Chapter 3: Recollection, re-introduction, and a deal
There were two types of students in Konoha High School, Active and Inactive. Or maybe you could say Popular and Non-popular. However, there were distinctions in each type itself, as well.
The Active type were of two different varities- one that made life worse for others and the other that made it better. The first ones were the rogue students the institution was ashamed of, while the other group of active people made it proud. The first ones spent their time plotting against the faculty, destroying school properties for no reason other than fun, and executing obnoxious ideas, like bunking classes, or betting money on games/matches, or stealing from the teachers' common room to delay results, and so on. The other kind, on the contrary, used their time to arrange cultural functions, friendly tournaments, building debate/music/literary clubs, helping teachers, raising money for relief funds, or even fighting against the principal on issues like 'more time for break period', or 'we want a picnic every year' or 'the girls' toilet has to be improved' and so on.
Haruno Sakura, from the very beginning of her school life, had been one of the latter group of active students. And since neither her studies nor her sweet manners were seriously damaged by her other activities, teachers, as well as students(except some), knew and loved her.
The Inactive students, just like the active ones, were divided into two groups. One that spent their time mingling with friends, gossiping about the rumours spread by the rogue inactive people, or in other words, the group that tended to enjoy life without complications. The other kind was the silent, so called brilliant kind who used their time to study, study, or in other words. . .study. The first kind were usually happy-go-lucky by nature(with a couple of exceptions, ofcourse), supporting the active students from backstage, sometimes even volunteering to help a good cause. The latter kind preferred to keep all their opinions to themselves, and stay away from activities that didn't involve studying.
Uchiha Sasuke was one of the latter kind of the inactive students. But because of his unusually fast brain that earned the school lots of prizes in different Olympiads, he was a star for the teachers, and because of his unusually great looks and broody nature, students (girls, to be exact) loved him.
If you look at their lives and nature, you'd probably find no similarities between Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, except for one thing. One friend, actually. Uzumaki Naruto.
Naruto was one student of Konoha High School who couldn't be categorized into any of the types mentioned above. He was a . . . a strange mixture of both, you could say. The blonde was too lazy to be one of the active group, and too loud to be one of the inactive. He was all for mischiefs as long as they were harmless to others. He was one of the main organizers for picnics, tournaments, parties, anything that didn't involve studying. Hanging out with friends was his favorite hobby. He wasn't brilliant, neither was he dumb, he just hated studying, and loved games. Teachers who rated studying up and above everything in life disliked Naruto, though there were teachers like Iruka or Asuma, who were fond of him, inspite of his mischievous character. Uzumaki Naruto was probably the only student everyone in the school was friends with, but it was of great wonder as to how he became best friends with Uchiha Sasuke, a nerd who hated 'socializing'.
However,truth is, if it wasn't for Naruto, Sakura would've kept loathing Sasuke, just like she loathed every other geek who didn't bother to take part in anything except for group study or Olympiads. Despite Sakura's sweet demeanor with friends, she was renowned for a bad temper, which was partly why a lot of people in the school treated her with composed respect. She was quite a self-righteous person, always pushing the 'inactive' people to 'activavte' themselves, which was partly why Sasuke treated her with ill-concealed annoyance.
As is obvious, whatever feeling Sasuke and Sakura had for each other, was mutual, although they'd never had a real conversation in all the years they studied together.
It was the last year of their school life when all that changed, through an incident that made them look at each other differently.
Like everyone else in school, Sakura was a friend of Naruto's. And due to the picnics and functions they arranged together, they'd become pretty close to each other during the last couple of monthes of school. That's why when Naruto invited Sakura to watch him play at the finale of the football tournament and cheer for him, she'd agreed happily.
It was a pretty intense match, both teams giving their best shot and all. But in the end Naruto's team beat the other by one goal, and all Sakura's hard work cheering them at the top of her lungs had been paid off.
Naruto's team had always been unbeatable, so the outcome of the match didn't come as a surprise to Sakura. What did surprise her, though, was what she heard while passing the refreshment room by the field.
The goalkeeper of the opposing team was talking to the center forward.
"That bastard Uzumaki did it again." he gritted his teeth in disgust, "that fucking bastard."
That made Sakura stop just outside the room, unbeknownst to the guys.
His companion sneered. "I don't know how he does it every year. Did you just see that last goal he scored? He was friggin' flying in the air! That guy's got some talent, I tell you, Ryo."
At that compliment for the guy who'd just made him look like a fool, Ryo lost his temper and shouted out. "He's not talented! Got it? He's just too lucky. That's it!"
"Dude-" the other guy tried to say something but his friend kept going, he was in no mood to listen, or even think, before he started saying, "And you know what? That guy's so lucky that when he and his parents fell into a car accident, he was the only one who survived! And guess what, he doesn't even have to study to pass the exams, 'cause he's the friggin' foster kid of the Principal, that old bastard Sarutobi! You think those free kicks that he got were our fault today? It was all a scam, I tell you! He only wins every time 'cause our referee's too afraid to deny the principals' son of his demand! You get it? Uzumaki Naruto is not talented, he's a fuckin' fraud who –"
"Enough!" a shout from the door stopped him short and he turned around to find Sakura standing there, with fists clenched tight and eyes glistening with outrage.
"Who do you think you are to talk like that about Naruto, huh?" Sakura stomped towards the huge goalkeeper and poked him at the chest hard enough to make him stumble back an inch. "Naruto's a fraud, huh? And who are you? A saint? You freaking loser!"
The guy finally got hold of his bearings and shot back, "Who the hell are you, bitch?"
The other guy in the room finally opened his mouth. "Shut up and mind your own business, pinky."
That got Sakura's blood to boil. She snorted in disgust, "Maybe I should. You're just two losers barking about how you lose every year to Naruto."
"You whore!" the goalkeeper raised a hand to strike Sakura, but once again, he was stopped short, this time by a strong grip on his fist.
"If I were you, I wouldn't be doing that." Sasuke said in an ice cold voice as he set Ryo's hand firmly by his side and pushed him away from Sakura's face.
"Now who the fuck are you, bastard?" Ryo shouted yet again.
Sasuke walked closer to Ryo and said in a voice that could've frozen water, " Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto's friend. Now I think you've used that filthy tongue of yours enough for today. If I don't see you stop now, I promise to cut it out and throw it in the trashcan behind you, do you get me?"
There was something about the coldness of his voice, or the murderous look on his face that made Ryo take a cautious step back. The other guy in the room, who'd frozen after hearing Sasuke's name, now caught his friend's collar and dragged him out of the room. But on his way out, he looked back at Sasuke with unmistakable fear in his eyes and mumbled, "I apologize, Uchiha-san."
That left Sakura standing in the middle of the room, dumbfounded by everything that had happened within a couple of minutes, staring after Sasuke's back, who'd just saved not only Naruto's honor, but also hers, and then left without so much as a look at her face.
That's when Sakura realized, Uchiha Sasuke was more than just textbooks and brilliance, he was a great friend, he was an intimidating man, he was a mystery.
As for Sasuke, that was the first time he found a seed of respect in his mind for the loud, bossy pinkhead. He still thought Sakura was annoying, but couldn't help but admit that she was brave as well.
For the next couple of weeks, Sakura kept looking for Sasuke, to thank him for saving her that day, but she found no such chance. She never mentioned that incident to Naruto, and she knew neither did Sasuke. Then the final exams fell upon them and Sakura lost hope of seeing Sasuke again soon. The last time she saw him was at the Graduation day, when it was too crowded to talk to him, especially when he pretended to not know her the slightest bit. After that everybody went their own ways for college and Sakura thought she'd never meet Sasuke ever again in her life.
Until she met him long after she'd given up on trying to find him, at a place far far away from Konoha.
It was ironic in a sense, Sakura thought, to meet him after such a long time in a different city, in a weird situation. And she could tell from the look of his face, that he was thinking the exact same thing.
Finally, Sakura was the first one to recover from the surprise and talk.
"Sasuke." A smile slowly lit up her face as she regarded Sasuke with casual curiosity.
Sasuke nodded before replying in an even tone, "Sakura."
Sakura was somehow relieved to know that he actually remembered her, and the little smile on her face spread just a little wider. She leaned her shoulder on the tree, suddenly feeling awkward. Sakura had no idea what to say to Sasuke, and he was probably going through the same thing, she realized. But standing there in front of an old acquaintance saying nothing didn't seem appropriate either. Then she remembered a piece of information she'd heard a long time ago.
"Hey. You study at the Sound University of Engineering and Business Administration, right?"
"Hn." Sasuke said before leaning against the tree and looking at the horizon, his side towards Sakura.
He doesn't seem to be interested in talking. Sakura thought, a little confused what to say next. Then she remembered something more.
"Hey does Naruto study with you too?" Sakura asked excitedly. After school, she'd somehow lost all connection with the blonde. She only knew he studied in Sound, which she hadn't remembered until now.
At the mention of Naruto, Sasuke's mind filled up with images of his room and a sick feeling registered in his stomach, along with utter disgust for the irresponsibility of his best friend. So the "Hn" he said this time sounded a little harsher than he'd intended.
Sakura easily inferred his annoyance but she thought it was meant for her and the smile disapperead from her face, replaced by hurt.
Fine. Maybe I should just leave. Sakura thought tiredly.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke's mild voice took Sakura by surprise just when she was about to leave.
"Um. . well. I was a medical student at Konoha. I got a scholarship to study under Tsunade at the Sound Med School. So I moved here a month ago."
"I meant," Sasuke said a little impatiently, "What are you doing here at the park at this hour?"
Sakura felt her face heat up a bit. "Oh. That here." She fidgeted with the strap of the bag hanging from her shoulder before answering, "I found this place last week. I've been coming here everyday since then." Sakura took a deep breath, relishing the cool evening breeze, looking at the horizon that was a vibrant crimson after the sunset. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Hn." Sasuke said and mentally added, and it's mine, so leave me alone.
But Sakura showed no signs of leaving, rather she kept looking at the horizon, at the changing colours of the sky.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him, a faint smile touching her lips as she watched a flock of birds flying home before dark.
Sasuke was also caught up at the scene. "I come here everyday." he replied absently.
"Really?" Sakura was surprised, "How come I never saw you?"
"I was away for the last few days."
"Oh. So you like this place too?" Sakura asked, smiling.
"Hn."
"How long have you been coming here?"
"4 years."
Whoa. Suddenly Sakura grinned, "I bet you're quite pissed off to see me here today, ruining your alone time."
This time Sasuke was surprised. "Why would you say that?"
Sakura laughed out loud. "Well. Because I thought the exact same thing when I saw you first." Then she quickly added, "Before I realized it was you, ofcourse."
For some reason, Sasuke was somehow. .amused to hear that. "Oh," he said awkwardly.
"And also because of the 'what the hell' that slipped your mouth", Sakura winked at him, smirking.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "It was pretty obvious then." Something about the casual laughter in her voice, the teasing tone, made him relax.
"Yeah" Sakura laughed again before turning serious, although the smile was still on her face."This place is . .serene. There's nothing better than a few minutes of solitude after a long tiring day at the hospital, doing wards." She sighed. Sasuke just stared at her, incredulous.
Suddenly Sakura's face lit up again, and she turned towards Sasuke fully, eyes glistening with excitement.
"You know what? I'll make you a deal. Let's share this place and I promise to never bug you."
Sasuke smirked, "You sure you can do that?"
"Well. Try me." Sakura raised an eyebrow, challenging him.
Sasuke was too tired to argue anymore. This just wasn't his day. So he just nodded before sitting down on the platform, one leg stretched in front of him and a forearm resting on the other knee. It took a while for Sakura to realize that Sasuke had actually accepted the deal, and a few more seconds to decide to sit down, cross legged with a distance from him, and enjoy the view for a bit longer.
That was the first one of many evenings that Sasuke and Sakura spent in each other's company, under the peace and silence of the beautiful Sakura tree.
And that's where our story begins.
A/N: Super late, i know. I'm sorry. This chap was totally boring, i know that too. I'm sorry again. But this is the first time i'm writing a story, and realizing how hard it is to create something. It'd be nice if you could review, and you know, encourage me, if you want me to continue, that is. Hey by the way lots of thanks to my first reviewers, TheblackRose123, Nox Maltid, BlazingFire18, all three of them very talented writers themselves. Your reviews made me extremely happy:)