Author's Note: Hey everyone! I would like to say that I'm sorry for not updating sooner - I've been really busy since I started college! I'm still working on this story, even though it might take me longer to update that usual. Hopefully I'll be able to write more chapters this summer! Thank you so much for your nice reviews. :) Please tell me what you think about this chapter, and if I made any huge errors feel free to tell me please! Thank you for your support!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

After school the next week, I found myself in an empty classroom sorting through the pictures that one of the freshman had taken at last weeks' pep rally. They weren't awful, but they weren't very good either, and I was trying to pick out pictures that weren't too blurry that Tenten might approve for the yearbook. Even though I had only started the whole photography thing so I could get closer to Sasuke, I began to get more serious about it. I even developed a fondness for the people in the club with me - freshman, Tenten, and all.

I was studying a picture of some of the cheerleaders doing one of their routines when someone walked in the room. Thinking it was Tenten or Hinata, I told them to wait. "Hold on a second, I'm looking at these pictures."

"Take your time," a voice that was clearly not Hinata or Tenten said.

I looked up to see Ino staring at me from the doorway.

"Er, can I help you?" I asked. Mentally, I chided myself for not being friendlier. This was your best friend, I thought, make her like you!

"I came to pick up some pictures that Tenten said were ready," Ino said. "For Shikamaru. He needs them for the school newspaper."

Of course. I remembered Tenten leaving me an envelope of them. I picked it up from where it was sitting on the desk beside me. "I didn't know Shikamaru is working on the school newspaper now."

Ino shrugged. "He realized he needs some sort of extra credit to make him look interesting on college applications." She rolled her eyes. "He's so smart anyway, he'll probably get in to whatever college he wants." She talked about Shikamaru like she was just seeing him in a new light, which I guess was the case. They had always been friends, but he had been so bad at showing how he felt about her until I had gotten them together at the Homecoming dance weeks ago.

"Really?" I said, genuinely surprised. "He cares about school now? What's gotten in to him?" It was true, Shikamaru was extremely smart - he was just really lazy too.

Ino nodded, regarding me warily. "He's rejoined the chess club too."

It wasn't like I was really surprised - Shikamaru did end up joining the newspaper club and the chess club (he had already been in it in ninth grade, but quit because it was too easy for him), but it was much later in the fall semester the first time around.

"Good for him." I grinned. Ino returned my smile, but hesitantly. She left shortly after, and I wondered if I had done something wrong.

When I asked Tenten if she would know why Ino was acting so strange (Tenten was a journalist, and extremely nosey - she usually knew all the gossip, or the majority of it).

"She thinks you were trying to get Shikamaru to date you when you asked him to the Homecoming dance, but it backfired and now he's dating Ino." Tenten said, while she scribbled something in her planner. "Basically she's afraid you want her man." The blunt way she said this would have been funny, if I hadn't been so upset.

"What?" I said. "That's so stupid, why would I want to date Shikamaru?" It wasn't even a good lie, for anyone who had made it up. It was true, I had been talking to Shikamaru more, but it was only because he was in my Government class, and he liked to ask me if he could copy my work (I usually said no).

"Well you did take him to the dance," Tenten said, turning a page nonchalantly.

"You know I was only doing that because I was trying to get him together with Ino," I made a face.

"Relax, I was kidding," Tenten looked up from her planner, still looking serious. Sometimes it was hard to tell what she was feeling - just because she had the same expression all the time. "But isn't it obvious?"

"Isn't what obvious?"

Tenten shrugged, as if she was surprised I wasn't picking up on it already. "Someone doesn't like you, that's for sure. That's why they made the rumor."

I sighed. Who would be spreading rumors about me? I wasn't even popular anymore. Didn't unpopular people magically fall of the radar of the other popular people? Wasn't that how it was supposed to work?

Thinking back to it, no, that's not how it worked at all.

"But who would say that?" I said.

Tenten only shrugged. "I have my suspicions."

I did too - Karin. Who else would make up something like that? But no, Karin hadn't talked to me in awhile, except to make snide remarks when I was talking to Sasuke. In fact, I hadn't interacted with her since the last football game, and she hadn't been nasty to me since. I decided that I should cut Karin some slack - just because I didn't like her didn't mean she was going to sabotage my friendship with Ino.

What did Sasuke think of her?

Whatever. It wasn't something I needed to dwell on - at least, that's what I kept telling myself.

At lunch, I still felt like something was off. I had been getting strange looks from other students in the hallway - they were almost accusatory. I ignored them, of course. It was something I had picked up back when I was popular - people were going to start rumors about you, and the only appropriate response was to pretend that they didn't affect you.

Of course, on the inside, I was panicking a little. How was this even happening?

Which was why I snapped at Naruto at lunch that day when he asked me how long I had had a crush on Shikamaru.

"I do not have a crush on Shikamaru!" I said loudly. Some of the people from the tables surrounding ours turned and stared.

Hinata sent them apologetic looks. "Sakura," she said, "I don't think he meant to make you upset."

I sighed. "Who told you that, Naruto?"

Naruto thought for a moment, still looking hurt that I had yelled at him. The effect of him sitting at our lunch table had gradually worn off, and had now become a normal part of our lives. "Sasuke's girlfriend," he said. "She said that your plan to take him to the homecoming dance had backfired, and that Shikamaru was supposed to be dating you now."

"That bitch," I hissed under my breath.

Tenten's reaction was much calmer. "Well," she said, moving her homemade salad around with her fork, "it seems that my suspicions were correct."

After that, I apologized for snapping at Naruto, and I left the table. I didn't know how, but I had to talk to Ino about what was happening. God, I thought that being invisible would make me immune to rumors - I guess that's not how it works.

Like I did when I got upset these days, I went to the art room and continued working on a painting I had started a few days ago. It was my best rendition of how it felt to be on the sidelines of a football game. Even though I didn't like football, there was something about the wistfulness I felt about watching everyone around me. Of course, I was only adding one of the first layers at the time so it hadn't started to materialize yet, but I was confident that my painting would-

"Hey Konan," I said, feeling her presence behind me.

"Sakura Haruno," Konan's voice sounded a little surprised, if it was possible, "you're changing."

"Isn't that obvious?" I asked her - if anything, I realized, I was happy to see Konan. "It's been awhile," I told her. It had been a couple of weeks since she had last checked in on me. I wondered if she was busy meddling with other lives.

She ignored this comment. "I see you haven't been making very much progress." If anything, did she seem concerned? No, as long as I had known Konan she barely showed any emotion at all.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her. "Do you see how much things have changed around here?"

"You know what I mean," she said. "You're running out of time."

"I know," I said, more quietly, "but what can I do?"

"It is up to you," she answered.

Suddenly, I wasn't so happy to see her anymore. My anger at Karin and my despair over my life at the moment was almost overwhelming - it didn't help that she refused to help me.

"Why are you here," I said, turning back to my painting, "if you're only going to tell me how little time I have left? I know that. It sucks. But you're not even trying to help me."

"I am helping you by giving you this opportunity," she reminded me, and even I couldn't help but admit that it was true. It was because of what she did that Sasuke was alive now, and that I had another chance of living with him.

She was gone then, and I wondered if I would be able to do it - get Sasuke to love me again. Sure, I had made progress, but what was it about me that he had loved before? I hadn't really been that attractive on the inside, I mean.

By the time I got to Calculus, I was in a state of despair. This was probably the last seven or so months that I would ever live, I realized, unless Sasuke loved me again. It seemed hopeless, but what could I do?

That's when I resolved to do everything I could to get my friends back, while keeping my new ones. I would make sure everything was happy and squared away before I had to leave them. If I couldn't get Sasuke to love me, then I could do the next best thing by making sure he was happy before I left.

But what did that mean for Sasuke? Should I try to be friends with him, or would forming an emotional attachment to me make it harder for him when I died? No, that would be my one selfishness. I wanted him to miss me when I was gone. As selfish as that seemed, I couldn't bare the thought of him not caring that I had existed once. We had gone through too much for that, even if he couldn't remember it.

Thankfully, Sasuke wasn't in Calculus that day, and I was left alone with my thoughts. Later, I would learn that it was because he was getting his cast taken off.

The football team flourished after Sasuke got his cast removed. In the next few weeks, they made it past the first few rounds of playoffs almost easily, and were only beaten at the playoff game determining whether or not they would make it to the state championships. I was a little relieved - I wouldn't have to document anymore football games, and could focus more attention on other things.

Naruto and Hinata's relationship continued to grow, and it was obvious that they were perfect for each other. At the same time, Hinata never let it go to her head and continued to value the friendships she had before with Tenten and me. I talked to Shikamaru more on a regular basis - we had started to regain the easy friendship that we had before. Ino, unfortunately, still seemed to dislike me.

Through all of this, Sasuke was still dating Karin. As much as it hurt me to see them together, I was glad that he was happy. I still talked to Sasuke occasionally, but it was clear that I would need to step it up if I wanted him to be friends with me.

As the weeks went by, I slowly grew accustomed to my new life.