"Can't you see that you're smothering me?
Holding too tightly,
Afraid to loose control.
'Cause everything that you thought I would be
Has fallen apart right in front of you.
Every step that I take is another mistake to you,
And every second I waste is more than I can take.
I've become so numb,
I can't feel you there."

—Linkin Park

Lost Control
By SpacePirateGirl

Chapter One

Wednesday had always been a normal day.

It wasn't normal for me.

From the time I got up, to the time I got to class, I knew something was wrong. Maybe it was some scent in the air, maybe some mood set by the facial expressions of everybody around me. But somewhere in my heart, I knew today was not going to be normal.

We were playing volleyball; it was that time of year, the time when the snow was slushy and melting, the time right before Prom night. Two more weeks, and it would be time. I really hoped that Naruto would ask Hinata out. I knew how much she loved him, even though he had a crush on me. They were my only friends, and I would be forced to stay home from Prom without a dance partner.

But I would be happy.

Hinata deserved Naruto. She was kind, caring, the type of girl who always gave a shit about people. Definitely not the type to attend Konoha High, the worst school in the state, the school where all the "bad kids" went, or the ones who were poor. Hinata was high-class, but she wasn't one of the bad ones either. Her cousin, Hyuga Neji, was—he had been sent here, and Hinata had refused to leave him to come alone. Her selfish bastard of a cousin, and she still cared. I admired Hinata for that.

Uchiha Sasuke, my worst enemy at school, was on the opposite volleyball team. Neji was his friend, as was a kid named Kiba. Uchiha was popular, and I knew he had strong ties with Ino's popular group as well. Most of the time he acted like a two-year-old throwing temper tantrums whenever he didn't get what he wanted. But still he was a teenager; his tantrums tended to be worse than a little whining. I tended to lose control of myself and attack him when his insults cut to deep. My most frequent class was the nurse's office or detention. However bad my injuries were—it was really all the same.

Sasuke smirked devilishly at me, and I knew he had another plan to tease me, to mock me. He always did. But Wednesday—this Wednesday—his look was different. His plan was deeper, and more suffocating; I knew that from his eyes, his cold, black onyx eyes staring politely and ruthlessly at my scrawny and small form. Something was off.

A ball hit me on a head before I could remember to bump it.

"Hey, forehead girl, like, pay attention!" Ino, a former friend of mine, glared sharply at me for the lost point in volleyball. We had been Kindergarten friends, elementary school friends, and even freshmen year friends. But after her road had morphed into cheerleading, I had befriended Naruto and Hinata instead for sophomore year. She never seemed the same since then—and neither did Sasuke.

This year, Junior year, she was top cheerleader of her grade and the school, and I smiled at the thought that I was no longer her friend. Grades were more important, after all. I didn't want to find myself stuck in the same hole my parents were in, working two, full-time jobs with hardly a spare moment and still getting such a low income. I wanted a life, and that was how school had become important. "Maybe you should pay more attention in class, Ino-pig!" I threw a warning glance at her.

The volleyball game kept on until either of the two teams could win by scoring one point.

Directly across from me, Uchiha Sasuke was at the front line, smirking at me with the same uncanny premonition that something about today was different. I glared firmly back. He always got that look on his face when he came up with a new way to insult me or bully me, and I always stood strongly up to his game. But what was his game this time?

"Sakura-chan," he began, his voice mockingly polite, "do be careful not to break one of your nails when the ball comes your way."

I glared but kept my own voice falsely pleasant, as well. "Oh, don't worry, Sasuke-san. It's your nails you'll be crying over shortly."

His smirk vanished instantly, though he did not have a plausible retort at the ready. I wanted to laugh at his shock, laugh at the image of him crying like a girl over a broken nail, but I kept calm, only allowing a single smile to surface.

Hinata was serving from Sasuke's side, and I saw the ball come straight over my head as Ino bumped it back over. The ball was about to touch the floor until Hyuga Neji bumped it, and Kiba spiked it over. I set it.

Sasuke spiked it back, and Naruto bumped it. Naruto—I knew why he was sent here, too. His parents weren't exactly poor. In fact, he no longer had parents at all. He was an orphan. I had heard rumors that his mom and dad had died in a car crash when he was fourteen, and every so often, or rather as in now, I saw the lost look in his deep, sea-blue eyes. His orphanage didn't really care about education, and so they sent all the children in their custody to Konoha High . . .

No, I had to pay attention—my thoughts couldn't get lost from the game again.

Our team was losing the volleyball match because we couldn't grab the offensive. We were just defending; sooner or later, our opponents would find a hole in the barricade we had so carefully prepared. And I needed to win. The pressure of knowing that everyone would blame me if we lost boiled under my skin. And with my temper, no one would escape: detention would be a likely course. The ball dangled above the net. Determination took hold of my body. All thoughts disappeared.

I jumped up to spike.

At first, I wasn't sure what had happened. I found myself on my butt with Naruto, hovering over me, as Hinata ran to see if I was all right. The opposing team's members were laughing their heads of at me with the exception of Sasuke, who was smirking at me, his face telling me clearly, "that's what you get for being a bitch." My team was groaning in anger, and insulting me for the lost point—and thus, the lost game. Then finally the pain hit, and I clutched the top of my head in pain, flinching when I realized my arm also ached right down to the bone.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto trembled with rage and worry with his arm on my back comfortingly.

Hinata finally reached me, and knelt down. "Sakura-san, are you okay?"

God, it hurt, but I managed not to cry. Other causes of pain had been much, much worse before. Tackling three boys at once when I had hardly any physical strength at all was a dead giveaway that I would have more than a couple bruises. And this was only a bruise on my head, right?

My arm still ached, and I took back what I was thinking. Surely this pain I was feeling didn't mean my arm was broken . . . Without my right arm, I wouldn't be able to keep up with schoolwork!

"W-what happened?" asked Hinata nervously. She had been too far back to see.

But wincing as I moved my arm, I shrugged. I didn't really have any idea either. I glanced at Naruto for an explanation, but his deep, blue gaze locked angrily on Sasuke. "You guys have nothing better to do, do you?" he demanded, still trembling.

Sasuke smirked again. "And what if we don't? What are you going to do about it?"

Naruto's hands shook as he began to lose his mind, the anger overwhelming his usual senses.

"Hey, hey, Naruto," I said, snapping my fingers in front of his face with my unharmed hand. "It's okay. I'm fine. Just . . . let it go."

"They're always doing this to you! Somebody's got to stop them!"

"Not now," I whispered, "not now. Tell me what happened first."

Hinata nodded in agreement, always hoping to avoid watching her crush take on Sasuke, Neji, and Kiba on his own. Three against one was definitely not safe. And at Konoha High, I knew it was always best to play it safe.

Naruto calmed down and helped me to my feet. "You were going to spike it, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, what happened after that?"

"Sasuke jumped up to spike it, too." His blue eyes still glared at the Uchiha while he spoke. "He's stronger than you, so your arm just kinda . . ." He looked at my arm, noticing how I couldn't move it before continuing. "It just kinda snapped, and he pretty much spiked your head afterwards, instead of the ball."

The coach was running toward me, ready to send me to the nurse's office—again. It seemed I always landed in trouble like this, at least once a day, but I kept my face calm, despite the pain and anger threatening to throw me off balance. It was normal. Today was like any other Wednesday, and I still didn't understand what made it different.

"What happened here?" the coach Anko demanded.

Sasuke was first to speak before I could even open my mouth to explain. "It was an accident. We both spiked the ball at the same time, and she got hurt."

Hinata shook her head slightly, and Naruto let out a growl of anger. They knew this was no accident, and so did I. One would think after so many times of these "accidents" that Anko would believe my story, instead of his. But no, Sasuke just had to be extremely athletic and perfect and everything a P.E. teacher would want. It was only natural Anko would believe him.

I didn't even bother arguing with his story.

"All right. You—" she pointed to me— "are going to the nurse's office, and you—" this time, her finger landed on Sasuke— "are taking her."

No. Sasuke couldn't take me to the nurse's office. This was insane. This was unbelievable! Did the teacher want me to get beaten up? Fortunately Sasuke also disliked the idea. I could tell that much when he eyed me angrily and shook his head. "Why do I have to? It was an accident."

"If it was an accident," Anko shot back as she shrugged her shoulders casually, "you should be more willing to apologize by taking her there, shouldn't you?"

Sasuke's only answer was a frown. He was trapped between telling the truth to Anko and taking me to the nurse's office, trapped between a rock and a hard place.

"I can take her," Naruto suggested, also being an athletic teenager placed among Anko's favorites.

"No, that's okay, Naruto," said Anko coolly. "I think Sasuke should."

Sasuke's frown enhanced, and he strode over to me, holding out a hand. I didn't really have a choice but to take it. The minute Naruto let me go, I would fall back down. My bottom hurt really badly. So I allowed him to grab my arm and leaned heavily on him so I wouldn't fall.

Saying my last prayers to myself, I bid a silent goodbye to Naruto and Hinata as I hoped I would make it to the nurse's office in one piece. Last time Sasuke had taken me there had not turned out well, and with that in my mind, I understood that I was more likely to end up dead than on a nice, soft bed.

But Sasuke led me down the hallway for a long time, hardly hinting in any way that he wanted to hurt me. For a moment I believed I would be safe, but that was highly wishful thinking. Suddenly Sasuke pressed me up against the wall, gripping my turtleneck shirt in his hands and leaning his face close to mine. I winced when my arm hit the wall, too, but said nothing, knowing a single noise could set his attitude out of control.

"It's your own fault, you know," he muttered darkly. "If you hadn't insulted me—"

"If you hadn't insulted me," I cut in, my temper getting the best of me.

He shoved me harder onto the wall. "Let me finish," he warned softly yet menacingly.

I closed my mouth and promised myself to keep it shut until he asked me a question.

"Basically I have a proposal for you." His onyx eyes inspected me fully before he continued. "You don't have to decide now. In fact, I'll give you until tomorrow morning to decide."

Hoping to vanish into the very wall he held me against, I shrunk back. Sasuke with a proposal was something to be wary of. "What do you want?" I demanded with a whisper.

"I will stop bullying you around, and so will Neji, Kiba, and the rest of my friends," he began, his voice taunting and amused. "You will be on the road to popularity, too."

Being popular wasn't really my thing, but I had been hurt one time too many times to forget about the second part of the deal he was making. "What about Naruto and Hinata?" If anything, I really hoped his deal would apply to my only two friends, as well. I would do anything to keep them from being bullied—especially Hinata, teased for her shyness and awkward appearance. I would think Neji would take pity on her, being her cousin and all. But aside from their looks, I never could have guessed they were related.

"No. Right now this deal only applies to you," Sasuke answered coldly. "On the downside, if you don't agree to this, we'll only start picking on you worse. This is a one-time opportunity, and you have until tomorrow morning to decide."

Basically I knew what he meant. His deal could either save me or ruin my life for good. I didn't know how they could pick on me more than they already were, but if he said so, I believed him. It was hard not to listen to the threats of my worst enemy of Konoha High. "So what's the catch?" I asked suspiciously. He wouldn't just stop annoying me if I asked him to . . .

At first, he didn't answer. He merely stared at me for a while before he said anything at all. "You're a pretty enough girl. Maybe not as pretty as some girls going to this school, but you're better than most of the cheerleaders, at least."

I almost smiled at his insult to Ino and her "friends," but I wasn't in the mood to sit here forever, waiting for him to finish what he started. "What's the catch?" I repeated with my voice almost as icy as his. I was so ready to agree to his deal, no matter what the catch was. A life without being teased or laughed at every second was tempting, and I could hardly refuse.

A smirk tainted his face as he looked me directly in the eye, saying nothing for only a moment. "You have to hang out with me and my friends. And not only that, but you have to do whatever I say for the rest of high school. Basically you'll become mine to use. All the time."

I felt tears spring to my eyes, once I realized what he meant. Uchiha Sasuke wanted me as an object, as someone to manipulate, possible even as his girlfriend . . . I pushed the thoughts away and debated my options. Either my life would be ruined or my life would be ruined. I had no choice. But maybe Sasuke would be a little nicer to me if I accepted his deal.

There was still one thing I needed to beg of him though. "What about Naruto and Hinata?" I asked again. "Will you stop bothering them if I agree?"

He shrugged and loosened his grasp on my neck, assuming he had my full attention—which he did. "I suppose it's a fair trade. I mean, I probably won't let you talk to them anymore, so it would be nice to also leave them alone as a reward, wouldn't it?"

The tears started to fall from my eyes, and hoping the ache in my head wouldn't make me collapse, I leaned against the wall. I could sense he needed a little more of a push. "I'll agree to your deal right here and now if you promise you won't pick on them anymore." My friends were what mattered to me most in this Hell hole of a life. I would do anything to make Sasuke leave them alone.

"Sure, why not," he remarked disinterestedly. "There's other people to tease."

We remained silent for a quite a few seconds until he looked at me for approval. I nodded weakly, though I was hardly sure what I was getting myself into. "I'll agree to your terms," I breathed. Today had seemed perfectly normal, perfectly the same as any other day. But it had turned out so different with Sasuke promising to leave me and my friends alone, with me allowing myself to become utterly his. I shivered involuntarily. It hurt to think about my future.

"Good," Sasuke finally said, and held out a hand to bring me off the wall. He led me toward the nurse's office, having complete and perpetual control over me. Before we entered our destination, he turned to me, his eyes full of warning. "Don't tell your friends what happened," he told me. "That's my first order for you."

"What?" I cried out. "Why? They'll think I hate them . . ."

He silenced me by patting me on the shoulder. "You can change your mind about the deal any time." His tone was clearly amused.

I kept quiet after that. I wondered what Hinata would think . . . that I had abandoned her, just like I had during freshman year when I had become Ino's friend? But she would be too nervous to ask me about it . . . And Naruto! He would be outraged when he saw me with Sasuke! He would call me a traitor! I wanted to sob hysterically, to beg the rich Uchiha not to do this to me, but nevertheless, I was careful to erase all emotion from my face.

Sasuke was toying with a strand on my hair while I thought. "Why do you dye your hair? It only makes people pick on you."

I wanted to yank away from his hand before I realized he would consider it "going back on the deal." For the first time in a long while, I felt like crying but couldn't bring any tears to my eyes. They always came against my own will when I didn't want them, but when I did needed them, they were nowhere to be seen. "I don't dye my hair," I answered smoothly, trying to keep my inner temper under control. Adrenaline was rushing through my body, my body that would give anything for a fight. But Naruto and Hinata were depending on this deal I had made with the devil.

Disbelief at what I said in his eyes, Sasuke's hand moved away from the strand of my pink hair. "Let it grow out," he told me as he began to walk away. "It's too short a length to play with at the moment."

If I hadn't regained my balance, I would have fallen when he had released his hold on my body, the only thing that had been keeping me on my own two feet. Luckily my arm no longer hurt, and my headache was beginning to lessen. Maybe I would be okay to go to my next class after the bell rang.

Uncertainty plaguing me from all directions, I entered the nurse's office. I knew very well that Sasuke's sudden control of my life was only just beginning.

A/N: Sorry, I meant to get it out this morning, but I was so busy because my mom decided to go shopping for costumes on the last day. -rolls eyes- Sheesh. Anyway, um... I rated this M for swearing and sex at times (not too much except in one chapter). And also, this, I wrote when I was an idiot, so... definitely not my best, but I'm doing my best to revise it as much as possible. I hope it doesn't suck too bad. :-/ Anyway, any advice would be helpful!! Thanks!!