MisoHime
Author's Note:
Original Note:
I started playing this rhythm game recently. It's called 'Osu!'
I also only got one review:
- kumikoX3chan : Thank you so much for taking the effort to write a review. Even though it was a short one, you really made me happy!
Updated 2016 Note:
This chapter was read and reviewed on the 7th May 2016.
Hi again, I rewrote this chapter, after been terribly shocked and appalled at the low quality of the original chapter. I see now that while it may have seemed pretty good to me so many years ago, it clearly isn't up to par with my own standards now.
... But then again, my writing now is probably still not good enough.
Disclaimer: Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's, and the inspired book for this story isn't mine either.
◊▫ 星の十字 ▫◊
Hoshina no Kurosu
Yon
敵
Teki
The word "hate", was a word that kids were told not to use as a child, because it was rude and impolite to use such a strong word to describe their dissatisfaction.
From a young age, Sakura knew what that word meant, and she had decided to only use it for extreme situations. There weren't many things that she would have categorized under "hate".
She didn't hate Ino after they fought over hair ribbons at age 7, and she didn't hate Naruto when he accidentally tripped and pushed her into the mud one day at the playgrounds one day, ruining her favourite dress, at age 8. Sakura definitely didn't hate the lady at the food stall when she had messed up her order and served her spicy okonomiyaki, which she disliked the most, at age 9.
But when Haruno Sakura met Uchiha Sasuke at age 10, she hated him immediately.
In fact, the word "hate" seemed insignificant and mild in comparison to what she felt towards the boy. "Detested" or "loathed" seemed to fit a bit better. There was no other person on the earth that Sakura couldn't stand more than him.
They had met one day, years ago, at the start of elementary. The memory, as long ago it was, still reflected with perfect clarity in Sakura's mind.
She had walked into her classroom, scared, innocent and shy from the prospect of starting a new school year again. Now that she was a decade old, she had insisted that she and Sai be allowed to enter the classrooms without her parents there or Sai's foster father to escort them. That was before she had found out that Sai had been sorted into a different class and she would have to deal with her new classmates alone.
She was terrified, of course. Sai had always been her only closest friend - unwavering and protective. Without him around, younger Sakura had thought she would be lost and abandoned in a sea of strange, new faces. So when she had entered her assigned classroom with shaky limbs and frazzled nerves, Sakura's pink head remained ducked as she quickly maneuvered to the seat furthest from the group of loud kids at the back of the class. She was short and small, which had made it easier for her to weave through the other kids.
10 year old Sakura had been innocently minding her own business, slowly laying out her new, pretty pink, matching stationary set and notebooks when she felt something smack her at the back of her head. A throbbing pain immediately emerged from the collision, which caused child-Sakura to bite her tongue to keep from crying out.
She had twirled around and scanned for clues when she noticed the crumpled piece of paper on the floor by her feet. Sakura had picked it up, and was surprised at the heavy weight. There had been something attached to the ball of paper.
A heavy, metal sharpener fell to the floor as Sakura's eyes scanned the note:
'Tough luck, Haruno. If you're anything like your father, you better watch your back, because I'll be firing stuff at it.'
Her bottle green eyes had widened with the antagonism that flowed from the words. Her younger self could not comprehend anyone who would have had the audacity to write such mean things when she had been nothing short of pleasant to everyone she knew.
A sarcastic chuckle sounded from the back of the classroom and young Sakura's eyes had immediately snapped up from the note to seek the source of the sound.
Her toddler eyes had clashed with 10 year old Sasuke's flat black eyes. Back then, his face had been more rounded, more innocent, still incredibly charming and alluring, but with the touch of childish immaturity. He was possibly the most beautiful boy she had ever seen - even more beautiful than Kushina-obaasan. Unfortunately, young Sakura had immediately disregarded his good looks when she had realised he had been the awful little boy whom had sent her the note through very painful, physical means.
His midnight eyes were glaring at her in clear dislike, his youthful skin was a peachy, pale cream. They contrasted sharply against his disarray, black hair. He had been sitting at the back of the classroom, with a group of other boys, but with a prominent, unhappy frown on his face.
Kid Sakura's own expression soured. She didn't appreciate his words or the way he had thrown a rather painful object at her. Sai may not have been there to protect her now, but Sakura was a big girl, now. She was 10 years old and she would no longer let stupid boys like this one throw things like sharpeners at her.
With climbing anger, the younger her had furiously scribbled a note onto one of her new pieces of paper. The pressure of her grip on the pencil made the words on her pink paper dark with lead. She then proceeded to wrap the note around the sharpener, balling it up tightly and securing it with the band it came with before turning back around to direct a fierce glare at the boy across the room.
He had spared her a bored, uninterested look, before returning to a conversation with his friends. The air around him reflected his arrogance and disregard.
'That jerk!' Sakura had thought, vexed. He clearly thought her no better than the dirt under his shoes.
With her cheeks flushed from her anger, Sakura had pulled her tiny arm back and flung the object with her note as hard as her 10-year old self could muster. It sailed far across the room. Her fury at the boy must have helped focus her aim, because the heavy object soared and hit him directly on the forehead.
He had cried out sharply in pain, causing the entire room to gasp with shock. Within seconds, a dozen pair of eyes had swung around to stare at her in horror. Before Sakura's abhorrence could change to shame, her teacher, Hatake Kakashi, had walked in, eyes absorbing in the scene of a bleeding Sasuke, stunned crowd and a guilty Sakura - whose hand was still raised in the air in the position of throwing.
That incident had gotten her two weeks of detention and a stern warning from the headmistress on the rule of physical violence, as well as a temporary suspension - all from her first hour and first day of school.
Luckily for her, the other boy involved also got an equally harsh punishment for starting it.
Unlucky for her, 10 year old Sakura soon found out hours later that the boy was none other than Uchiha Sasuke - the son of the man whom her father absolutely despised, and whom carried the name she had grown up learning to hate.
Since that incident nearly a decade ago, word had spread far and wide - everybody knew that Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura were not to be mixed. Ever.
Which made Sakura all the more confused and infuriated from what Sai had just said.
'Why did Kurenai even cast him? He's a complete and utter ass. He can't act. He'll look like a fucking idiot in Romeo-styled clothes. He won't even take this seriously either!'
Sakura seethed in her seat silently. It was close to the start of their next class, and she had stomped all the way from the coffee shop to the classroom like a savage hurricane. Her vision had been nothing but a red blur. She wasn't even sure if she had finished her beverage when at the cafe - or if she had even brought Sai along with her when she had left. There was a chance she might have even left him there along with a forgotten drink.
She felt another one of her classmates shoot her a nervous look from across the room. People were starting to stare, but Sakura didn't bother to pay it any attention. She knew that from anyone's point of view, she probably looked like a boiling furnace about to explode. Steam might have even started to flare from her nostrils. The wood on her desk was dented slightly with the impressions of crescents from where she had dug her nails too hard into the grain.
Silent rage continued to crawl under her skin.
Sakura had not spoken a single word out loud since Sai had told her about Sasuke being cast as Romeo. From the moment he had uttered the name, her hackles had risen with denial and disbelief. If she had opened her mouth, there would have been a high chance that every cuss word and rude gesture she knew would have been released for all of the entire immediate population to hear.
Sai - as socially stunted as he was - also seemed just as uncomfortable next to her after delivering the news. He didn't bother to calm her down or attempt to distract her. He knew her well enough that doing so would have risked a nasty punch in the eye because there was nothing that could dissolve the hatred that Sakura felt for the most egotistical, arrogant, rude and complete asshole of a man she had ever met.
He had been nothing but spiteful since their first meeting. Clearly he grew up learning to hate the Haruno's as much as she grew up detesting the Uchiha's.
Her slight frame shook with her attempt to calm herself. Sakura took a few deep inhales and slowly unclenched her jaw. She would have to work out the rest of her turbulent emotions at a more appropriate hour.
She took the opportunity to try and distract herself by observing her surroundings. She had moved on autopilot during her fit of anger, not even noticing if she had made it to the right classroom.
The lecture hall was still half empty. Students continued to flow in from the open door, walking in with groups of friends or alone - some balancing heavy textbooks with more care than others. The teacher had yet to arrive.
Sakura's mind sorted through her mental timetable to recall what class this was, when her eyes fell on the steel plaque that was propped on the large desk at the head of the room. It read: 'Hatake Kakashi-sensei'
She could have almost laughed at the irony.
This was third level Biology class. Which coincidentally was taught in the same classroom, with the same teacher, as the one when Sakura had met Sasuke for the first time all those years ago.
The entire scenario was starting to feel a whole lot like a set up. She didn't want to imagine what it would be like when it came to the play, because nothing short of 'explosive' could have been expected.
'Kurenai has no idea what she's done' Sakura silently hissed to herself.
As Sakura continued to silently stew to herself, a group of students walked into the room - making it mere moments before the bell rang. Secretly, everyone knew that there was no point in being early to one of Kakashi's classes anyway - he was bound to arrive far later than all of them.
She had paid no heed to the group of students who made their way around the room, until a prickle of awareness raced from her back. One that she was all too familiar with.
Uchiha Sasuke had arrived.
Her gaze scanned over the bodies and faces of her classmates, watching as some dissipated to other areas of the room, until she caught sight and zoomed into focus on one particularly handsome face. Her Apple green eyes hardened into jade steel.
Uchiha Sasuke had just entered the classroom with his selective group of friends nearby. Following on his heels had been a hoard of fangirls whom seemed to live off his presence.
He was dressed in a high collared shirt and casual grey jeans. The cloth of his shirt stretched over nicely to fit his broad shoulders and trim waistline. He was tall - much taller than he seemed like he would grow to at age 10. Pale, flawless skin contrasted exotically with the dark colouration of his eyes and hair. Unlike his elder brother, who had the more refined features of his father, Sasuke had taken more from his mother. His eyes were half a shade lighter than his spiky black hair, which was so black it seemed to glow with a blue tinge in the light. His lips were pressed into a hard line and a mask of cool indifference seemed to be permanently schooled on his face.
'His beautiful, flawless, perfectly disgusting face'
After years, he had matured from his childish features and he was still just as - if not more - good looking than he was when they were younger. The only thing that remained completely unchanged was the hard line of his frown, and even that was chalked up to be 'gorgeously pouty' by those who adored him. It had not surprised her, of course, but it still irritated Sakura to no end.
All of the members in the ginormous family of the Uchiha clan were blessed with unjustly good looks. It was a well known fact and one that seemed to go hand in hand with their proud, powerful and egotistical attitudes. Sakura had spent her entire life avoiding being around any of the Uchiha's. Her family hated them, and if they were anything like Sasuke, she didn't even want to be in the same vicinity anyway.
Sadly, it didn't help that they were the biggest family out of all the founding clans in Konoha.
Not long after their first meeting as children, Sasuke and Sakura had been separated into different classes in order to avoid further... mishaps. From the requests of their families, the school had personally made sure that they had no more than at least 2 classes together - reducing their contact as much as possible. Though it was impossible to separate them for those one or two lessons they shared, neither of them clearly wanted to even be in the same breathing room. She had grown up reluctantly near Sasuke, watching him mature, but getting nonetheless unpleasant as the years went by.
For all throughout her schooling life, she and Sasuke had spent every moment competing with one another - whether it be getting better scores during class tests or claiming the best seats in class. It even extended to things outside their academics. They would fight over who claimed the last bento box in the cafeteria and who could outdo the other in sports. To every observer, it seemed that they lived to outdo, outsmart and outwit one another. They did not require a viable reason to be rivals, merely acting on their extreme dislike for one another.
Her attention sharpened back to watch Sasuke as he ignored the fawning fangirls - blatantly disregarding their existence - and moved to scan over the mass of students occupying the room. His eyes immediately snagged on her's, and a cold-hearted smirk graced his lips.
'Found you' They seemed to say.
Sakura fought the urge to fling something at him - perhaps something larger, heavier and more deadly than a sharpener. She suppressed the temptation and curled her hands into tight fists under her desk. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he still managed to infuriate her like no other.
He seemed to enjoy watching her seethe from his attention, and he moved to casually walk over to where she sat, not even sparing a glance to the other students. A path immediately cleared for him like the Red Sea.
Sakura's morning had immediately gone down the drain. The last thing she wanted was to deal with Uchiha Sasuke. He would only prove to soil the rest of her day.
She moved with haste, shoving her only notebook back into her bag and grabbing the strap simultaneously. There was no way she would voluntarily stay and have any sort of contact with the Uchiha.
Before she could move any further, a pair of strong, perfectly carved hands and arms slammed onto her desk at the last minute, calloused fingers entrapping her bag strap.
Sakura froze. Every hair on the back of her neck rose with the close, physical proximity. Her gaze remained locked on his hands - long fingered and scarred from his years of practicing of taijutsu. The muscles on his forearms flexed, and she watched them roll from beneath his skin before she trailed her eyes slowly upwards.
The classroom had fallen to a complete silence. Everyone waited, observing what was to occur between the two biggest rivals of Konoha and ready to spread the gossip around campus within minutes.
"Good morning, my Juliet." Sasuke greeted, his voice was low and husky. The words flowed off his tongue as thick as honey.
The sound of his alluring voice made Sakura's defenses rise. Everything about this man made her want to punch his perfect teeth out.
She made sure to keep her face emotionless. She had spent many years honing her skill of being able to maintain her emotions in check, but it was something about Sasuke that constantly tested her temper. He must have been naturally talented at it.
Sakura had half a mind to give him the "don't-even-bother" look, but she didn't want to give him the chance to snark her even more.
"Nothing to say, Haruno?" He mocked, eyes provoking, "that would be a first."
The jab rekindled her irritation tenfold.
'What the hell does that mean?' Sakura fumed. The jerk was pretty much insulting her to her face when she had yet to even utter a single word.
She inhaled deeply from her nose, hoping it would help regain some form of composure. The audible inhale seemed to spur him even more, because before she could even unclench her jaw and tell him exactly what she thought of his insolent face, he leaned in close enough to feel her breath and said:
"Hn, flustered, Sakura?"
Her natural reaction was to jerk away. The legs of her chair scraped an uncomfortable, grating sound on the floor's surface as she pushed away from him and her cheeks burned from her anger. She could count the number of times he used her given name over the years they spent knowing one another, and the way he said it now made her want to physically hurt him.
The nails that had been gouging gashes into her hand began to tear at the skin and a vein started to pop in her forehead.
To hell with composure.
"Not at all, Sasuke," she had purposefully laced her tone with potent sarcasm and absolute vexation when she ommited the use of 'Uchiha' in favor of his own first name, "I merely have no interest to say anything to the likes of you."
His own sharp eyes narrowed with ferocity, "Or perhaps you've got nothing of worth to say at all."
The fibres of anger began to hum faintly in her ears. No matter how many years she had spent arguing with Sasuke, he never failed to constantly one-up his level of irritability and absolute asshole-ness after every encounter.
"Perhaps you're right," Sakura gritted, her teeth almost grinding. She straightened from her position and tilted her head higher, making him straighten from his bent position in response, "I have nothing of worth to say to someone who's just as meaningless."
Small sniggers errupted in the corners of the classroom and Sasuke's eyes hardened into hard cuts of black diamond. Anger sharpened his entire face, making him seem almost like a marble statue.
"Witty, Haruno. Very witty. But I know you're nothing but an annoyance. Weak," -the cold tone of his voice brought the ambient temperature of the lecture hall into the negatives- "just like your father."
As the last word slipped past his lips and into the air, Sakura could have felt every single nerve in her body whip alive like lightning had been poured into her veins. She might have even audibly hissed from her temper. She had not gotten this angry in a very long time, and her displeasure must have radiated like a siren because several of the spectators nearest to the bickering pair began to back away, fearing for the possible outbreak that might explode at any minute.
Her green eyes were ferocious and unforgiving, as Sakura's glare remained locked on his. It did not look away or waver for even a second as her hand snagged at the strap of her bag and she tore it away from under his grip in one vicious swipe.
The force of her movement caused the metal clasps on her bag's zipper to gouge an deep, angry line on the wood surface, but Sasuke didn't even seem bothered by it. His balance remained steady despite her tearing away at the strap that had been wedged under his hands.
His ability to remain perfectly immovable just riled Sakura up even more.
Less than a microsecond later, her other arm had swung up to hit him, the action not even processing in her mind - merely moving from instinct. Her clenched fist was nothing but a blur, but Sasuke - with his heightened senses from his martial arts training - caught it smoothly before it could make contact with the unblemished skin of his cheek.
Her hand had been clenched tightly, the knuckles sharp and hard from the rigidity of her grip. At the speed of her swing and the hardness of her clenched fist, the momentum must have been enough to bruise, but from his stony expression, Sasuke didn't even seem close to hurt by it.
Her fierce jade eyes didn't move from his as she bared her teeth at him in a savage snarl. She had had enough of his jabs and cruel comments. He had no right to judge her or her family when he was a hundred times more awful.
His long, tapered fingers folded over the skin of her fist and his dark eyes slitted into a indignant look. The corners of his mouth turned down into an equally disgusted frown. The feeling of his roughened skin against her's continued to make her fist itch with discomfort.
For a second, he simply held her fist there, in his much larger palm, before a shadow casted over his features and his grip tightened almost painfully over her closed fist.
The tension caused her coiled fingers to bend deeper, sending a shooting pain into her distal joints. Sakura muffled the small cry that arose from the unexpected action and wrenched her hand away.
The crowd remained unmoving, merely watching the showdown. While snarky words and insults were a common - yet still entertaining - form of event that took place whenever Sakura and Sasuke argued, physical violence was not always promised. And with the imminent threat of expulsion hanging over their heads, it only happened on several, rare, occasions.
Sakura masked her expression back to one of nonchalance, but made sure that he read the cold scorn that swam in her eyes.
With her bag and fist now free from his captive hold, Sakura twisted on the balls of her feet and made her way out the doors - Biology class be damned.
Just as she reached the doorway, the pinkette paused, twisting her head to look at him over her shoulder as she spoke, "We'll settle this during rehearsals-" jade eyes sparked with haughtiness, "Romeo."
She could feel his stare follow her all the way out.
Later that day, as Sakura made her way down an empty hallway, she contemplated her game plan. There was no way to outrun Sasuke. There never had been. She and him had always been two polar opposites that had somehow ended up tossed into a ring with walls that stretched so high above that there would be no way out.
If neither Kurenai nor Anko would recast another as Romeo, he would be her costar. What was worse was that he wouldn't just be a regular cast member.
He would be her character's other half.
He would be her love interest.
Her romantic partner.
Her 'star-crossed' lover.
The thought alone had her nearly buckling from repulsion.
He would be Romeo, and since she was definitely not planning on stepping down as Juliet, that meant that the two of them would have to be able to reenact Shakespeare's most iconic romantic pairs with flawless depiction.
That seemed like an impossible feat on it's own. It was no secret that the two of them had never had even one civil conversation with one another. Despite having grown up in the same city and attending the same schools for nearly their entire lives, Sakura could not remember a time when she and Sasuke had even one conversation that didn't end decently. It was hard, when their families were pitted enemies and the bad blood ran deep.
'How the hell is this going to work?'
It would have taken a miracle to even get them to co-operate. Clearly Kurenai hadn't been thinking when she had casted them both as the leads. Sakura would have even welcomed the perverted and most unpleasant, Suigetsu as Romeo if it meant not having to act beside Sasuke.
It simply would not work. Once Kurenai saw how combustable the discord between the two of them was, she would just have to choose to keep one and recast the other.
And there was no way she was going to give up without a fight.
She vowed to herself - right then and there, that she wasn't going to let anything get in the way of her spotlight, of her dream as an actress. Not even acting with Sasuke - should it end up that way.
Even if he was her most hated enemy.
Even if he was Romeo and she - Juliet.
Even if she had to risk falling in love.
There was a fine line between love & hate, but Sakura knew which side she stood on, and she had no plans to cross it.
Sakura continued her walk, confidence causing her strides to lengthen as she smirked to herself. Yes, she would fight tooth and nail for her part as Juliet. She had waited too long for a chance like this one to happen. If Sasuke expected her to cave from the prospect of working alongside him, he would be sorely mistaken.
A white flash on her left caught as eye as Sakura walked down another adjoining hallway. She slowed in her steps as she looked at the notice board - catching sight of the white piece of paper that had been pinned. It was the drama department's bulletin.
And on it was the cast list.
Her forest green eyes scanned over the sheet with precision, reading over names and grinning widely at the sight of her own name listed next to "Juliet Capulet". She had known, of course, that she had done well during auditions, but after hearing that Kurenai had also cast Sasuke as Romeo, the subconscious side of her had worried at their poor sense of judgement, which might have led to them awarding the lead female role to somebody else instead as well.
At the reminder of Sasuke, once again, Sakura's happy smile morphed into an irritated scowl. She scanned the list of names to find that "Romeo Montague" had, indeed, been assigned to "Uchiha Sasuke".
'Fuck my life'
Sakura was half tempted to scratch his name out from frustration. Hours had passed since their heated encounter in the classroom. She had walked out without concern over having skipped a class, and it had taken her the entire morning into the early afternoon to calm herself down again. It not only infuriated her that he could anger her so easily, but that even without being physically present, he managed to get on her nerves.
A dark idea formed in her mind, and Sakura's frown switched to a scheming smirk - one full of wicked gleaming teeth. She pulled out a spare pen and uncapped the lid with her teeth, fingers moving fast to scratch out the words exactly where she wanted it on paper.
There would be no mistaking who had written it. Nobody else would have had the motive, nor the guts to do so, anyway. She didn't mind the attention, or whatever wild gossip that would spring from her actions. She didn't care at all, because the words, as taboo or as heartless as they seemed, rang with the depth of her resentment.
Her footsteps remained quiet and muted as she walked away. The sunlight streaming in from one the windows caused the words on the paper to glisten - still wet from the ink.
Three words spelled out - dark and angry against the snow white sheet:
Romeo must die…
End Note:
Original Note:
Ahahhah! So the infamous Uchiha Sasuke finally appears!
Updated 2016 Note:
I severely underdeveloped this chapter when I originally wrote it. The thing about expressing an emotion like hate is that there has to be a viable reason behind it. Even now, after rewriting this chapter, I feel like I may not have done it enough justice.
Anyway, if you're a new reader, thank you so much for giving this story a chance. I apologise if I have yet to rewrite the chapters after this and you're stuck with the crappy, outdated version.
Do review!