A/N: hi everyone! Um…all I really have to say is…enjoy the story(:

Chapter One: Enter Haruno Sakura

"Oi, Pinky!"

"Hey, Billboard-brow! Wanna advertise for my dad's company?"

"Watch out, everybody! Her forehead might hit a glare and blind you!"

I walked through the halls of my high school, ignoring the insults randomly thrown at me.

The girl beside me scowled softly at the students and turned back to me, giving me a small smile. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan," she said, "Just ignore them."

I smiled back. "Arigatiou, Hinata-chan."

My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm 16 years old and I go to Konoha High School. My life isn't what you would call "perfect." Unless your definition of "perfect" is surviving on a six-dollar-an-hour budget and living on your own while attending one of the worse High Schools in Japan, then my life is perfectly perfect.

When I was just two years old, my parents divorced, and neither one wanted to take me into their custody, so I ended up in an orphanage for most of my life. When I turned fourteen and started to go to high school, the orphanage allowed me to live on my own. Ever since then, I've been working part-time after school in a fast food store called Ichiraku, and got paid the minimum wage.

The high school I go to isn't the best there is. Actually, it's the exact opposite of the best. It's one of the worse in the country, literally.

I wanted to apply to Konoha Pre-Med, since I want a be a doctor, but I didn't have the money. So I ended up here.

Even though I'm a junior, people (including some sophomores and even some freshmen) tease be because of my naturally pink hair and my "abnormally large" forehead. But somehow, I've managed to have one really great friend. Her name is Hyuuga Hinata. We met in our freshman year and we've been practically undividable ever since. She's also teased, but for her shyness and lack of social ability.

Her cousin, Hyuuga Neji, also goes to our school, but he's a senior. The Hyuuga family (not including Hinata-chan) isn't the most…merciful family you'll ever meet, and Neji proves it, by being as impassive and stoic as any human being can ever be.

The town I live in a "low-class" neighborhood, and it was the only place where I could actually afford a decent apartment to live in. Most of the kids who go to my school are middle-class, and few of them actually come from decent families, like Hinata-chan, but then decide to send them to schools like this.

-o.o-

Ring, Ring!!

The school bell rang and the students who were chatting with each other made no move to settle in their seats, which was typical.

Hinata-chan and I, though, withdrew from our conversation and waited for our usually late sensei to arrive. (A/N: Betcha can't figure out who that is!)

Our first period class, and most of the other periods, were "set up" into sections. In the first few seats were where the smart and actually dedicated students sat. In the next row sat the semi-smart students, such as Hinata-chan and I. In the last seats sat the "unconcerned" kids. You know, those kids who don't care weather or not they actually get an education. About 93 of the class is back there.

I was startled a bit when someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. I turned around and was face to face with no one other than Uzumaki Naruto, the class screw-up. He had an obnoxiously loud voice but had somewhat good looks. Hinata-chan told me in our sophomore year that she had developed a crush on him! He is also a regular customer at the ramen place I work at, so we're sort of familiar with each other. (But still, I don't know how he can maintain his weight with the diet he's on…)

"Ohiayo, Sakura-chan!" he greeted with a wide grin. I raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Naruto?" I asked, trying to imitate Neji a bit.

"Actually, I have a question," he said, sitting down on the desk.

"If it's anything about ramen, I'll--"

"No, no, it's nothing about ramen!" he assured, putting his hands up as if to defend his self.

"Then what do you want?" I said, getting a little peeved.

His grin increased. "Wanna make out?"

"WHAAAAAAT?!" I yelled at him, shooting out of my seat, my eyes rolling back and a vein popping out of my raised fist.

Naruto, who was still smiling, scratched the back of his head. "Anou…what I meant to ask is if I can make out with you…" (I swear, behind me, Hinata must of fainted).

With my anger blocking my vision, I punched the sick bastard square in the jaw, sending him flying across the classroom and hitting the chalk board. The students around me were whispering as I stood there with my fist still raised, panting.

I looked around and saw every eye on me.

Now would be one of those many times where I wish I could just disappear.

Suddenly, there was a soft "Ahem" from the door, and all the heads snapped back to find our teacher, Hatake Kakashi, standing at the door.

All was quiet for what seemed to be an eternity, but was actually a very long 3-second time period.

Kakashi's visible eye (his other one was covered by his bangs) scanned the room and fell on the unconscious Naruto. Everyone (except for Hinata-chan again) pointed their fingers at me. "She did it!" they all chorused.

Pssh…tattle tales… my Inner Sakura pouted. I silently agreed with her.

"Yare, yare…" Kakashi-sensei sighed as he started to make his way over to me. "…too bad for Uzumaki, and you, Haruno." He stopped just a foot in front of me and leaned down so he could meet my eye level (which was pretty low compared to him.)

Needless to say, I was blushing like mad, especially with my trigonometry teacher's (A/N: yeah, Kakashi teaches the most hated high school subject!) face just mere inches away from mine.

Kakashi-sensei smiled from underneath his mask (weirdly enough, he wears a mask. Everyone says, mostly girls, that his face it too beautiful to show).

"De-ten-tion…!" he said, pronouncing each syllable as if I were a four-year-old.

WHAT?! my inner self raged, WHY SHOULD WE GET DETENTION?! IT'S NOT OUR FAULT THAT BASTARD WANTED TO MAKE OUT WITH US!!
A few of the students, "Ooo"-ed, and some snickered, being the immature freaks they are.

I opened my mouth to object, but closed it with a sigh, knowing that someone would go against me if I even tried to make a point. "H-hai…" I muttered, keeping my head down and ignoring my alter-ego's mental rampage.

Kakashi-sensei stood up straight, his eye never leaving mine. "Hyuuga," he called. Hinata-chan hurriedly stood up from her seat. "H-H-Hai!" she said, I mean, stammered.

"Take Uzumaki to the nurse's office, and take Nara with you," Kakashi said.

A loud and annoyed groan was heard from within the crowd as someone made their way through. "Mendoukusai na…" he muttered, emerging from the crowd.

Nara Shikamaru, the lazy-ass bastard. He's well known among the juniors for his trademark like, "Mendoukusai na," or "How troublesome." Despite his laziness and his habit of falling asleep during class, he's surprisingly one of the smartest in our grade, and maybe the school.

"No complaining," Kakashi-sensei said, his gaze finally ripping from mine as he turned back to the front of the classroom. "Just do it before you join Haruno after school."

Hinata-chan's opalescent eyes went downcast as she muttered, "Hai." Shikamaru muttered the same, but with a lazy sigh.

Hinata-chan shot me an apologetic look. I smiled and gestured towards the knocked out Uzumaki. She shyly smiled back, her cheeks turning a darker red.

She and Shikamaru each slung one of Naruto's arms around their shoulders and lifted him up from the ground. I could tell that Hinata-chan was about to faint due to the proximity between her and her crush.

As soon as the door shut behind them, the chatter broke out once again, and this time, I heard my name mentioned more.

"Alright, alright, settle down," Kakashi-sensei said from the front of the room. "Everyone back in their seats so we can start the lesson."

I sighed and shuffled my way back to my desk, immediately putting my head in my arms.

-o.o-

The rest of the day seemed to lag on as slowly as ever. Period after period I was traumatized even more (but thankfully I didn't get any more detention hours!)

Finally, sixth period lunch came. Hinata-chan and I sat outside under a Sakura blossom tree near the football field and ate our bagged lunches. (neither of us wanted to take a chance with the legendary school lunch.)

"Ne, Hinata-chan," I said, taking a bite out of my udon ball (A/N: I'm not actually sure if there's such thing…but for the sake of the story there is…), "You never told me how your trip with Uzumaki-kun was."

Hinata-chan blushed as she took a bite of her rice ball. "A-Anou… it was alright," she muttered. "The nurse wasn't there, so Nara-kun woke Uzumaki-kun by throwing cold water on his face…"

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!! my inner self cracked up, holding her stomach and rolling on the floor. I mentally rolled my eyes.

"…and so I had to tend to his would and--"

"Wait," I interrupted her, "you had to heal him?" She meekly nodded, the blush growing. I grinned. "So? What happened next?" I asked, getting anticipated a bit.

"T-Then, Nara-kun left us, and the only thing Uzumaki-kun said was, 'Where the hell am I?', 'Who the hell are you?', 'You're Neji's cousin, right?', and 'Thanks Hyuuga.'" Hinata-chan sighed and put her head down. "So much for a first conversation…" she muttered.

I gave her a small smile. "That's okay," I told her, "Now that he knows you, I bet he'll talk to you more often."

She sighed once again. "But what if Uzumaki-kun doesn't remember me?"

"Stop doubting yourself, Hinata-chan," I said to her in a semi-strict tone, "If you keep doing that, you'll never have the guts to talk to anyone you meet."

Hinata-chan looked up, her eyes a bit hopeful. "A-Arigatou, Sakura-chan," she said, a small tingle of red left on her cheeks. I smiled and gave her a short, friendly hug, saying, "No problem. That's what friends are for, ne?" She nodded and sat up straight.

"Anyway," I said, taking another bite of my food and changing the subject, "why do you always call him, 'Uzumaki-kun?'? I mean, no one calls each other with respect here…"

"D-Demo…I was raised to show respect to everyone I meet, Even if I talk about them behind their backs."

I looked at her and cocked my head in confusion. "Anou, Hinata-chan, "I said, sipping my juice, "If your family is so strict, then what are you doing in a school like this?"

Hinata-chan looked at me, then at her half eaten rice ball. "M-My father wanted to send me to Konoha Private Academy, but I refused."

My jaw dropped and nearly touched the ground. "B-B-B-B-But, WHY?!" I asked (more like yelled).

Oi, I think you're scaring her…she's cringing… my inner self pointed out.

Ignoring her, I continued, "That's like, the BEST school there is! No, it's the BEST SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY!!"

"I-I kn-kn-know!," she said, still cringed. I looked at her expression and clamed down a bit, straightening out my sailor fuki (A/N: you know, those uniforms that Japanese school girls wear…I think that's what they're called…). Hinata-chan sat up straight again and continued. "I-I know it's a really good school, but my father wanted to send only me there, and not Neji-niisan. I thought it was unfair to make him go here alone."

"But he's your cousin," I pointed out, "Why should your father make the decisions?"

Hinata-chan looked down again. "Neji-niisan's father, my father's twin brother, died in a car accident when he was eight …" she whispered, and I was just barely able to hear her.

My eyes widened. "…so my father took him in, since he couldn't live on his own at the time. Ever since then, we've been living under the same roof as if we were brother and sister."

I looked at my best friend for a minute, and something came into realization.

SO THAT'S WHY HE'S SUCH A STOIC BASTARD!! Inner Sakura proclaimed.

Just then, the school bell rang, signaling the end of 6th period lunch. Hinata-chan and I gathered our stuff and rushed back to the building.

"See ya later, Sakura-chan!" Hinata-chan waved as she turned to the to the other side of the school. (We only had first, third, fifth, and sixth period together).

"I can't!" I called back, "I have detention, remember?"

"Oh, okay then, I'll call you!"

"Ok, ja ne!"

-o.o-

Seventh and eight period seemed to lag on like the rest of the day. But I had eighth period biology with Neji, and I decided to act more… "friendly" towards him.

But on top of today's negatives, I'm piled up with homework, and then I have detention, and THEN, I have to take the bus home!!

I sighed and emitted a yarn as I sat in the classroom where I had my first embarrassment of the day.

Kakashi-sensei was late. Again!

ARGH!! my alter-ego cried out in frustration. WHAT DOES THAT BASTARD DO ALL THE TIME??

I don't know, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd shut up just for a while so my brain can be at some sort of peace.

Why should I?

Because I can always kill you with therapy.

That therapy shit never works!

…good point.

Just then (AND FINALLY!) the door opened, revealing the masked trig teacher.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, scratching the back of his head. "You see, there was this black cat that walled across the hall when I was on my way here, so I had to go aaaaaallll the way around the school--" he made a demonstration with his hands moving in a giant semi-circle, "--and then came here."

I looked at him with an impassive expression. Honestly, does that even sound like a decent excuse? "…Am I supposed to believe that?" I said.

"Unless you want another hour of detention, then yes."

CHAA!! THE BASTARD IS TRYING TO BLACKMAIL US!! I mentally groaned. "Fine, I believe you," I sighed.

Kakashi-sensei grinned. "Yosh! Let's get started!" He trotted happily to his desk and pulled out a giant pile of papers. He dropped it on his desk with a big BOOM! and smiled at me happily. I sighed again and slumped down in my seat.

Ugh…let's just get this over with…

-o.o-

About two and a half hour later, nearly at six o'clock, I emerged from the school, being one of the few teenagers left outside.

GAH THAT WAS SO BORING!

It was…fun?

All we did was grade stupid test papers and clean the desk!

What do you mean that's all we did?! Those desks are nearly impossible to clean! And practically all of those papers got a failing mark, and it's all going to be blamed on US!

Eh…stop complaining, ya big baby…

I looked up at the color stained sky. "Kuso…" I mumbled. "By the time I get home, it'll be dark…"

I walked ahead to the bus stop, taking my mp3 player out of my bag and plugging the headphones into my years. Pressing 'play' I let the music soothe my tensed up mind.

Where are you walking?
What are you staring at now?
Are you still chasing that dream
you once told me about?
I loved your face…
…that seemed to tell the future

I sat on the bench below the bus stop post, waiting for the godforsaken bus to arrive while listening to one of my favorite songs, Still Alone, by Ayumi Hamasaki.

For you to protect that dream
I couldn't be with you
When you stood here, and watched the scenery,
How much anxiety and confusion did you battle with?
I've learned a lot…
…from being alone.

This song made me smile, and not just because of the beat and her voice. It made me think of how…unnatural love is, and how it affects everyone's lives forever.

As long as you didn't let go of my hand
I felt like I could do anything.
When we walked along the same path
I believed without a single doubt
But even so, why…?
But even so, why…?

I wondered if a love like this could happen. A beautiful as it sounds, if you really listen to it, it's actually depressing. A broken love and a wandering heart…

But I…
I remember your promise
I remember every day…

Finally, the bus came from down the road, and came to a screeching stop. I stood up, taking my bus card out of my bag.

The bus idled for a minute before the doors opened, revealing an overweight bus driver with a indifferent look on his face. I walked up the stairs, letting my card slide through the slot and looked up at the seats, which were pretty sparse, except for three men sitting in the back. They looked about two years older than myself.

They looked up at me, and one by one, their smiles grew into wide grins.

Omigod PERVERTS!! Inner-Me yelled, pointing accusingly at the men. Run away! Run away!!

Urusai! I replied (not out loud). It's not like we're beautiful or anything.

Are you kidding me?! We're hot!

I rolled my eyes and walked to the first row of seats. There, happy?? I asked.

Inner Sakura crossed her arms and pouted. …no…

I sighed as the bus doors closed again and took off with a lurch.

I heard whispers and a few chuckles from the back, along with some feet shuffling.

Eep! They're after us!

Stop being so paranoid!

But she was right, though. From my peripheral vision, I could see them two seats away from me. I decided to ignore them, keeping my mp3 player on high and my gaze in front of me. I didn't even dare to look to the side, and pretended I had no idea what was happening.

After a few minutes, the men were in the seat behind me, and their whispers were muffled.

Ok, maybe you were right… I thought, paranoia turning to me.

I'M ALWAYS RIGHT!!

The bus came to another stop, the one where I had to get off.

RUN! RUN!!

That'll only make thing worse!

But I did stand up hurriedly and semi-jogged out of the bus, breaking into a fast walk when my feet touched the concrete.

"Hey princess, where you heading?"

At the voice, paranoia grabbed me, and I quickened my pace, but I heard their heavy steps catching up.

And you're telling me that I'm paranoid…

Suddenly, one of the guys jumped in front of me, making me shriek and come to a stop.

He had a big pervy-looking smile plastered on his face. "Hey baby," he said taking a step towards me. "Wanna stop for a while?"

I cringed back until I bumped into something hard. I turned around abruptly to find the other man standing there, a similar smile on his face.

I backed away, my mp3 player now laying on the ground and the music still playing.

I spun around once again, trying to find another way out, but say another goon to my right.

"W-What do you want?" I managed to get out, despite my heart knocking dangerously fast against my ribs and making it hard to breathe.

The first one, who seemed to be the leader, chuckled and took a large step forward so his body was now mere inches away from mine.

"We just want to talk, hun…" he said, as his hands suddenly grasped my naked forearms.

EWW! DON'T LET HIM TOUCH US!!

For once, I listened to my alter-ego and my senses came back to me. At 150 miles per hour.

Gathering my guts, I raised my knee and slammed it into the man's groin, causing him to double over in pain.

Inner-Me cheered. WOO HOO! KICK PERVY ASS!

Are you kidding me? I'm running!

And with that, er…thought, I ran, to where, I don't know, all the while clutching my bag to my chest. (A/N: The bag that she has is like those Japanese bags. It's those briefcase like ones. If you need a picture, just let me know.)

I knew very well that those men could easily catch up to me, even if I were running at my top speed.

I kept running until my lungs started to burn, and even after that, knowing my life (and probably my virginity) depended on it.

Just as I was about to turn at the corner of the block, someone grabbed my wrists and pulled me back, slamming me against the wall of a nearby alley. My head took most of the impact, making it throb like mad. I looked up and saw the irked face of the guy I had kneed. He grabbed my chin tightly, making me look him straight in the eye.

"You're gonna pay for what you did back there, bitch," he snarled, his face so close to me that I could feel his breath on my skin. I winced as the grip on my chin grew tighter.

"L-Let go of m-me…" I managed to mutter despite my fear and the fact that he was practically holding my mouth shut.

The bastard chuckled and his face got dangerously close to mine. "Don't count on it, bitch," he mumbled and his hands started to wander around my body. I felt dirty and violated, and no matter how much I struggled, his grip was stronger than mine.

No! I like my virginity the way it is!

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. But his arms and legs pinned mine against the wall. I looked around and saw that the other two bastards were grinning on either side him.

Oh, Kami-sama, please, I prayed, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be hurt. What did I do to deserve this? Please, for your love, help me…

As if my prayers were answered, a voice growled from the sidewalk, "Get the fuck away from her." Both of our heads shot up and looked at the source of the deep masculine voice.

The Bastard (A/N: That's sorta his "name") let go of me and I promptly slid down the wall and onto the floor, holding my probably bruised chin.

"Who the hell are you?" The bastard snarled. I looked back up, and couldn't make out the features of the stranger, except his hair, which was spiked up in the back and his tall frame. Actually, his hair kind of looked like a chicken's ass…

The stranger didn't reply verbally, but he took a step forward.

"Answer my question, you son of a-" The bastard was cut of by a nice hard-looking punch square in the jaw that sent him flying and slamming into the opposite alley wall.

I blinked. Ahhh… Inner-Me sighed dreamily with shinny eyes. Our knight and shinning armor came at last!!

I looked at the bastard, then back at the stranger.

Just who is this guy?

A/N: So, watcha think? Can you guess who this "stranger" is? Actually, I think I made it a little obvious…

SO PLEASE PRESS THAT KAWAII SHINNY GO BUTTON ON THE LOWER LEFT HAND CORNER OF YOUR SCREEN! IF YOU DO, YOU'LL WIN A MILLION DOLLARS!!

(um…sort of…)

(Edited: August 26, 2008)