Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters, but you know that I wish I did.

Well here it is...WTP's first ever AU. So let me get this off my chest right now and say

That I HATE AU's.

My favorites list has exactly 0. I have honestly never read one that I could stand. If you know some, direct me, I'll try them out, but I can't promise anything. So I'm writing something I loathe, basically, so you're wondering 'why the fuck is she writing it?'

Because I had this idea that won't leave me alone so too damn bad. I'm gonna try. This is my first and probably only for now AU. So just review it and tell me what you thought...I accept flames because I wholeheartedly expect it to suck. I just don't want it to fall into a cliche.

Background:

Sasuke and Sakura are juniors at a private high school. Assume they are 16/17 and base other character ages off of those. Don't know about other pairings yet. Blah. --cringes-- go ahead then.

No Words Needed: Loving the Faraway Angel

An AU Sasu/Saku.

He knows everything about her. Favorite color and song, what she wears to sleep and that she likes to be picked up and swung in circles. She prefers fall to summer and enjoys making things explode. Candles are only acceptable if they smell like cinnamon apple. He is in love with this angel.

He knows everything about her...

Too bad he has yet to speak to her.

Prologue: Where She Sleeps

"In...I-in there?"

The brass polished numbers on the heavy wooden door, which was designed to keep fire from spreading throughout the compound, formed the number "208"; it might as well be a sign that says "The love of my life is on the other side of the door, breathing."

Well...it might not say that.

"Yes, in there, Sasuke."

I swallow noticeably, eyes nearly tearing from staring so hard at the shining numbers, and I stuff my sweating hands in my pockets, staring in disbelief at my brother as though it is a joke. The hallway is deserted, for even zero hour classes have not yet begun and existence is merely us, two newly promoted upperclassman standing in the corridor on the spotless carpet. My brother and his cerulean eyes stare right through me as I look around the vicinity, as if afraid of being overheard, and he raises an eyebrow as he watches me struggle to form the words. After a tense moment, my voice, which is quiet from permanent lack of use and an adolescence of introverted behavior, I finally choke out:

"But...right here? This room? 2–0–8?" I ask in shock, keeping my hands deep in my pockets out of fear that I do not reveal to anyone but him. Naruto knows I am nervous, but as he always said, you learn to swim by being thrown in. That's how I learned.

And I nearly drowned.

So I was pretty reluctant to the idea of just knocking on the door and saying anything; in my mind it was idiocy and completely ludicrous. Naruto obviously did not feel that way; he crossed the hallway swiftly and raised his hand to knock, and out of fear of his obnoxious and straightforward personality, I tackled him to the carpet and put a hand over his mouth.

"Don't!"

Slapping my hand away he shook his head out of pity and said, "Sasuke..."

"Well...you could wake her up," was my lame excuse. Only one of many, many excuses that I had concocted in my sleeping and waking moments alike, just to avoid this moment, just to avoid thanking her. It had been nearly two weeks since she had found Naruto and I, me stumbling like an idiot up the hallway babbling nonsense which was one of my embarrassing tendencies when no one hid the liquor from me. I am a bit annoyed...one drink always seemed to turn into two...or five...and my mother would turn over in her grave if she ever saw me touch alcohol at such a young age. So would my father. 'Course, they're not around to berate me.

Or love me.

Point is, I had to thank her sometime...I just didn't know when or how. Naruto said a simple 'Thank you' would suffice, but I don't think so...I could do something special, but is that coming on too strong...too strong for what, you might ask?

As much as it embarrasses me to admit this...

I'm in love.

'Cause I wanna be that someone that you're with...

"AND I–I–IIIII...ugh fuck..."

"Just don't open your mouth!" Naruto snapped, elbowing me in the ribs; I let out a dramatic cry and slid to the carpet, limbs thrown out unceremoniously as though I was sprawled on the asphalt after being ejected from a car. Everything was positively light and fuzzy and happy and Naruto's face swam as if I were underwater...I liked swimming, after I had learned how...after being thrown in a million times in his pool as children. I felt myself rolling in hysterical laughter caused only by my stupid tendency once again...what tendency?

"I don't have a problem!" I yelled, kicking the blonde in the shin and then collapsing into hysteria once again.

"I didn't say you...ugh," he groaned and with a piteous shake of the head, sat down next to me. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Oh no not IIIIII...I will surviii-i-i-ve!" I burst out, high-pitched in mimicry of a female tone and outrageously slid the notes in torrents of drunkenness; my tongue tasted furry and felt a bit swollen, but that was okay because the carpet was comfortable and I could have slept right there if Naruto hadn't given me a kick in the side.

"It's the first day and you're already fitting in," he accused ruefully, rolling his eyes at my sorry state.

"There's a fucking rabbit in my mouth," I said in an annoyed voice, spitting a gob of saliva into the air to rid the taste; it landed back in my open mouth and I began to choke on it.

"Not that I don't enjoy watching you make an ass of yourself, but while alcoholism is the norm around this place, a hangover on the first day is not a great impression."

My cognitive reasoning was certainly on the sluggish side as I ceased my dramatic choking fit and let out a groan; "Whasss...today?"

"Monday. Monday night, to be exact, and in a few minutes it'll be tomorrow," Naruto said, getting to his feet and grabbing my wrists; with a toe in the skull for good measure, he began to drag me across the carpet; I remember the pretty lights dancing way up above me like stars, but we weren't outside, at least not that I remember. There were doors all around; most people were in others' dorms at their own parties, since it was the first day back and we were all meeting up with friends as if we hadn't gotten completely wasted the night before taking the train back to this middle-of-nowhere hellhole private school. Well, it wasn't in the middle of nowhere, it just wasn't home. But for me, nowhere is home, but since I'm forced to sit here and stare out of windows all day and then sleep here, it's not terribly fun. At least it's autumn...I happen to like the leaves.

I guess I can still think through my drunken haze...so I guess I can try to tell you the reason I'm here on a Monday night, first night as a junior in high school with a bunch of others, ruthlessly thrust into the college setting with no attendance and a huge campus. Oh yeah, the parties and fraternities too...being dragged across the carpet in the carpeted fancy corridor where Naruto and I share a dorm.

A private high school is really the only choice for us, since while growing up in a huge house with all the perks, a public school doesn't really exist. Those of the high social class on the pyramid are thrown into private schools, almost literally ripped from the womb and are carefully watched over and smacked with rulers occasionally from that day until we go off to college. Everybody that lives around here is the high social class; therefore, we all are put in a box with decorations and few windows and stay here until summer, which is the two month period of freedom.

The reason I'm on the floor right now...guess I had one too many drinks...everybody in this snobby town seems to drink from age 8. One of the many weird things about living here, and even weirder is that nobody seems to care. The lack of disciplinary action in this place is another thing, considering our parents pay out of the ass to keep us here, not that it's exactly a dent in the budget. Maybe that's why. Cell phones aren't allowed; us students text through class constantly, as long as you aren't caught. It really is a college setting...attendance isn't required, as long as you turn in everything and pass...although most of us don't work to pass since they can't kick us out...it all goes back to the money.

"I like my moooter bike-kah!" I burst out, letting my semi-reasonable thoughts be buried beneath a blanket of intoxication and I laugh strangely once again as my monosyllabic drunken cry rings throughout the corridor. Naruto is still dragging me across the carpet in an effort to bring me back to our room so he can heave me onto my bed and let me sleep it off. A swirling picture comes forth in my mind, a picture of the described motorbike that I still can't ride...I'm still working on the licence part.

As I erupt in drunken laughter again, I hear a door open and Naruto curse under his breath; most of us were okay about it, but it would be our damn luck for some snobby girl lifting her eye mask and complaining about her lack of beauty sleep...there's always a few of those. They're pretty, but the way they babble about things makes me want to impale myself with a metal spike.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention...I've been labeled dangerously quiet and a self-injurer, even though I have not attempted the latter...those sort of kids bother me. They only say that because I have no parents and I tend to stare out windows. Typical; the counselor hates me anyway because she's wrong and my dark eyes remind her of her former wife-beating husband that left her with three kids and a wrenched shoulder. She doesn't admit that nor did she tell me that, but when I found the old pictures and her personal background file as I occupied myself one meeting with the baby-talking woman, I sort of pieced it together.

Blearily, I look through tearing eyes from my side-splitting laughter and find a pair of feet right by my face, sinking into the carpet; silver painted toenails wiggle a bit and I cry out as the girl they belong to grins at me, inches away.

"Someone's wasted," she commented obviously, nudging my forehead with her nose and grinning; her white-blonde hair falls over me and I know it's Ino.

"Sorry we awoke you from your deep beauty sleep," Naruto teases, letting my wrists fall to the carpet. Ino stuck her tongue out and straightened up, her tall frame towering over me. She stared down at me and rolled her eyes.

Another door opened a ways down the corridor and the small, cute face of Hinata poked around the corner; her blue slippers revealed feet turned in out of shyness and, seeing Naruto, quickly covered her ample chest, not that she could hide it. I grinned.

"Since when is that your room?" Naruto asked, an uncharacteristically haughty look on his face; despite his protests, they might as well have been a married couple, for he constantly hovered over her shoulder like a bodyguard and 'protected' her from other guys. Mm.

"I told you, Naruto!" Ino said loudly; I moaned and covered my ears because she was so damn loud. "I'm getting a new roommate! The one that I had to show around before."

Naruto slapped his forehead; I cried out again from the shock to my sensitive eardrums and they seemed to have forgotten I was on the floor at their feet.

"You know much about her? She nice? Preppy? Suck-up? What?" Naruto asked, sounding like a gossiping girl himself.

Ino rested her weight on one skinny hip and stepped on my hand accidentally; I couldn't really feel it at this point, and instead I listened:

"I spent about a week with her...she seems like an all-around good person. Likes to have fun, but doesn't get herself into trouble," she said snidely, giving me a glare at my place on the carpet. "She's in all my classes and probably most of yours too. Not preppy, not a terrible suck-up, but she's got this sarcastic streak about her, makes me laugh."

"What's she look like?" Naruto asked in curiosity. I watched Hinata shift slightly. Then I burped to break the silence; it tasted like liquor.

"Shorter, about Hinata's height, pretty eyes, like jade, and pink hair–"

I must have snorted or something, because Ino put on her teasing smile and looked down at me. "What's wrong with pink hair? It's not dyed like she's a punk or anything...it's natural. Weirdest thing, but she's really pretty," the blonde admitted, a tinge of sourness on her lips. "She wouldn't look twice at you," she jibed, tapping my sore body with her foot.

"I think she'll be a cool roommate though. And since she's new...no more 'initiations', okay? Nearly gave Hinata a heart attack with hers," she added, again throwing me a teasing glare; I laughed in spite of the fact Hinata had involuntarily shuddered in remembrance of her initiation. "I already told everyone else to give the girl breathing room. That goes for all of you."

"Yes ma'am!" I burst out sarcastically; she kicked me in the head and I yelled out again. Naruto seemed to realize that I was on the floor and grinned. Asshole...discussing girls when I could have been in bed.

"Oi, Ino!"

By the stairs was a tall boy with an earring in each ear and dark hair, dragging what seemed to be a red luggage set and carrying a purse delicately on his shoulder that presumably did not belong to him. I sat up a bit and squinted and realized that someone was following him, looking around at the surroundings. She had pink hair, but that was about it as I let myself fall back to the carpet and close my eyes. I was too tired.

The pink hair swirled in front of my vision as if teasing me. I laid on the floor and listened to them talk around me.

"Shikamaru!" Ino cooed, and I felt her step on my hand again to better greet her boyfriend.

"I was coming up here to see you and ironically enough, I've met your new roommate," Shikamaru said above me, stepping aside to let someone else through; light footsteps that didn't hurt my ears walked slowly around me and gently brushed my elbow; I jerked and that was what must have alerted her to my presence on the floor.

"Omigod! What's wrong with him?"

Is she referring to my drunken self?

"Oh, he tends to do that," Naruto said airily, and I felt him grab my wrists again, apparently ready to drag me back to our room, but she made a piteous noise under her breath and I felt her knees push against my side and she must have knelt next to me; I caught a seductive scent of cherries and the smell of fire and smoke, the autumn air.

"But...he's okay?" she asked: Her voice was beautiful, like a gentle hymn from wind itself, and it was so genuine...

"Yeah, like Naruto said, he tends to do that," Shikamaru drawled, and I heard him set down the luggage that the girl had brought; that too carried the scent of cherries and autumn. Damn her.

"But he's...nearly unconscious...where's his room?" she asked, voice so full of concern; I jerked violently as I felt the softest skin push the ebony locks off my flushed forehead and she placed a hand on my shoulder to hold me steady. She was so close...her scent nearly choked me as she placed her head near mine, as if to hear my shaking breaths, but that wasn't the liquor, it was just...she sounded beautiful...she smelled beautiful, she was something that didn't deserve to be in my presence.

"He needs to sleep this off right now. Where's his room?" she repeated, pulling her head away...a strange part of me yearned for her touch again as she removed her hand from my shoulder.

"He rooms with me...here," Naruto said, grabbing my wrists again, but then he let them fall to the carpet; instead, someone sat me up and took my arm and put it over their shoulders...I knew it was this girl, this little angel that had come waltzing into our school and pitied me immediately. Two strong grips pulled me to my feet and prodded me to walk.

"I'll be back," she told the group; my eyes remained closed and I let my feet drag across the carpet as they carried me to the dorm.

"Your name?" she inquired, without bothering to introduce herself.

"Naruto, Uzumaki," Naruto told her; they stopped dragging me and I felt my shoulder dip as the blonde fumbled with the key. "Friends with Ino."

"I presumed," she said. I felt my feet bounce over the threshold and I could sense the familiarness of my own room; the two stumbled over our mess to find my bed and lay me upon it.

My head hit the pillow and my brain was flooded with thoughts of sleep, and I probably would have had a cold cloth not shocked the shit out of me; this girl was washing my forehead.

"And this one?" she asked, as though I were a specimen or an animal, yet her voice had a loving tone to it, as if she frequently spoke with children or sensitive people.

"Oh him? Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto said for me, giving me a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Friends, I take it?"

"He's lived with me for years."

The girl did not press the point, although I expected her to...everybody wanted to know how I came to be. Instead she removed the cloth from my forehead and ran her fingers over my now cold skin. And suddenly I wanted to open my eyes...I had to see this beautiful girl, so moaning as I did so, I pulled my eyelids apart–

"Oh..." I murmured, staring up at her gorgeous face that looked down upon me, before piteous, now a bit amused. It's nothing but heaven. Naruto laughed at the look on my face...little did he know the thoughts running through my mind in that moment...eyes that sparkled and (hopefully?) looked a bit relieved that I was awake, signature pink locks brushing my flushed face and her nose was scrunched a bit as she giggled. This was the source of the beautiful scent and the angelic voice, the new girl who had a sarcastic streak and seemed to care about me for no reason at all.

"Feeling a bit better?" she whispered, pressing her lips to my cheek to give me what she thought was probably a chaste little kiss. Little did she know that was all I needed to lean back and sleep peacefully.

Well at least I died happy.

"I can't..." I murmured, running my sweaty fingers over the polished numbers...208... "What would I say?"

Naruto yawned, turned and stepped through the doorway. "You could thank her for carrying your sorry ass back to your room when her first impression of you was probably not what you'd hope."

"That really didn't help," I snapped, slamming my forehead into the heavy wood without realizing how much of a sound it must have made. While it was early, I had gathered information from the past two weeks about her. She was trying zero hour for her first semester in hopes to make up for a credit she lost last year in Algebra II, and she was not an early riser. I imagined her cute little nose wrinkling in disgust and reaching for the alarm clock, that she would slam on the carpet in hopes of it breaking. She would stumble down the carpeted hallway in tight sweat pants and have a medium caramel cappuccino; cold things woke her up faster than regular coffee, and that would have to last through her zero hour elective and she threw it out every day she walked into AP Chemistry with Ino, Shikamaru and Hinata.

And then I started paying attention.

And you wouldn't believe how much I learned...

The doorknob began to turn and I moved with much more stealth and speed than I had expected of myself–

I heard her step out and shut the door behind her; carefully I rose my eye to the keyhole and saw her, locking the door behind her quietly as not to wake her roommate, wearing what seemed to be her favorite tight green sweat pants. Why did she have to wear them today, the day I was going to attempt to–

Her gaze fell on the tiny beam of light that was across the embroidered carpet from my slightly open door; whirling around I slammed my back against it and shut it with a loud click. Heart pounding, I watched her from the keyhole again; she raised an eyebrow, hitched her purse higher on her shoulder, yawned, and began to walk down the hallway in the black flip-flops that she wore. She said black went with everything, and she would wear them until her toes froze in winter.

Instead of winning what I want,
I'm sitting here in second place.

"FUCK!" I cried out as a sneaker hit me in the face; rubbing my cheek I saw Naruto shaking his head at me.

"For future reference...her name is Sakura Haruno."

Sakura Haruno. What a beautiful name.

So I decided today I would be her partner in Chemistry, since today was the day she officially started class; the lucky girl had gotten two weeks' respite and someone had to do it. Sometimes I hate myself for being so emotionally retarded.

Then maybe I could actually say my first words to her.

So just read and review and...whatnot...just had to get the prologue up because if I didn't it would bother me. :P Tell me if I should continue or not.