Standard Disclaimer Applied.

Notes: Sorry for the late update! T_T i was... busy.

4.

.

.

.

Sakura was the youngest of the three children of Hatake Haruhi and Haruno Nakatsu.

The eldest was Haruno Kotetsu. He had the same emerald eyes like his mother. And luckily, he inherited his black hair from his dad. He's a successful brain surgeon who lives in Sunagakure.

The second one is Haruno Ami. She, like her Dad, has ebony hair. But her eyes were green. Just like her mothers.

And the youngest was Haruno Sakura, the pink-haired girl and emerald eyes just like her mother. Some people would say she was her carbon copy.

People would say oh how lucky the youngest kid would be. Every attention would be on her. She would be the favorite of her parents.

But no, Sakura wasn't.

When she was nine, their family business got bankrupt. Financially, they were down. And almost every night, her parents would argue about it over and over again.

And from then on, Sakura realized it was her time to grow up.

She never asked for toys. Because they have to save up for her brother's college fees.

She never asked for more clothes. Because her mother asked her sister to hand her some of her sister's outgrown clothes.

She never asked for anything during birthdays. Because she realized she shouldn't.

She never asked for anything during Christmas. Except her wish to remain an honor student, because that would make her Father satisfied.

She took summer jobs since she was twelve. Now, she's seventeen.

And only a few knew anything about that. But not her mother or her father.

It was just her Kakashi-nii and Hinata.

But now her family is stabled financially. But she still works hard and earns her own money. She works part-time at a bakeshop in the city. She's proud of herself that with her own savings, she bought her own car. (With a little help from Kakashi-nii and Kotetsu-ni, of course).

But earlier that Friday morning, her mother asked her to let her sister borrow her car. And she can't say no to her mom because her sister has been depressed for a while. Her fiancé died over an accident two months ago, and since then she hadn't been outside the house.

Except today, Ami asked her mother if she could go out with one of her friends. Sakura saw the gladness in her mother's face when Ami said that. Her mother had been so worried regarding Ami's behavior since the accident. And so was Sakura. Problem was they own only two cars. One was Sakura's and the other was her parents'.

She can't let down her sister. And her mother. So she agreed to her mother asking.

"Thank you, honey. And don't worry. Your sister will pick you up at four." Haruhi said.

"Yeah okay." She nodded.

.

.

.

.

.

.

She sat on the chair. He squatted on the floor.

She was quiet. He was quiet.

She was studying Physics. He was reading The General in his Labyrinth.

She flipped a page of her large hard-bound book. He flipped a page of his paperback book.

It was awkward. Well, in Sakura's case.

If it was like any normal day between them, Sakura would have probably annoyed Sasuke about the book he was reading. And they probably would have argued about it. And then Sakura would have asked a lot of random questions. And of course, Sasuke would answer properly (surprisingly).

But after the conversation yesterday, Sakura just find it hard to talk to him.

She came to realized that he was different. Or maybe she was. He was someone with a status. She was no one. And even the thought of them acquainted appeared to be ridiculous to her right now. There she was, happy about whatever going on that's happening between them. And then suddenly she felt like someone just splashed cold water on her face and said, 'Bitch please, you're barely a part of his life. He can't even call you a friend.'

Yeah, it was something like that.

He was the hot guy of any movie, bad-ass or romance. And she was just a regular straight-A student. Just like any other nerdy students any other school has.

She was an audience. A spectator. A viewer. Someone who would probably endlessly admire the actor but never get to stand on the same ground as him.

She remained silent and focused on the book she was reading, chasing Sasuke away from her mind. Until her phone rings.

Over the phone her Mom said, "Sakura?"

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing. It's about your sister."

"Why? What happened?"

"Nothing, really. Actually I called you because Ami called me and said she can't make it at four."

"Oh," Sakura realized the situation. "That's okay, I can wait."

"No, honey. She said she's going to have dinner at Anko's."

"Oh," She really had nothing left to say except to offer a compromise. But she knows that her Mom is also heading in that direction.

"Well, I was hoping if you can manage to have a ride home by yourself, I'm pretty sure you could ask Hinata that little favor?" Sakura could imagine her with her plea in her voice that also suggests you can't say 'no.'

But Hinata is not yet home. She's arriving later this evening.

"Mom—"

"Or we could pick you up. It'll be late but—"

"No, Mom. No, it's okay. I'm fine. I'll manage. I could take the bus, really."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. I'll find a ride."

"Oh, thank you Sakura."

"Yeah. I got to go."

She dropped the call and sigh. Internally she was thinking how crappy events turned out. True, she could ride the bus. Only she hated it on how slow it runs— exactly why she tried so hard to buy her own car. But then again, she really doesn't have a choice.

"So," Sasuke stood up and walked towards the chair and took a seat. "You need a ride."

"Eavesdroppers are hideous creatures." She retorted defensively.

"Not my fault you were so loud."

She just rolled her eyes.

"I could give you a ride."

She froze. She stared at him. She ignored the skip of her heart's beat.

She found it was all too weird. Uchiha Sasuke offering Haruno Sakura a ride home. But she shrugged off the surprised look.

"I honestly don't want to die this young."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Your fangirls Sasuke. Surely, you remember how obsessive they could get. Plus, I'm the nerd. The weirdo with the natural pink hair who loves simplicity and quiet. I don't really want to get my life go on ruckus over a 'ride home'."

Sasuke let out a small amused chuckle.

"What?" She said

"My offer still stands." He said in a voice convincing enough, but not for Haruno Sakura.

"I suppose I should formally say, No Thank You." She smiled sarcastically.

"Hn. Okay, then."

And then he left.

Three hours later, Sakura found herself walking towards the bus stop. She took a glance at the sky and realized she should walk faster because it's growing dark. Not that it's late, but it seems like its going to rain any time soon.

She would probably never admit this to herself, but she kind of regretted the fact that she turned down the glorious offer of the glorious Uchiha Sasuke. It would have been comfortable to seat on his Porsche or whatever that was (she wasn't really particularly good with cars). Very comfortable. But Sakura shrugged off the whole silly idea and tried to remember dignity. She walked faster since it started drizzling. She really should have not left her umbrella in her car. What a stupid thing to do.

"Oh shit." She cursed on herself.

From the little drizzles, the sky suddenly poured heavy raindrops. And she had nothing else to do except run fast to the bus stop. Luckily it had a shed. She hastened when she heard someone's car beeping.

Ami? She thought. She looked for her car and later laughed at the idea that her sister might have come to pick her up. Highly unlikely. No one's coming, get real Sakura.

Beep. Beep.

She turned around and saw a familiar car. She really was not sure whether it was her whom the car was beeping to. She looked around. No one was actually walking under the pouring rain except her. Oh how silly it would have looked. But she kept on running because it's getting colder by the minute. Plus, what if it was a kidnapper? Paranoia could get through her sometimes. But seriously, the car was way too fancy for a kidnapper.

The car finally caught her.

"Hey!" He shouted through an open window of his car.

"Sasuke?" She shouted back.

"Get in."

And so she did.

.

.

.

Notes:

I made a bit of a background of Sakura and I hope it didn't suck.

Pretty short, ne?