Tsunade likes us to call her that, not Dr Senju.
"Anyway, that's how I got hooked up at the clinic. Satisfied?" She stared hard at Naruto, hoping he would get the hint and leave her alone.
"Hmm. I guess so." Naruto had the gall to tap a finger to his lips as if thinking it over. "For now. But I reserve the right to ask more questions later!" He laughed hard and didn't seem to notice or care that he laughed alone.
Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed. "Whatever. So that's where I started my day on Saturday. It has nothing to do with where I ended up. I went home to get ready for the concert..."
"Ooh! What concert?!"
"Will you let me finish! At home I dyed my hair and got dressed up. My friend Ino Yamanaka got her boyfriend to drive them over and pick me up."
"Oh you're friends with Ino?" Naruto's forehead creased like he was actually trying to think a tricky thought.
"Yeah what of it?" Sakura growled. She nearly made a fist before the pain in her hand reminded her what a bad idea that was.
Naruto was startled and taken aback. "Ack. Uh, nothing." Suddenly the floor tiles became very interesting to him.
Sakura took a moment to calm herself down. "She helped me finish up. She told me that she was worried that there might be some trouble at the show. Her ex was going to be there and he hated her new boyfriend. It's stupid but that's the kind of drama that follows Ino around."
Movement caught Sakura's attention. Sasuke made a face. He stared at her openly.
Sakura scowled. "You want to make something of it?" She could feel her skin heating up, an itch in her joints to move, to get rid of the annoyance. It was getting old, trying to hold in the desire to pound the everloving crap out of everyone who felt it necessary to be an ass on her time.
Presently she realized both boys and her coach were staring at her, holding themselves in a state of readiness. It was like the room was holding its breath waiting for her to jump up and break something. With a soft growl Sakura grabbed the edges of the desk and forced herself to take long breaths until the fury passed.
"Anyway. The show was Her Bones at the Matrix. They're a tribute band for The Misfits."
"Hn." Sasuke was watching her with a curious look on his face.
"What, now you don't like the Misfits?"
"No, they're not too bad. I just wonder how good your ID is, to get into the Matrix. They don't have all ages shows." Sasuke continued gazing at her without revealing a single thought behind his midnight eyes.
Sakura pressed her lips together and stared back. She could feel Naruto and Mr Hatake, especially Mr Hatake, she imagined, boring holes into her head with their eyes.
She gritted her teeth. He didn't have to do that. He really didn't have to point that out or say it out loud. Coach would have figure it out soon enough. Gah. What a jerk.
Her eyes watered and her jaw began to ache but Sakura refused to break off her staring match with Sasuke or to otherwise relax.
"Keep going, Sakura." Mr Hatake sighed.
When Sakura refused to speak Mr Hatake continued, "before I take over the story."
Sakura groaned deep in her throat. She tore her eyes from Sasuke's to give Mr Hatake a particularly nasty look. She heaved a sigh and continued. "We got into the show just fine. I'm not telling you how or why. Feel free to make up your own story."
In truth, it was easy enough since she knew the check in staff. It was headed up by Hana Inuzuka, Kiba Inuzuka's relatively cool big sister. Sakura had known Kiba since 8th grade when he first invited her over to his house under the guise of tutoring him in Earth science and to meet his new puppy. Sakura soon realized the invitation was motivated by a crush on her and letting him down had been awkward. But it only got more awkward when a couple of years later she ran into Hana at an all ages show and they had joined a group of friends at all-night diner after the show. Sakura would hesitate to call she and Hana "friends" but would say that they had an awful lot in common. Hana could actually keep up with talk about blood pathogens, kidney capacity and toxin anti-inhibitors. Furthermore, it was from watching Hana that Sakura know how to throw a mean lefthanded haymaker.
Naruto gave a yelp as he realized something. "Hey, wait! You're just this young girl?! How do the guys not-"
"Shut up, Naruto, you don't know anything." Great, something else Sakura didn't want to have to explain.
"I know guys."
"Tsch. Whatever. It's not like I haven't done it before. I know these people. And I know how to be ready if shit goes down." Sakura arranged herself in her desk as she spoke. The left leg was bent so she could leap out in a moment without getting tangled and the right leg was folded under her, ready to press off the ground for instant propulsion.
Mr Hatake was having none of it. "Language, Sakura."
"You let an ID card fly by, but heaven forbid the s-word." Sasuke looked bemused. Sakura couldn't fathom what game he was playing but he was having too much fun to for it to be assumed he wasn't trying to pull off something.
Sakura sighed. "Whatever. So it's a rough crowd. I know half the people there and I can take most of them."
"Yeah! Sakura-chan is bad-ass!" A fist pumped into the air.
"Naruto," groaned Mr Hatake.
"Heh." Sakura took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So anyway. We're in and we're hanging out-"
"Drinking," supplied Sasuke.
"Shut it. We're hanging." Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Sasuke looking ever so faintly surprised. Yeah she would tell him exactly how she felt if he kept pushing her. "And Ino and I are over in a space where we can dance and her boyfriend, Nomu, I think, runs into Ishimaru, her ex. They get into a pushing match and I'm just trying to keep Ino from going over and getting caught up in the cross fire. But behind me I hear voices I recognize. It's Taro Imura and Kimichi Akashima; they're in my government class. And they're not talking about Ishi and Nomu, they're talking about Ino."
"Hn."
Nails dug into her desk as she forced herself to keep from jumping up and throwing her desk at Sasuke. She growled. "Don't say it. I know what people say about Ino. I hear them all the time. That she's a slut, that she goes with any guy who pays."
Naruto's voice was so calm Sakura would almost have sworn it wasn't the knucklehead who spoke. "Do you think it's true, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura choked on a few responses before she was able to speak properly. "I...it's just that...it's not my place to talk about it. She's my friend. And she can choose for herself. I wouldn't be a good friend if I called her names for her choices."
Naruto pursed his lips. "I guess I get it. But I think the bastard's still a bastard even if he's my best friend."
Sakura looked pointedly at Sasuke (he was pretending his wasn't interested in the conversation again). "That's kinda weird, you know."
"Hmph." Sasuke crossed his arms stared blankly in the direction of chalkboard.
"Um, well anyway. I fucking hate it..."
"Sakura." Mr Hatake's tone held a warning. He was running out of patience for casual foul language.
Sakura was long past out of patience. "GAH ok. I FreakING hate it when I hear people talking about her like that. And that's what Taro and Kimichi were saying. Like they had a right to her body and a right to talk about her however they wanted. Such Ass... AUGH jerks. Just big jerks.
"I wanted to go tell them off but Ino started to go toward the fight. So I just gave them a look. I think they didn't realize that they knew me at the time. They just pointed at my hair." Sakura ran a hand through her hair and drew several strands over her eyes. Then she blew them back over her face until they fell into place. "Then I went after Ino."
"By that point security caught up and were hauling out the boys so Ino and I went after. Nomu had a bloody nose and got taken to the security office to take care of it. Ichi had a knife so he got thrown out."
"I thought they did thorough security." The ever-so-helpful comment issued from somewhere under Sasuke's disinterested facade.
Sakura thought to herself, not particularly. The people who let underage girls party with a few hundred rockers aren't going to spectacularly careful. Hana did have the tendency to be lenient when checking girls, whether it came to their ID or what exactly was in their purses. And from what Sakura had seen, most security officers were the same (only not remotely as bright).
Sakura continued. "When the nose quit bleeding we went to leave. But Nomu's tires were slashed. So we waited around for a tow truck. Taro and Kimichi went by and tossed a beer in a cup at us, which mostly splashed me and Ino." Sakura let out a hiss at the memory. The cursing she and Ino had issued then would have made Mr Hatake's ears catch fire.
"Sooo...I finally got home reeking of beer. And my Dad was in." Sakura scowled at her desk. "OK, so at first I wasn't trying to piss off my dad. He doesn't live with me. He would never have known except he decided to drop in that very night. So of course I get the third degree. Who are my friends? What do they do? Who are their parents? How are my grades? Has Dr Tsunade fired me yet? And WHY WAS MY HAIR PINK?!
"Channaro! I had to stand there in clothes stained with beer, after a shit (gah I'm sorry! Crappy!) night and answer my dad for an hour like I owe him something. Tsch. He kept making it sound like it was my fault for getting beer on my clothes and like I was a delinquent or something...that's when I decided I didn't care what happened, the only part I liked about that night was my new hair. So I was going to keep it pink and didn't care who got mad. I still don't." Sakura finished out of breath, knowing she was blushing from the now-pink roots of her hair to her collar. She was having trouble controlling her voice and it came out between a choked cry and a weepy whine.
From the other side of the room Sakura heard, "why doesn't your dad live with you?" Sasuke had again abandoned his disinterest. But Sakura wasn't about to let him get ahead in his stupid game.
She looked directly at Sasuke. "Because I don't want him to."
Naruto picked up the questioning once again. "Uh? Oh, do you live with your mom?"
Sakura gritted her teeth.
A ring tone issued from Mr Hatake's bag at the front of the classroom. With a sigh he stood up. "Well technically our time is up, Naruto, so I can't make Sakura answer you." He walked to the front of the room.
"AWW!"
Sakura ignored the idiot and began shoving her things into her backpack. She was almost home-free.
"But Sakura, you should know by now that Naruto is nothing if not persistent." Mr Hatake had plucked up his phone and was poking at the screen to try to make the music stop.
"C'mon Sakura-chan where's your mom?"
Refusing to look at him, Sakura continued tucking in loose items in her backpack. When she was sure everything was secure she tugged a strap over her shoulder without looking at Naruto.
"Sakura, will you be at the track in the morning." Mr Hatake didn't look like the answer interested him at all but Sakura knew better.
"Yeah." She moved down the aisle, intending to leave the room, the school and her ridiculous detention-mate behind.
"Sakura-chan! Your mom! C'mon don't leave me hanging!" Naruto bounced on his feet.
Sakura looked Naruto in the eye. Her face showed nothing, she was sure. She felt totally blank inside. "It doesn't make any difference." She continued toward the door.
"It makes all the difference! Don't you live with your mom? Did she get mad about your hair? Or fake ID or going to a club with fighting and beer and dirty jokes? C'mon!" Naruto had climbed over desks to get to the door ahead of Sakura. Now he braced both hands against the doorway to block her.
A single bolt of anger shot through Sakura. She stared at Naruto's arm. Then in a single fluid motion she brought the outer edge of her hand down hard on his wristbone. With a yelp Naruto pulled up his hand (which was flooded with the sensation of pins and needles). Sakura squeezed by him and opened the door.
Sakura looked him in the eye. "It doesn't matter. She's dead. If you follow me another step, once we get off campus I will tear you apart." She stepped out the door and walked down the hallway without looking back.
Ugh. Of course I meant to get to this ages ago. Haha life. Such a kidder. On a personal note, it used to make me so mad that friends would get labeled sluts just because they dated more than two boys in a year. I wondered what it would be like for someone to deal with that when they're already angry about a lot of other things. And, in general, I just remember 17 being a really angry year... I'm changing the categories of this story to romance/friendship. There's a lot more plot hopefully to come, but over all I want to look at Team 7's relationships.