Naruto 1. The Elite

Firstly, let me apologize to my reviewers. You all left wonderful notes and I'm sorry it took me so long to get things going. I've been rewriting all chapters posted previously, since my writing style has evolved a bit! Few changes have been made in terms of the fic's actual plot.  
>Oh, and of course... I do not own Naruto. (Cue silent sobbing)<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

_"Danzo."_

_The scroll was snapped shut, and a heavily bandaged head turned to see who had spoken. Mocha eyes rimmed by thick brown lashes fixed upon the room's occupant. Light from a singe lamp threw Tsunade's face into relief, the darkness of the room swallowing up her body._

_"Lady Tsunade." he began nonchalantly, "Have the new guardians been informed?" the elder asked, one eye peering back at the Hokage. He turned his back, shuffling the papers on his desk._

_Tsunade's eyes narrowed._

**_This man cannot be up to anything beneficial for anyone but himself._**

_She glanced around the room at numerous scrolls, shadowed by the engulfing darkness._

**_Heavens knows he's going to spoil his eye if he stays in here all the time._**

_The room was cold. No light penetrated the place. She felt uncomfortable just being in here._

_"Yes, they have been made aware of their responsibilities" she answered after a second. "Everything is in place for September." Tsunade tried peeking over his shoulder, but the man whirled around with surprising speed and stood, towering over her. She stepped back, pouting._

_"I don't know how you can stand to be locked up in this room you know. Get some fresh air once in a while." The Hokage glanced distastefully around the musty area._

_Danzo frowned and stepped past her, opening the door._

_"You are too used to the comfort of modern frivolities is all. Tsunade, kindly do not forget our age difference- It is Danzo Sempai to you. And knock before you enter this room. You should have enough training to do even _that_." He stood at the door, clearly awaiting her exit._

_Bristling, Tsunade grit her teeth in anger and stepped forward to pass him. Before leaving she answered, barely holding back a snarl:_

_"All this talk about modern hindrances- do not be foolish Danzo."_

_He opened his mouth immediately to reprimand her again about her informality, but she continued._

_"If it wasn't for technological advances, the ninja population would have been entirely unable to reach this far! And you, Elder, do not for a _second_ forget who the Hokage is."_

_She turned, sand-coloured hair whipping softly behind her as she left the council study._

...

CHAPTER 1 - The Elite

[Three months later]

(6:34AM)

**Beep, beep, beep.**

_Oh no. No, no, no._

**BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.**

_Noooo…._

Groping blindly, the eighteen year-old fell out of bed, cursing as her shoulder connected sharply with the icy wooden floor, a stark contrast to the previous caress of of her plush comforter.

_**BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.**_

Climbing back into bed, she blindly fiddled with her alarm clock until the batteries were rolling away across the floor.

(7:20AM)

A deep, gutteral noise escaped Sakura's throat as she searched desperately for the box of Captain Crunch cereal. Rays of sunlight filtered in through the windows of her kitchen, stinging her tired, half-closed eyes.

Annoyed, the pink haired girl flung open cupboard after cupboard, and narrowly avoided knocking over an entire tray of seasonings in her attempt to find breakfast. A string of curses sprang forth when she nearly toppled from the dark mahogany stool that was supposed to be helping her. On the second-to-last glass shelf, she spotted the box and snatched it up, muttering profanity under her breath.

She glanced at the clock behind her.

(7:28AM)

Haruno Sakura's hand moved with inhumane speed as she angrily regarded her reflection in the mirror of her pristine marble bathroom.

Why, why was it so hard for her to stop turning off that accursed alarm whenever she had distinctly important events to attend? Leaning over the transparent sink, she spat and rinsed her mouth, the churning in her stomach intensifying as she further considered her tardiness.

She may have been accepted into a fancy new university with a straight A profile for each and every one of her exams, but her academic achievements seemed nonexistent as she imagined the embarrassment of arriving late to the orientation. Walking over to her closet, she hurriedly snatched up the clothes she had sensibly prepared the night before and all but flew into them, brushing short, slightly wavy bubblegum tresses out of her eyes.  
>Next were a few minutes spent on her hair, and then she was out the door and inside her graduation present, a shiny, black Volkswagen CC. Flicking her wipers on, the pinkette cleared the light layer of rain that had sprinkled across her windshield the previous night. Just as she was about to climb into her car, Sakura felt a fat drop splash directly on the tip of her nose. A cool grey sky met her gaze as she looked upward, huffing under her breath at the impending change in weather. She didn't <em>need <em>rain right now. She was already late, and addled traffic would set her even further behind.

As she headed onto the main road, the drizzle turned into light rain, and she paused before turning onto the highway. Just as she looked both ways and determined it was safe for her to go, a midnight blue mercedes shot past her street, narrowly missing the front end of the pinkette's car. That driver had to be insane! Did they not notice the effect wet roads had on tires? And how had she missed its approach? She glanced both ways once more, and eased slowly out of her street.

A few expletives and screeching turns later, Sakura arrived in front of the large modern expanse and, flashing her ID at the security guard, followed gleaming blue signs which led her to JIUNY's parking lot. Thankfully, the sky had settled for gracing her arrival with light drizzle, and she was so happy to finally arrive that all disgruntled thoughts fled her mind.

Despite the fact that she was about 30 minutes late, Sakura could barely fight down the bubble of excitement that rose up in her chest. Viridian eyes gleaming, the pinkette allowed a proud, truly happy smile to light her catlike features as the real weight of her achievements finally hit her. She was here.  
>Surrounded by a lush expanse of flourishing lawns and monstrous trees- oaks, pines, and even a few cherry blossoms (she noted ruefully) dotted the sprawling campus grounds. Quaint little benches were positioned invitingly beneath said trees, as well as under pagodas and around a wide, glittering pond she could definitely see herself sitting by.<br>Deciding that was enough lightheaded, giddy happiness on her part, Sakura parked hurriedly, grabbed her things and headed for the main auditorium, attempting fruitlessly to remain dry. As she took a sharp left turn and started along a wide cobblestone pathway that led to the looming, mahogany doors of the auditorium, her petite form collided with something hard and smelling distinctly of cigarettes and freshly-showered masculinity.

The slight shock wore off quickly and she hastily glanced up to offer an apology, finding herself face to face with a beautiful redheaded young man. His skin was almost glowing, it was so pale, and an inky black marking peeked out from beneath short, silken bangs. His mouth set in a serious manner below a smooth nose; cheekbones high and defined. Small droplets of rain pattered against his face and shoulders.  
>She was being regarded by a pair of egg-green eyes, lined with what looked suspiciously to her like eyeliner and framed by blood red lashes.<p>

"Uhm. Sorry about that!" Sakura managed to speak with some difficulty, berating herself internally when she realized her glance all but turned into a full-fledged stare.  
>The redhead's gaze slipped down her figure almost disinterestedly, and he inclined his head in a slight nod, stepping aside in a gesture of allowance. Embarrassed and suddenly reminded of her tardiness and increasingly damp state, Sakura nodded and stepped past the boy's tall frame, trying furiously to cool her blushing cheeks.<p>

She was met by a smiling blonde woman standing to the right of the door.  
>"Welcome to JIUNY," she offered pleasantly, face shining with subtle kindness. Her eyes were a smoky hue of amethyst, unnaturally so. She seemed to be wearing contacts. Beside her, a dark haired man stepped through the door, fingering a pack of cigarettes and looking on indifferently1, his eyes framed by the ugliest pair of wire rimmed glasses Sakura had ever seen. She had a fleeting urge to snatch it from his face. Both were dressed in crisp black suits, and Sakura spotted the spiraling plastic of an earpiece behind both their ears.<br>"Thank you!" she gushed in return, grinning happily, her voice a few octaves higher than usual. Her response was met by a nod and a wink from the woman.

Feeling a bit encouraged and relieved by the welcome, Sakura Haruno pushed the door open and entered the building.

* * *

><p>"Some of you however, may have trouble choosing the right courses for your career path, but don't worry yourselves too much ." Yuhi Kurenai, the year coordinator smiled amiably at the sea of students before her. "We have selected a team of second and third-year students to assist you, and I trust that they will be very useful, having gotten a firsthand experience last year." Turning slightly to face the projected images behind her, the dark-haired woman began to list the school's academic achievements- some of the largest companies in various fields had come to life from the hard work of JIUNY's graduate students. Law firms, scientific research labs, business companies, medical facilities, engineering powerhouses... the list went on and on, followed up by a line graph representing the average grades received by students throughout their stay. Sakura's eyes slid out of focus. She was <em>bored<em>, goddamn it. Her brightly coloured eyes had taken in every inch of the room that they could reach- from the large screen situated behind each speaker as they ascended the stage, to the uncomfortable-looking bright red chairs arranged in wide arcs atop a madly glistening ivory floor.

No one could deny her knack for studying, nor could the engaged, sometimes feverish gleam in her eyes be missed whenever she was close to solving a problem. Sakura was a brilliant student. She lived for the thrill of a challenge, and generally pushed herself to achieve near perfection, if not all the way. Living away from her parents since she was six years of age, the pinkette had been raised by her loving (but when it came to academics, _painfully_ straight-laced), aunt while the Haruno couple ran their separate businesses halfway across the world from each other. Tengo, Sakura's twinkly-eyed, warm, sociable father, owned several car dealerships in Japan. Her beautiful but cold (Sakura sometimes felt the term _anally retentive_ was fitting) mother managed a chain of popular vegan restaurants in Switzerland. The Harunos did not want for money, and Sakura's upbringing reflected their wealth. Though regularly deprived of a parent's comforting touch, the pinkette enjoyed a large, spacious and extraordinarily furnished home which did admittedly get lonely sometimes (especially when she became old enough for her aunt to spend days, eventually weeks away), but for the most part was a plus in her privileged life. The only thing she had ever really yearned for was knowledge.

But two and a half hours had passed since her tardy entrance, and Sakura had gone from anxious, passing through intrigued and purposeful, and had slipping finally from forced diligence to downright disinterest. She wished that blonde loudmouth, also happening to be her best friend, Yamanaka Ino, had bothered to show up for orientation. At least she'd have a familiar face to suffer with, and probably a few jokes to keep her eyes open. Sakura snorted softly, thinking about her friend's headstrong personality. Ino was probably still comfortably asleep in her bed.

Shaking her head quickly to dispel jealous thoughts of all the fun Ino must be having, Sakura looked around the room and took in the appearances of her future schoolmates. Quite a few distinct features jumped out at her: there was a delicate looking girl with chocolate lashes and pale, pearly eyes, a rather girlish looking blonde boy sporting a high ponytail and a long, Ino-esque bang, and even a troubled looking individual with what appeared to be... tribal face tattoos? Sakura couldn't tell if this person was male or female on account of the large black hood shadowing his/her visage. Ignoring the small voice in the back of her mind telling her she had signed up for a school full of freaks, Sakura reminded herself that her own hair was naturally the colour of frosty strawberry ice-cream, and nothing short of freakish in itself. Besides, it would be good to get away from the rather tame characters (with the exception of Ino) she had been going to school with throughout her sheltered, private-school life.

Eventually, the pinkette's bored gaze settled directly in front of her and on a rather pale neck, almost as pale as the redhead she had bumped into outside. The hair above the neck before her however, was inky black and not at all reminiscent of the artfully windswept mess from before, but slicked down and coiffed to perfection. She gave the figure a once over. It was a guy, she concluded, noting his relatively broad shoulders and slight, careless slouch. Also, the pantsuit was a bit of a giveaway. He was probably fairly attractive, she surmised, her mind giving way to the all consuming boredom. Or perhaps he was-

"Thank you, new students." The fiery-haired vice-principal was suddenly at the podium, distracting Sakura from her idle thoughts. "I truly believe you will enjoy and _learn _from your experiences here at the Japanese International University of New York." she regarded the students before her with a satisfied gleam in her eyes, her sharp, fluid voice flowing on. "Ensure that you leave not only with prowess and knowledge in the academic field, but certainly knowledge of the people around you and how this world works." Her eyes narrowed a little, and Sakura felt a slight sprinkling of goosebumps. This lady, Ms. Terumi Mei, was nothing if not intense. She was not loud or particularly aggressive, but Sakura sensed a cutthroat, no nonsense aura about the woman. She vowed silently to never get herself into any form of serious trouble at her new school. Not that she had ever gotten into much trouble throughout her past academic years.

Shaking her head dismissively, Sakura realized that students around her had begun to stir while she'd let her thoughts wander. There was a general movement to the back of the room, where small refreshments had been set up during the speeches and presentations. Sakura's stomach grumbled; her tardiness had left no time for a decent breakfast, and the emptiness in her gut hit full force. Trying pathetically to mask her eagerness, the pinkette all but skipped to the food table, which had quickly accumulated a line of people.

As she stood in line, Sakura spotted the tall redhead she'd ran into across the room, engaging in conversation with none other than Tattoo-face- well, if you could call it a conversation. The redhead sported a rather disinterested, dark expression, punctuated by occasional nods as his friend went on about something she couldn't hear.  
>Several other conversations had blossomed around her, and for a brief moment Sakura felt painfully alone as she stood in line. She had never been very good at initiating conversation, though calling herself <em>shy <em>was a bit much.  
>Squaring her shoulders, she squashed the nervous feelings in the pit of her stomach. There was nothing to worry about. She was at a new school; of course she didn't know anybody yet, but making friends shouldn't be too difficult. And if her social skills fell short there was always Ino, social butterfly extraordinaire, who would undoubtedly force her to become at least acquainted with far more people than she'd ever meet on her own. A smile began to worked its way across her face, the excitement from earlier on still alive in her eyes.<p>

Not a minute later her smile faded, however, as she witnessed a suit-clad redhead piling her plate with mini tomato bruschetta sandwiches, after stalking past the entire line of people waiting to be served. The pinkette had been lost in pleasant thought, but a sharp, determined clicking of heels and swiveling of male heads had dragged her out of her reverie. She'd glanced up to see a slightly older woman at the front of the line, dressed in a crisp black designer number and painful-looking Steve Maddens with legs for days.

It seemed everyone simply allowed her to get by with one flash of a feline smirk, and she happily proceed to load up on refreshments. Sakura's irritation spiked, fueled by her hunger, when not a minute later she noticed someone _else_ cutting into the line. A tall, ivory-skinned individual with impossibly midnight hair had casually stepped up to the head of the queue, carrying a rather large plate in his hand. After a rather high pitched, tittering comment from line-skipper number one, he began to swiftly pile rice balls and cake squares onto said plate.

One of the things that had made her well known in high school, was that Sakura had a habit of being rather outspoken when she felt it was necessary. Some believed she was too loud, too overbearing at times. Others admired her trait. It had gotten her some of the top positions in her year group, and now she found herself almost powerless to stop her feet as they propelled her towards the pair skipping in line.  
>Pursing her lips momentarily, she hesitated midway, wondering if she should just ignore them. They were just two people, after all.<p>

She grit her teeth.

"Excuse me." Sakura bit out more sharply than she'd intended, causing several people to turn and look at her. Of course, everyone but the two she had been addressing _would_ give her their attention. She felt the prickle of embarrassment begin to creep up her neck, but it was overshadowed by her growing irritation. Sakura tapped on the shoulder of the man, who was within reach. He turned around, and the thought that she should have kept to herself crossed her mind for a second time.  
>Unexpectedly, Sakura found herself faced with a sinfully handsome face, looking to be around her own age. His black eyes fell to hers, aura aristocratic, as if he was daring her to speak. The pinkette cleared her throat, fueled by his challenging expression.<p>

"Excuse me, there is a line, though it may have escaped your notice." She gestured to the people behind him, who looked on in interest and surprise, a few nodding irritably, but a larger number still averted their gazes. Well, they could look away if they wanted to. She was hungry and she'd be damned if some guy decided he had the right to a shortcut when everyone else had to wait.  
>The young man's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, his jaw clenched and poised to offer a response, but suddenly a bored expression washed over his face. "Mind your own business." he muttered, proceeding to present Sakura, momentarily shocked by his abrupt and almost flippant dismissal, with his back.<p>

Silky black hair brushed neatly into a formal style- He was the one she had been sitting behind earlier on! She wasn't about to back down after such a rude response, it wasn't as though she was wrong for telling him to join the line like everyone else.

"This is my business!" she pressed heatedly, glaring at the back of his neck "What gives you the right to-!"

"Is there a problem?" A bold, slightly nasal voice sounded from her left, instantly grating on the pinkette's nerves. Sakura turned to find the red-haired young woman staring daggers at her. From behind cat-eye frames, she regarded her companion's disposition and turned her eyes somewhat disdainfully towards the girl.

By now, the entire queue of people at their table had provided the trio with their undivided attention.  
>Sakura silently freaked the hell out in her mind, maintaining the serious look on her face as she tried to tell herself things at JIUNY could only improve from this moment on.<p>

"Well, it isn't a terribly huge problem," she answered, breaking the tense silence "but you two just skipped in line and I didn't think it was fair to everyone who had to join. There's enough food for everyone." She finished in a less caustic tone, attempting to come off as a pleasant and agreeable student in case people decided to run with the idea that she was some kind of virago.  
>The woman looked all but ready to kick her out of the building.<br>As if she was the one lacking manners! It _was_ true that she had risen her voice and created a bit of a scene... but all for a good cause. Certainly joining the line would not be hurting anybody.  
>The redhead smiled condescendingly, and Sakura felt her temper spike once again. She prayed silently to the heavens up above for help in dealing with this bitch calmly.<p>

"Do you know who this person is, little girl?" the woman looked down her nose, stepping past Sakura to stand adjacent to her partner in crime (or as Sakura had christened him in her mind, The Pig). This was getting ridiculous. What was she getting at? He could be the fucking queen of England for all she cared. And who the hell did this lady think she was calling _"__little girl"?_

"Does it _matt-?_" Sakura began, but was cut off.

"He is the son of Fugaku, and the great great grandson of Madara Uchiha." Her voice was curt and businesslike, riddled with disparagement. "If you had arrived during the actual beginning of this event, you would realize that Sir Madara is one of the co-founders of the school. That gives him some liberty to get a bit of food provided by the school, don't you think?" Her brown eyes flashed, and a few people coughed uncomfortably.

Sakura faltered for a second, feeling even more like she should have just stayed at her place in the line. Her blood boiled in anger and embarrassment. She didn't care who the hell he was; it wasn't a fair thing to do. They were all practically adults at this place, so why couldn't he act like one? She couldn't believe the red-haired woman was defending such a blatant act of disrespect.

Ignoring the growing attention they received, she replied. "That may be true, but no, I don't think so actually. There is a line for a reason! I don't care who the hell his father is- I am very thankful to Mr. Madara for helping create such a wonderful organization," Sakura added hastily, "but that does not mean you two can just-"

"It seems I didn't make myself clear, but this is _not_ a debate-!"

"That is enough." A sharp, authoritative voice cut into the two womens' escalating argument, and Sakura turned to see the pig who had skipped in line... or so she thought at first. It became apparent that The Pig's lookalike was taller... and all around prettier. This man's eyes could only be described as glacial, his cold expression cut right through her, leaving her feeling as though she was being displayed to him under a microscope. He was clearly older than all three of them, and wore a slim tie and fitted black suit over a crisp white button down. Like The Pig, he too was rather attractive, but his eyes spelled danger; slicing black orbs beneath a world of perfect lashes.

A glance was barely thrown in Sakura's direction before the newcomer made his way to his less icy lookalike, and Sakura saw that his hair was in a ponytail. It vaguely registered in her mind that the crowd had dispersed the moment he spoke.

Meanwhile, Sakura watched in disbelief as The Pig filled the last spot on his plate, after which he turned to his rude female counterpart and handed her another plate of food.

"We're leaving" The younger man ground out, expression stoic but coloured slightly with irritation. His gaze flicked towards the woman. "Karin, come."  
>With that, they turned and walked away, Karin following behind The Pig and his lookalike, holding a plate piled high with cake squares as Sakura stood incensed, rooted to the spot.<p>

Great job Sakura! You will really fit in and have a fun time at this school...

She rolled her eyes and tried to be mature about the situation. Shaking her head in disgust as she returned to her spot in the line, the pinkette ignored her mind's prompts to chase after the trio and fling the neatly laid out dishes of gravy at their retreating backs.

A few people gave her sympathetic glances. Yeah, those spineless onlookers had really helped her out back there.

Five minutes later Sakura held a plate of food, her stomach grumbling in anticipation as the smell of barbecue sliders drifted up to meet her pert nose. If not for the smatterings of conversation around her, she was sure other people would have been able to hear evidence of her starvation. She took a step in the direction of her seat, before recalling who her neighbor had been, and decided awkward tension could be avoided throughout the duration of her meal. Stepping outside, the eighteen year-old made her way to the row of earthy stone benches she'd glimpsed on her way in. A couple of people sat eating and talking, so Sakura made herself comfortable and started on her sliders as daintily as possible, an effort which turned out to be rather futile. She felt someone's gaze on her, and looked to her left to see the red-haired man she had bumped into earlier, a pair of thinly framed tortoiseshell reading glasses perched on his nose. His bangs had moved back so that she could now clearly see a Japanese character tattooed onto his forehead. One hand rested in the pocket of his immaculate powder grey pants, demeanor courtly but relaxed and lacking the unpleasant air of snobbishness.

Sakura stared back at him, a slider halfway on its journey to her mouth. Before she bit into it, the young woman noticed that he didn't have any food. She glanced down at the remaining three sliders on her plate. Before she could stop herself, the pinkette opened her mouth.

"Would you like one?" she offered with a polite smile, trying not to chuckle at the expression his face had taken on at her words.

Flawless skin covered his defined jawline and cheekbones; his mouth set in a serious manner below a smooth nose. She began to feel uncomfortable beneath his hard gaze and wondered if, once again, she had been too forward. This was very unlike her, stirring up trouble. That type of behavior was Ino's job.  
>The redhead suddenly smirked, one of his cheeks dimpling slightly. She was a bit startled by his sudden change in expression. This guy was extremely attractive.<p>

"No. But thank you for offering." He answered, facing forward again and resting his head back on the bench. His voice was quiet and smoky, but his tone somehow light. Much lighter than his gaze had been.

"Oh," Sakura silently exhaled, relieved at his pleasant response, and a bit relieved that she would have the remaining food to herself. Before she could overthink, she continued "I'm Sakura Haruno, by the way." she smiled at him, and he spared her a sideways glance through his glasses.

"I am Gaara. You have sauce on your face." He gestured to the corner of his own mouth, eyes now amused.

"I- What?" Sakura's eyes widened slightly in embarrassment. "Thanks" she mumbled, her face heating slightly as she dragged her finger across the same spot on her own lips. Crap. So much for eating dantily.

"HEY GAARA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?" a loudmouth banged the door of the auditorium open, and Sakura whipped around, wondering briefly how someone so loud could possibly be associated with the redhead .

Another handsome boy.

Thick blonde hair, and the bluest eyes she had ever seen in her life looked down at both Gaara and herself, a wolfish grin on his slightly tanned face. Slightly impressioned lines crossed his cheeks like whiskers.

Whiskers? Did everyone here have some kind of facial alteration-

"Oh, who's this?" He asked curiously, voice now at a conversational volume. He leaned down, examining Sakura from head to toe- not in a rude manner, rather as though he was slightly intrigued. But it was still tactless, and discomforting. Sakura recoiled slightly, caught between shock and the urge to tell him off.

"Sorry to interrupt," he continued more politely "but Gaara's dad wants him inside at the head table with him." The blonde finished checking Sakura out while Garra stood, stuffing his his other hand into his pocket. He began to walk inside without a word, but the blonde turned to Sakura before he too made his exit.

"Bye pretty lady. I'm Naruto by the way; I guess we'll see you at school! What's _your_ name?" he asked in that loud manner of his, and the pinkette smiled a little at the compliment.

"Sakura Haruno, and… it's fine." she finished kind of lamely. "You have lovely eyes!" she added at the last minute. His grin grew even wider, something the pastel-haired girl had subconsciously deemed impossible.

"Thanks!" Naruto turned to resume walking behind Gaara, and she heard him say "Did you hear that? She said I have nice eyes…"

Approximately seven minutes later, Sakura finished her food and returned to her seat to find the chairs directly before her had emptied. People around her chattered a little tiredly now, and the she settled down into the cold chair, pulling her cardigan close.

* * *

><p>Reviews are much appreciated!<p> 


	2. Proximum

**Chapter Two  
><strong>Proximum

Ino was going to make her late. So help her lord, Sakura told herself that it would only cause her more trouble were she to strangle the girl as soon as her big blonde head poked through that door…

Of course, Sakura herself was always the late one. But for this particular event- _the first day of university- _she thought it might have been prudent to actually be on time for once in her life.

Besides, she was supposed to have matured. Almost-nineteen, as her parents now referred to her. Sakura? Who was she? _Meet my daughter, she's **almost nineteen**_…

"INO!" the pinkette hollered, not caring in the least about the neighbors she might have been disturbing. This was more important, especially since she had made a pact with herself subsequent to her tardiness at orientation.

A second later, a jangling of keys accompanied Ino's characteristic swishing ponytail, her slender figure careening through the front door. Sakura ground her teeth, glancing at the silvery clock on her car's dashboard. They had five minutes to cover six blocks. This was going to be _close. _They had first-day-of-school traffic to get through, and she threw Ino the dirtiest look she could muster as her friend climbed into the passenger seat.

"Calm your tits Forehead." Ino popped her cinnamon gum, breathing a little heavily. Without bothering to respond, Sakura revved the engine and did the most horribly frightening turn she could manage, going far too fast because she knew driving like a madwoman irked Ino terribly.

"Are you _trying_ to get us killed on our first day?" the blonde screeched predictably, adjusting her blue button down shirt while simultaneously shoving the seat-belt into place. A smirk crossed Sakura's face. The speedometer climbed from sixty to seventy, and kept going as the pair drove through the ornate white gates of Ino's complex.

"_You_, Ino, are the reason we might be late," Sakura muttered, "So suck it up." she blew a few strands of bubblegum hair from her face, making a sharp turn on Pearl Street and bringing them two blocks closer to their destination.

"Well, I'm _sorry_," -Ino did not sound sorry at all actually- "I actually wanted to look nice. In case you haven't noticed, this is our first day of college. You act as though we're taking a trip to hell."

Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino's exaggeration.

Admittedly, she was a bit cranky this morning. That was because _she _had woken up far too early to feel like a human being. Her! Early! As responsible as the pinkette was, waking up in the mornings had always proved to be a task she was challenged by, more often than not.

On the bright side, Sakura's pink hair was perfectly straight and free of tangles! It was a rare occurrence, flat ironing her hair, because once fully straightened out it stretched to exhausting lengths. Glancing at Ino's blouse, Sakura groaned when she realized they matched.  
>Her own button down was sea green, to match her eyes. Instead of tight black jeans however, Sakura 's outfit was completed by grey denim shorts.<p>

She hated pants; the lord knew they did not allow one's legs to breathe.

"Come on Forehead, lighten up. I know you aren't a morning person, but aren't you excited to see your house later on?" Ino flashed her friend a dazzling smile, knowing that topic change would cheer her up. Sakura made a face. It was so ridiculous, how she could never manage to stay upset at Ino for too long. She cracked a smile despite her best efforts.

"Yeah…" she answered casually "maybe a little bit."

"A little bit?" Ino shot back skeptically. "Liar. You've been going on for days about how independent you plan to be." She snorted. "I'd like to see how long you last alone in that pretty little house of yours."

She didn't say it, but Sakura agreed with Ino- her new townhouse was lovely. However, her impressive display of self-sufficiency had never been put to the test in the business of taking care of her own home. Considering her privileged lifestyle, there had always been housekeepers present to deal with that sort of thing. Her stomach twisted as she remembered the grocery shopping she had to do later. Being alone was nothing new to the pinkette, but actually having to manage all the housework herself was so far an unexplored forte. Mumbling at Ino to shut her mouth, Sakura pulled into the school's massive parking lot just as the bell rang. Once she parked, both girls grabbed their things, hurriedly jumping out of the car and scanning their surroundings. Tiredness had been driven from her eyes, fueled by the buzz of excitement in the atmosphere.  
>Sakura was relieved to see that several other students were just arriving as well, meaning the duo was just short of being late. As students chatted to one another, there was a clear distinction between freshmen and everyone else. The pinkette glimpsed nerves etched into a variety of faces as she made her way towards the parking lot's exit. There was no time for <em>her <em>to be nervous. This was what she was good at, this was what she came here for! It was the the fresh start she needed on her journey towards becoming the woman she wanted to be. Opening her crisp black folder, the eighteen year-old pulled out a copy of her time table.

"What do you have first?" she asked, glancing up to find that Ino wasn't even beside her anymore, and she had successfully managed to appear as though she was speaking very loudly to herself. Feeling silly, she glanced around.  
>Hopefully no one had noticed that, but more importantly, where the hell had Ino gone off to? Sakura fumed silently, vowing to get back at the blonde for making her late and then disappearing, while simultaneously trying to maintain an unruffled expression.<p>

People continued past her on their hurried journeys, and she glanced down at her timetable to see the words _Advanced Chemistry, Chem lab 1 _typed in beside the 8:00/Monday time slot.  
>Lab one- from the tour she'd attended on Saturday, that was two floors up in the building right across from her. Hitching her bag further up her shoulder, Sakura began speed walking towards the staircase. She entered to find the he hallways had almost empty. Bright white lights glared down from the ceiling as Sakura all but jogged up the stairs and to the silver door, <em>Chem Lab 1 <em>printed on its frosted glass window. Hesitating briefly, Sakura pushed the door open, only to collide with a furiously orange bag pack that blocked her path. She winced as the person moved from the doorway.

"Hey, Sakura!" a voice greeted, and the pinkette looked up to find a pair of big, blue eyes smiling down at her from beneath unkempt blonde hair- It was Gaara's friend from the orientation!

"Ah!" she acknowledged "Hi…" trailing off, Sakura suddenly realized she'd forgotten his name. The boy grinned at her regardless, and she opened her mouth to apologize for smacking into him, but a deep, gravelly voice cut into their greeting.

"Get_ Seated. _Now!" Sakura's gaze snapped towards the sound of the voice and found the gaze of a man donning a white lab coat slicing into her from the front and center of the room. Gaara's friend laughed nervously and before she knew it, her own legs stepped around him, heading at top speed past gleaming silver cupboards and brightly coloured chemistry posters, not to mention onlooking students. She took her seat at the second-to-last lab desk, thinking it was nothing short of a miracle that the embarrassment which now crimsoned her cheeks, hadn't killed her.

"Nice job Naruto…" someone from the row in front muttered as the blonde slid into the seat next to her. That was his name! Naruto. Sakura wanted to apologize for smacking into him still, but was too busy being glared at by the professor, and wanting to die.

"I am Ibiki Morino. This is Advanced Chemistry, and I _expect_ you to be on time!" he barked, his rough voice coloured by a menacing tone. As he positioned himself in front of his desk, Sakura noticed that he was heavily scarred- two thick gashes had healed and permanently displayed themselves diagonally on each side of his face. Sinking lower into her seat than she had thought possible, she made a mental note to kill Ino.

"I will learn your names eventually." He continued, and as Sakura looked around, she noticed that the class consisted of no more than twenty people, if so much.  
>There were four pristine, charcoal black lab desks on each side of the room. Directly in front of her was a blonde head, belonging to a girl with her hair sectioned peculiarly into four and wearing some sort of mesh clothing.<p>

Naruto tapped Sakura's shoulder and she looked over at him as discreetly as possible, without turning her head.

"We're starting with Organic Chemistry: Reactions of Homologous groups." Mr. Morino's voice carried from the front of the room, and Sakura glanced back to see him pull a marker out, beginning the lecture.

"Sorry Sakura!" Naruto whispered from beside her.

"It's okay…" she answered quietly. "I'm the one who bumped into you."

She would obviously need to tone down on the clumsiness if she ever wanted to achieve any form of independence and become a proper woman.

Noting the lingering look of horror and embarrassment on her face, Naruto chuckled.

"Lighten up! Ibiki-sensei's a good man, he's just more of a tough-love kind of guy." he reassured the pinkette, who blinked.

_Ibiki Sensei?_

"How do you know that? …And calling him _sensei_-" she began to question until the blonde girl before her turned to shoot the pair of them an irritated look.

Sakura hurriedly dropped her gaze to her desk, face heating up again. Naruto's eyes narrowed defiantly.

"Ch. No one is speaking to _you_ Temari…"

"_UZUMAKI_!"

The book Sakura was in the process of opening nearly fell out of her delicate hands, and beside her, Naruto froze.

"Will it be too hard for you to maintain silence while I deliver the lesson? Because if that is the case, you can _get_ _out!_" The professor snarled.

The blonde named Temari snickered, turning back to face front. Sakura's cheeks burned so intensely, it was a wonder they didn't engulf the chemistry lab in flames.

"_Now_," continued Mr. Morino "We are going to start with Alkenes."

Glancing sideways to offer a sympathetic grin to Naruto, the embarrassed girl received a sheepish smile in return.

…

Somehow, she had both Biology and Chemistry homework to complete later…

Sighing, Sakura lay back on the grass and watched the clouds drift across the sky above her. She idly wondered if she could just lie there for the remainder of the day; the grass was soft and the prospect of grocery shopping was not an appealing one. But starting her independent life lying on the ground with no food to eat at home was certainly not the path to womanhood. Mentally, she drafted a shopping list. Eggs, cheese, seasoning, chicken parts, ham, ramen, rice, spaghetti, chocolate…

"Sakura!" A voice interrupted loudly, halting the development of her mental grocery list. "HEY!"

Some idiot was bellowing her name across the school grounds, and the pink-haired girl sprang up into a sitting position, attempting to locate the source so that maybe she could administer some punishment.

_Ino._

The blonde came jogging towards her far too enthusiastically for her liking, and Sakura struggled with the urge to roll her eyes. She was in no mood to speak to her friend, especially considering that she'd been ditched by her in the morning.

"You've got to come see my room! It's a single! And there's a cute guy across the hall from me." She grinned, baby blue eyes shining with excitement while Sakura was pretty sure her own sagged with tiredness. She had just been released from her first Advanced Biology class, which was a bit of a joke, since after arriving fifteen minutes late, the teacher insisted that his students all do individual self-introductions. They were also told to call him Kakashi, which was his first name. Kakashi Hatake. Or as a guy named Neji in her class referred to him, _Kakashi-sensei_.

By second period Sakura had realized that half the people there were from Japan or at least raised around the culture- for one thing, some had barely-comprehensible English speaking skills. Also, it wasn't uncommon for students to use honorifics. Sakura had corrected a quiet girl named Hinata, from her mathematics class, no less than three times before she realized the girl was saying Sakura-_chan, _and not mispronouncing her name.

"Why are you so _loud_?" she muttered, closing the gap between herself and Ino before the girl could attract any more attention. She was so exhausted, she couldn't even muster enough energy to chew the blonde out about ditching her that morning.

Grabbing Sakura's arm rather indelicately, Ino began to drag her friend in the direction of her dorm, earning the pair of them odd glances from several people in the vicinity.

"Ino, you're coming shopping with me later." was the only other thing Sakura managed to mumble, and she was rewarded with a nod.

"Okay Forehead. That's good too, because I need to get some moisturizer…" Sakura tuned her friend out as she babbled on about all the things she planned to buy. Not to be mean, but Ino could talk forever, about absolutely nothing… and the pinkette was already tired. She settled for looking around as they made their way to Ino's dorm.  
>The two passed an ice cream parlor, where people sat licking milky cones under wide red and white umbrellas. Heading down a slope (some shortcut Ino had discovered, which almost resulted in the breaking of Sakura's ankles) she spotted Temari from her chemistry class, head buried fiercely in a massive bright green textbook. Two minutes of walking later, Sakura decided that the campus was far too large for her liking. The school consisted of one large main library, two study halls, <em>two <em>pools, a humongous gym and five dorm buildings, according to the tour she'd received last week. Faculties catered to the arts, businesses, humanities, social sciences, engineering, applied sciences, medicine and law. Most branches consisted of two sizable buildings each, and each faculty had its own small library.

The grounds were well kept, grass so green it almost hurt to look at, flora dotting every few metres. Gazebos and the _cutest_ little tiki huts stood at almost every other corner, in front of all the little shops (which included mostly boutiques, restaurants, bookshops and cafes) and under humongous trees- she spotted three of her namesake from the lot. Sakura also came across many people with coloured hair- blues, bronze, reds, there had been one _white_- she even saw a couple of multicoloured streaks, but none pink, like her own.

"There's my dorm building!" Ino squeaked, pulling Sakura out of her silent observations. She looked ahead to see a huge brownstone, the words _Sarutobi Hall _aligned on the stair columns in thick block letters.

"Hey." a monotonous male voice sounded suddenly from their right and behind. Sakura turned to find sharp, amused eyes on her hair. A somewhat tall boy with a dark, spiky ponytail sauntered towards them.

"Shikamaru!" Ino jumped in, "Hi, this is Sakura. Sakura, Shikamaru's across the hall from me…" The boy nodded in Sakura direction, and as he turned something glinted- tiny onyx studs winked at her from his earlobes.

_"And there's a cute boy across the hall from me…"_

This was who Ino had told her about! The blonde tried to look cool and composed while her dorm mate smirked at her. As cute as her friend's behaviour was, Sakura was skeptical. Ino was notorious for messing around with guys since middle school, so she didn't think it was prudent to expect anything serious from this.  
>Two weeks, and she'd be over this guy.<p>

"So this is the friend you were telling me about eh? Nice hair Sakura." Shikamaru gave the pinkette a lazy smile, and Ino gave an almost imperceptible pout.

"Thanks." Sakura grinned. When she was a child, others had poked fun at her hair incessantly, but now people seemed to like it, especially boys. Most didn't believe it was her natural colour, but they gave her points for 'kinkiness'. Ha! If only those boys knew that Sakura had barely even gotten to second base with one of her two boyfriends throughout the eighteen years she'd spent alive.

Ino suddenly grabbed Sakura's arm, dragging the girl closer to the door. Her friend glared at her, but Ino ignored the pointed stare and turned to Shikamaru.

"Well, we've got a long evening ahead of us." his dorm-mate smiled dazzlingly, a trick Sakura knew worked on many a man. "Sakura has some grocery shopping to do, so we'll see you around!" Waving enthusiastically, she pulled Sakura through the door with her as Shikamaru offered an amused _"Later"_, cut off by the heavy whooshing of the entrance door. Sakura raised her eyebrows at Ino.

"Is there a problem?" she questioned acidly, and Ino kept walking. "Must you _drag_ me everywhere?" the blonde offered no response, and Sakura pressed on. "You do realize that I have _feet_ don't you, and I am perfectly capable of using them on my own."

Ino turned around and narrowed her eyes in her friend's direction, half serious. The other girl paused uncertainly at her friend's change in demeanor.

"...Shika is off limits, got it?" she stated threateningly.  
>Sakura blinked. What the hell was Ino telling her that for? she gave an answering snort and shook her own hand free.<p>

"_Shika?_ That is real cute Ino, but I don't want your new muse." she rolled her eyes, disgusted at Ino's ridiculous behaviour.

There was a long pause.

"I know," Ino mumbled finally, continuing forward. "I was just being silly."

As if that hadn't been completely obvious.

They passed a huge common room, furnished with a pool table, several couches and a few bean bags when Ino continued. "You're way too picky to like him anyways. When was the last time you were even interested in someone Forehead?" she teased, heading up a wide, winding staircase.

Still somewhat irritated, Sakura shrugged. "Whatever. I don't remember."

Ino knew she was just the pickiest person on the planet when it came to the male species, and never went too long without teasing her friend about the single life. But why shouldn't one be picky? There were plenty of boys to choose from, and while getting the ones she chose would always be a piece of cake, it didn't mean she should lower her standards. Unlike Ino (no offense to her friend), Sakura didn't see the point in having short-term, mostly physical relationships. It was a waste of time and feelings- not that she planned to marry whomever she was with, but wasting energy on a boy who didn't mean that much to her seemed completely pointless.

On the second floor, they went around a corner and were greeted by a second set of smaller stairs, somewhat squished into the wall. The railing was intricately designed; vine-shaped carvings looping and swirling around one another. Atop those stairs, Sakura followed Ino into a wide passage with wooden floors and three vending machines to one side. White doors lined the remainder of the hall, and Ino headed for the second to last one. A gleaming pair golden of metal numbers marked the entrance to the her room.  
>The blonde turned excitedly to her pink-haired friend, eyes shining.<br>Sakura responded with a flat stare.

Ino rolled her eyes, and they entered the room.

No more than a minutes later, both girls were gushing over the masterpiece that was dorm room number 38.

...

"Are you ready?" Ino walked towards Sakura in the baking isle, pushing a shopping cart full of hair products, cosmetics, wheat thins, hot pockets and nature valley bars among other things. Sakura continued to scan the shelves of cake mix, eventually adding two to her cart, which was already full.

"Yeah, done."

She skillfully spun her trolley around and they headed to the cashiers, Ino grabbing a bag of assorted chocolates from a rack at the last minute and adding them to her own pile of groceries. Sakura quickly began to unload the items in her cart.

"Good evening!" a pretty cashier with chocolate curls smiled at Sakura as she began sliding the items across the scanner.

"Evening." the tired pinkette returned the smile warmly, glancing over to see Ino being winked at by the bag boy in her lane.  
>The bill climbed higher with each cashed item. $38, $45, $48...<p>

"Hey! Sakura?" a voice called out from somewhere behind her, and she spun around to see Naruto in a snug fitting charcoal-grey shirt and ripped black jeans, holding a basket piled ridiculously high with all different brands and flavors of ramen. Sakura couldn't suppress her widening smile.

"Hi Naruto!" she greeted, and he returned her smile with a crooked grin, pushing his cart over so that they wouldn't have to continue yelling across the supermarket. Glancing again at his basket, Sakura paused. "Think you have enough ramen?"

Running his hand over the base of his neck, His smiled turned sheepish. "Until the social, maybe." he answered, looking dead serious.

Sakura recalled right then that the social was in two weeks. There had to be at least thirty packets of ramen in his basket.

"Okay..." she answered, wondering how the hell Naruto looked so well fed and healthy if all he consumed was ramen. He looked too serious for it to be a joke...

"Are you here by yourself?" Naruto asked, and the pinkette shook her head.

"Ino's here with me," she gestured to the adjacent line, and the blonde boy looked over at Ino, who waved upon hearing her name. "But she lives on campus. I'm taking her back once we're done."

Naruto nodded. "That's nice of you… You live off campus then?" he questioned, but just then Sakura saw a flash of familiar looking black hair pass by behind him.

"Yeah," she answered distractedly "my house is on Vineyard Avenue, at the-"

"The Vineyard Villas townhouse community?" he fished excitedly, and she was a little taken aback by his accuracy.

"Yeah, how'd you-?" she began to ask, but he cut her off again.

"That's good! I live there too, so we can go back together if you want." Naruto smiled at her, and she blinked. The boy was a bit too friendly for his own good. She would have accepted (though normally the answer would have been a flat out no, but Naruto didn't seem to have any ill intentions.), but Sakura shook her head at the blonde.

"I have to drop Ino home remember?" Sakura looked over at the cashier manning her friend's line, to quite shockingly see the blonde grinning broadly and speaking to none other than Shikamaru Nara, his spiky black hair protruding well over the shelf of sweets.

"Oh. Right, well you can come over once you're home. I'll give you my house address." Naruto answered. He pulled his cellphone out. "We should probably just exchange numbers too," he added.

Nodding a little warily, Sakura pulled her phone from her pocket and the two exchanged contacts.

While she paid for her things and Ino chatted with Shikamaru, Naruto kept up his cheery attitude and both students talked about school. Apparently the outgoing boy knew most, if not all of the teachers at JISNY through a certain friend. That explained how he had known Professor Morino and acted so relaxed around everyone, even though it was his first day of university. He was majoring in Political Science, and Sakura was just about to ask why he'd been in her chem class when Ino practically pranced over to them, Shikamaru in tow.

Sakura raised her hand in hello to him, and Naruto did the same.

"Shikamaru, Ino, this is Naruto." she introduced them politely, and they exchanged greetings. Naruto moved up to cash and in a second, Ino turned to her best friend.

"Sakura," Ino began, her blue eyes sparkling.

Oh boy.

"Shikamaru was on his way back to the academy and he drives, so I'll just go with him. You don't have to take me." She smiled and Shikamaru eyed Sakura warily, as if to say he didn't especially want to but, why not. For the millionth time that day, Sakura suppressed an eye roll. Ino was supposed to help her get settled in, but even she knew trying to change the blonde's mind at that point would be futile. Besides, the moving crew had already set up the bulk of her things and Sakura didn't actually _need _her friend's help.

"Oh, okay." She answered grudgingly. "Naruto lives in my townhouse community apparently, so it's cool. He offered to go back with me."

Ino nodded. "Then everything works out well! Thanks Naruto," she flashed the blonde boy a smile before turning to Shikamaru. "Let's go."  
>As they left, Ino called over her shoulder. "See you guys tomorrow!"<p>

Sakura snorted. So much for "_sisters before misters_", or whatever it was girls referred to their camaraderie as.

Now finished cashing, the two remaining acquaintances stepped through the supermarket's automatic glass doors.  
>"My car's that way" Naruto pointed to the rear left of the building, and Sakura nodded.<p>

"Okay, we'll meet up at the exit. Mine's right at the front." she gestured to the black VW and the pair parted ways briefly.

Sakura's trolley rolled over the asphalt jerkily; so much that she nearly rammed it into the tail end of her car. Thankfully, none of the passers by seemed to notice this.  
>The night was cool- cold almost, and a crescent moon glowed fiercely above, reflecting in the rear window of her vehicle.<br>After transferring the goods, the pinkette climbed in and tugged her sweater on. She started the car, and the engine purred in response.  
>As she approached the exit, Sakura found a bright orange Ridgeline waiting, and in a second Naruto's head poked out, teeth sparkling against the night.<p>

...

They stopped Sakura's house first, since all Naruto had purchased was basically packs of ramen. Sakura had about 10 bags of groceries, and the blonde got out to help her unpack.

"Thanks!" she gasped, heaving five bags at once through the door- the less trips the better.

Naruto chuckled. "Take it easy Sakura," he took one of the bags from her relatively small hands and placed it onto the glossy marble counter. "There. I think that's all of them."  
>Smiling, she thanked him again and took her time transferring the perishables into the fridge, which was already hooked up.<p>

Both students paused to look around at the house. Seven or so boxes of Sakura's unpacked belongings sat in the living room, a huge, circular space accentuated by a plush, deep berry coloured throw rug spread across the center. A massive, glistening flat screen took up almost an entire side of the wall, facing an arc of ivory coloured suede couches topped with white, leaf-patterned pillows. From what she could see, the moving crew had done a pretty good job.

The walls were cream and bare as expected, interrupted only by large externally screened sliding windows, which were yet to be curtained. The underside of the staircase was a tall, wide mirror. Sakura had visited the house several times prior to moving in, and though Ino had loved it, she still wasn't sure if she liked that bit.  
>She had her work cut out for her; tomorrow's evening would be spent unpacking and setting everything up. She'd actually planned to do it once she arrived home, but she had a bit of work to finish after she got back from Naruto's.<p>

"Ready?" Naruto looked down at the petite girl, who nodded.

"Yeah. What number are you again?" Sakura questioned as they stepped through the door and she locked up.

"Oh, number 28," he answered "and you're... 26?" they stared at the metal number door for a second, and then at each other.

"We're next door neighbours." Sakura stated the obvious, flicking her gaze over to his house. It was identical to her own, except there were had two balconies instead of her single one, and there was a large elaborate looking fountain at the front, spewing gushes of water gently through the mouth of a single, beautiful stone fox. Looking a second time though, Naruto's house seemed significantly larger than her own.

"Oh! Wow, look at that," he laughed. "I usually take the back gate in, so I didn't realize how close I was when we pulled up here." using Sakura's remote, he swung her gate open.

She smirked. "Sharp of you." She commented, a bit happy that she had already made a potentially good friend. Naruto wasn't the wittiest person in the world from what she'd seen, but he came off as being pure and kind, and friendlier than almost anyone she had ever met. Sakura was glad he turned out to be her neighbor.

"Just lemme drive in, okay?" he called, hopping into his van and starting it up.  
>His gate opened automatically, swooshing in and allowing him to ease the vehicle up under the driveway beside the prettiest black Jaguar Sakura ever seen in her life.<p>

"Sweet ride!" she muttered, stepping in before he closed the gates. Her _parents_ both drove Jaguars. What was _Naruto_ doing with one, on top of his already pricey vehicle?

There was a lovely bed of lilacs along with several other flowers she couldn't recognize at the front of the house, right under what she assumed to be the kitchen windowsill. Sakura frowned a bit. Naruto was into gardening? It occurred to her then that he might live with one or both of his parents.

At the sound of the car door shutting, Sakura turned to see him walking up to the front door with his two rather fat bags of mostly ramen. As he eased the door open, she made her way over to him, giggling at his eating habits.  
>Both teenagers stepped into the house and Naruto flicked the lights on, revealing a sizable foyer tiled in chessboard fashion and a long coat rack on the wall, above a line of somewhat untidily set shoes. A chandelier glittered above, and beautiful grey lanterns lined the ceiling.<p>

"Well, home sweet home!" He said cheerfully, his voice sounding overly loud in the quiet of the house.

They passed a large, ornately framed mirror on their way to Naruto's kitchen, which consisted of charcoal coloured marble countertops and a lovely oval centerpiece. Naruto began transferring his ramen into the black cupboards, while his new neighbour sat comfortably on one of several stools.

"Your house is really nice." Sakura broke the silence, spinning smoothly in the seat to look at the living room she'd glimpsed on her way inside. As her eyes slid to the junction of the kitchen and the living room, Sakura nearly leaped out of her seat in alarm.

Standing in the doorway to said living room was someone with slightly lengthy, tousled ink black hair and equally black, furious half closed eyes.

As if that wasn't _enough_ black, the person wore a loosely fitted black pullover sweater with sleeves coming to end just above his knuckles, scruffily arranged over a pair of midnight blue pajama pants.  
>His face was a bit pale, and had she not been shocked into silence, Sakura would have screamed.<br>Because his expression was downright furious.

"What the _fuck?_" the young man growled sleepily, voicing Sakura's thoughts upon seeing him. Naruto spun around just then, a look of horror seeping into his expression as he locked gazes with the intruder. Or was he an intruder?

Oh lord, _what_ was happening...

"Dobe." the single syllable was delivered with a snarl. Though the newcomer was half asleep and dressed carelessly, there was an almost ethereal aura about him. "Why..." he turned his cutting gaze to the groceries in Naruto's hand, tone going flat "did you buy fifty packs of ramen? Again." And then he shot a venomous glare in Sakura's direction- "And who the hell is this? Why the hell were you making so much n_oise_?" Sakura could practically feel Naruto shrinking behind the counter at the roughness in his voice. The dark-haired boy had clearly been woken up by the loud conversation she and her new friend had been previously having.

Tearing her eyes away from the oddly familiar stranger, Sakura glanced again at Naruto, who was growing increasingly nervous, if his sudden light onset of sweating was of any indication.

"Oh! Hey Sasuke, sorry about that... This is Sakura, and she's our neighbour. She goes to the academy too!" he finished with a wide grin, as though this was supposed to make Sasuke feel better. The pinkette's eyes swiveled back and forth between the two boys before her.

_Sasuke!_ Sasuke was...

She thought for a moment.

...The Pig?

Her mouth fell open as she glanced back at the sleepy, pissed off fellow. It _was_ him! The same cutting black eyes, a little different (and not entirely a _bad _sort of different) now that they were layered with the remnants of sleep and irritation. The same long black lashes to match his hair, the scowling mouth below his smooth nose, and the same perfectly aligned white teeth behind his lips.  
>Sakura swallowed, praying that Sasuke didn't remember her... hopefully he never would, since she could imagine how much she'd be encountering him thereafter. Oh hey, you're the bitch who wouldn't let me skip in line! Time to trample all over you because my daddy is Jesus Christ Almighty! She resisted the urge to bang her head onto the kitchen counter, when Naruto spoke again.<p>

"I didn't mean to _disturb_ you. You know, it's only about 8:30 teme, why were you asleep so early anyways?" his voice was calmer now that he realized Sasuke wasn't going to rip him to pieces, but Sakura wasn't so sure. She was still a little shocked by his sudden appearance. And _Teme? _What kind of a nickname was that?

"Just make sure you keep quiet." The black-haired boy snarled. "If I hear _one_ more sound." Sasuke finished abruptly, glancing back at Sakura, eyes finally locking onto her bubblegum coloured hair. After a second, he snorted.

Sakura's dropped her gaze to the smooth surface of the counter in horror. He recognized her!

"It's okay Sakura, I... I forgot to tell you Sasuke lives here with me." Naruto's apologetic voice permeated the silence "Or more like I live here with him." the blonde paused. "He's my best friend actually, just... not when he's just woken up." Sliding into the seat adjacent to hers, he offered an apologetic smile, though it came out as a grimace. She nodded.

"It's okay," she answered. "I'm not fond of being woken up either." Sakura added, leaving out the fact that she was _not_, however, someone who abused her lineage to skip people in queues for a bit of food. How on earth were these two _friends_?

When Sakura looked up, Sasuke was thankfully gone from the doorway.

She could see into the living room now, and a silver plated headband glinted back at her from the coffee table.

...

* * *

><p>Yay, that took a long time to revamp.<p> 


	3. Timing

Rewriting is taking foreverrr

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three <strong>

Timing

Lady Tsunade gazed beyond the conference room window at the students milling about across the grounds below. Air conditioning swam around the room, making her nose tickle; she hadn't become completely accustomed this environment yet.  
>Smooth, cream-coloured walls surrounded her, interrupted by a neat row of several jagged-edged pages ripped from the bingo book. A large ink black Konohagakure symbol was emblazoned on the ceiling. The room was spacious and more or less bare, carpeting crisp and unworn beneath her feet.<p>

Shizune sat a couple feet away from her behind a small semicircular desk, organizing files for their upcoming meeting. The scratching of her pen could be heard every couple of seconds as she muttered quietly to herself.

Shifting her pine green coloured suit and smoothing her hair down, Tsunade turned to face the long mahogany table which would be, in a few minutes, surrounded by high-ranking Leaf shinobi. The matter at hand was a very important one, but that wasn't the Hokage's primary concern at the moment.

How In blazes did people wear these clothes on a daily basis?

She clicked a heel of her stiletto onto the floor, wincing at the way her toes were rubbed by the pointed shape of the troublesome things.  
>Tsunade was about to take the damned things off when the door swung open, and she looked up to see Hatake Kakashi's smiling face. She blinked, wondering if she was seeing things, because the man seemed to have actually arrived early.<p>

Kakashi inclined his head, taking a seat comfortably on one side of the table as the Hokage stood in shock, her previous burning shoe issue now forgotten. As the copy ninja smiled at her surprise, in walked Maito Gai, Sarutobi Asuma and Mitarashi Anko.

Opening her leather-bound file jacket, Tsunade finally took a seat, ready to get down to business.

Well, It seemed even Kakashi was taking things seriously! Kami knew she would have to ask Asuma how on earth he managed to get the man there on time, because she was certain the copy-nin hadn't done it on his own accord.

"LADY HOKAGE!" a voice boomed, echoing in the stillness and silence of the room. Tsunade looked up in irritation at Gai, who was of course the only person choosing to communicate as though she was all but deaf. Incoming ninja glanced warily at him, but the man did not seem to notice. The room was silent, and then-

"I SPEAK FOR EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM," here, Anko rolled here eyes "WHEN I SAY THAT WE ARE ALL LOOKING FORWARD TO HANDLING THESE NEWFOUND BUNDLES OF _YOUTH_, AND WE WILL DO THE ABSOLUTE BEST THAT WE POSSIBLY CAN!" He finished, eyes glistening madly above his long bottom lashes. On top of his attention grabbing personality, Gai wore a bright green suit and orange fingerless gloves. His hair looked as though he'd used an entire jar of grease and brushed it down to what he thought was perfection. Seated beside him and clad much less conspicuously in a white button down shirt and grey pants, Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, which he had refused to remove even for his stay in this foreign country.

Tsunade gave a quick nod, not even bothering to reprimand the man for screaming when he was about six feet away from her. She could only imagine the attention Kakashi and Gai received travelling with each other through the city.

Gai looked especially ridiculous in that suit.  
>…Then again, She supposed they all looked strange in their current garb, as most of them were accustomed to traditional shinobi clothing.<p>

She glanced up a little impatiently as more ninja filed in, most greeting her quietly or wordlessly.

Ten minutes later, the seats before her were more or less filled and Shizune promptly closed the door.

"Alright." Tsunade began sharply, glancing at the clock and noting that the meeting was beginning right on time. She cut straight to the chase. "Morning to all of you, and I hope you're ready for the task that lays ahead." She tried to ignore Gai nodding vigorously, hands clasped so hard he seemed to be trying to fracture his fingers.

"You are all Jounin level ninja, and though your qualifications speak for themselves, this is no run of the mill task. Training these teenagers will be no easy feat."

Flicking her eyes along the line of ninja facing her, she gauged their expressions. Faces remained calm, a few holding signs of genuine interest.  
>Tsunade smiled wryly inside; they'd be all but calm once they began their new duties.<p>

"Most of you have been assigned two students, from the halls Sarutobi and or Namikaze." She continued. "For those of you assigned to freshly scouted candidates, you are to retrieve them on the seventh day of the next month, and inform each student of their abilities and duties as ninja. As you know, this project is a secret to the outside world, but allow me to remind you of the magnitude of said secrecy." Leaning forward slightly, Tsunade narrowed her eyes fiercely to drive the idea home.

"This next generation will take over from us. They are the descendants of past ninja, and they hold the key to upholding our society. You all know the modern world has no clue that we exist or there would be countless attempts to use our abilities for trivial needs. Unless you want to lose your rank and most of your place in this world, you will keep things that way." She paused before adding "And if any information is leaked, I don't care how you do it but you better _fix it _yourselves." She finished, her words holding an unspoken threat to anyone daring to take their tasks lightly.

Ah! Finally, solemnity and acceptance seeped into the ninjas' expressions. That was of course with the exception of Gai who also looked as though the Hokage's speech might have moved him to tears.

"Initiation may occur at any point in time in which your students are alone." Leaning back in her chair, Tsunade continued. "They do not have to be briefed simultaneously, but do not allow one student to inform the other. I don't want any patchy information relayed, and you must keep in mind that they will all need reassurance concerning the truth of the matter. We don't want any of them running around with half-baked conviction, questioning your mental states. If they refuse to believe or are decidedly against joining forces with us," she set her jaw at the unpleasant possibility "perform a memory modification jutsu to erase all knowledge of the ninja world from their minds."

The faces before her had turned a bit grim now, some nodding and others going pensive.

Tsunade hoped such measures would not be necessary in any of the cases she was about to assign.

"There will be three stages of training, and this process will extend throughout the entire period of their college years. The moment you agree to take on this task, every one of you _will_ finish everything you have started." her closing statement hung in the air, and she observed the faces of her audience for any sign of hesitation or reluctance.  
>There were none.<p>

Once the Jounin before her inclined their heads in acceptance, Tsunade beckoned to Shizune who sprang up and passed a large pile of papers to her.  
>Now assured of their understanding of and loyalty to their tasks, the Hokage began handing out files with necessary student information to each Jounin.<p>

The environment transitioned from anxious and serious to relaxed in a matter of minutes.  
>She was halfway through distribution, and the ninja had begun muttering and comparing files among themselves when the door to the conference room swung open.<p>

. . .

"I'll have a double scoop- sugar cone please. Pralines and Cream, and…" Sakura paused, scanning the list of flavors behind the counter. "And Raspberry fudge swirl."  
>The cashier nodded, silver hoops in her ears tinkling against one another as she punched in the order.<p>

Tackling her mess of a purse, the pinkette eventually gave up trying to find the right amount of coins and slapped a ten-dollar bill down on the counter, smiling as the woman handed her a ticket along with her change. Sakura offered a quick thank you, and went to collect the cone.

Being early for school _did_ have benefits.

Despite acknowledging this, the girl was horrendously tired and rubbed gently at her her tender eyes; she had stayed up pretty late last night after Naruto's. It was a wonder she hadn't bolted after being confronted by The Pig, but Naruto actually proved to be quite the conversationalist. He told her all about how he'd been living with Sasuke's family since he was a young child, because he didn't know his own parents and grew up in a foster home.

Sakura expected him to feel sorry for himself or at least be a little bit cagey, but the blonde was trusting and open with her. Not one real frown crossed his face for the entire night, and he kept Sakura trying to stifle her giggles with his ridiculous choices of topic.

Sasuke wasn't bad, according to Naruto. Bringing up the line-skipping incident was out of the question; Naruto dearly loved the raven haired Pig for whatever reason, and would probably ask him about it. It wasn't as though Sakura needed Sasuke to hate her any more, especially since they were going to be neighbors from now on.  
>Licking her ice cream, Sakura trudged along the dainty stone path leading away from the parlor and took a seat under one of the outdoor tiki-huts. Breeze whipped her low ponytail into a disheveled splay of strands, the pink now fanning across her black buttondown blouse.<p>

What subject was first? She glanced at her watch- 8:49. Her class would be starting in a few minutes. She made to pull her schedule out of the royal blue satchel situated diagonally across her chest, but the double-scoop nearly fell into her jean-clad lap. Grumbling, Sakura was about to switch tactics when a scraping sound snapped her head up to see fiery hair and pale, jade eyes.

Gaara smirked.

"You're eating ice cream at 8am." He stated, sounding almost as tired as she felt. He slid into the blue plastic chair across from her, tortoiseshell glasses absent.

Sakura returned the smirk briefly.

"And you're not." She replied distractedly, still trying to open the bag's buckle without dropping her delicious ice cream. She licked around the edges to prevent any stray dripping.  
>Gaara's eyes followed her motions.<p>

"You also need help with that, I suppose." Standing, he extended an unblemished, pale arm and took the satchel from the struggling girl before she responded.

Sakura nodded, a little embarrassed. She would have probably dropped the ice cream if Gaara hadn't shown up. Another classic display of unrivaled grace from the Haruno.

"Thanks. Look in the front section, there's a schedule written out on a blue card." She continued to eat her ice cream, and eventually Gaara read out:

"Eleven o' clock Paramedics, Biochemistry at one, an hour free and then one hour of Pure Mathematics at-"

"Did you just say eleven o clock paramedics?" Sakura interrupted him, and Gaara glanced up from the blue square of paper in his hand.

"I did."

Sakura groaned, letting her head fall back against the chair.

She had woken up super early for nothing! Now she had a full two hours to blow.

. . .

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Tsunade's voice rang out angrily, instantly regretting her obvious flare in temper. That kind of approach would get her nowhere with the arrogant young man and she knew it.

Cool black eyes regarded her from the doorway at which all the attention in the room was now focused. Shizune scoffed and went back to her paperwork, shaking her head and silently thinking that the Uchiha brat clearly had a death wish.

"Tell me Sasuke, do you own a watch?" Tsunade snarled, her anger sparking again as she took in the relaxed, perfectly comfortable posture of the tardy shinobi. His hands were shoved into dark pant pockets, and a flash of chrome near his wrist told her that he was in fact the owner of a timepiece.

Sasuke saw that she saw and, tilting his head silently, did not offer an answer.

The room was silent, and shinobi around the table began muttering to each other, wondering about the presence of the eighteen year old. Tsunade's sharp brown eyes slid over them, and the table quieted immediately.

Hatake Kakashi continued to observe silently as most of the other shinobi turned back to their papers in attempts to ignore the scene that was unraveling in the seldom used room. None of the Jounin were strangers to Sasuke's stoic, borderline superior attitude, but generally he stayed out of trouble. With his hard ass father and a name to uphold, most knew (a little grudgingly) that Sasuke usually excelled in whatever he did. He should know better than to come barging into the Hokage's office, shouldn't he?

Sasuke met the Hokage's angry eyes.  
>"It won't happen again." came the flat response, and before Tsunade could really chew him out like he knew she was itching to, he walked over to the table and took a seat opposite Kakashi, who relented his gaze and refocused on the file in front of him.<p>

Tsunade clenched her fists and restrained herself from further losing her temper. She slid a cream coloured file to the spot in front of the boy, and turned her back to the entire table, glaring at a random cloud through the window.  
>Sasuke was the youngest shinobi involved in this mission. Kami knew why his father saw it fit to sign the youngest male Uchiha up for something like this. His skills were prodigious, no doubt about that, but his age would receive doubts and questioning from other shinobi. Then again, as Tsunade glanced back towards the raven-haired ninja, she knew he probably wouldn't give a shit about anyone else's opinion. But if he intended to do a good job, which was the onlyoption, he'd need to start taking things seriously.<p>

Suddenly a voice broke what had been shaping up to be a rather uncomfortable silence.

"Excuse me, Tsunade, but what is Sasuke Uchiha doing here?"

Tsunade looked up to see, much to her displeasure, the elder Danzo standing in the doorway.

The seated shinobi all swiveled their heads to face the Hokage, glad that Danzo had asked the question they all wanted to, even though by doing so he was rudely interrupt their meeting.

Sasuke clenched his jaw and continued to scan the contents of his file, snorting at the information on his assigned student. Of course Danzo would speak as though he wasn't there. The man was a grade A dick, and in his opinion didn't deserve the time of day.

"He is doing what everyone else in here is doing, Danzo." Lady Tsunade turned her back to fully to the window now, almond shaped eyes resting on the elder. "He is being briefed on his assignment and familiarizing himself with the information he needs." Her voice held a daring note, as if challenging him to ask any more obvious questions.  
>What business did that wrinkled old man want now? Tsunade was yet to have a peaceful time doing her job, because this old crone and the other two elders couldn't seem to keep their opinions and questions to themselves.<br>At her answer, the room went completely quiet as the older shinobi glanced at the Uchiha, whose head was bent over his file.

Annoyed, his eyes immediately snapped up and some hastily averted their gazes, now having the answer to their wonderings. Uchiha Sasuke was actually going to be a sensei? There was no denying cleverness or his remarkable talent, but a few Jounin couldn't help thinking he didn't have the experience or patience to handle molding a new ninja.

Danzo narrowed his eyes at Lady Tsunade. Sasuke was going to be a mentor? The boy was far too young, and Danzo himself had specifically reccomended, if not requested that Itachi get that job.

"Is there anything else you wanted, Elder?" Tsunade's voce held a note of dismissiveness, which caused the man's blood to boil.

"...I will have a word with you later, Tsunade." His voice taking on a low tone, eye narrowed.

She returned his look with equal if not more intense disdain, inclining her head in the slightest as she wondered what exactly he wanted.

With that, the elder turned and left the room.

. . .

Sakura glanced from Gaara to Temari, to… Kankuro, was it? And back again.  
>Perhaps Gaara was adopted. In fact, perhaps they were all adopted.<p>

Temari's deep emerald eyes were blatantly dissecting every inch of her face, lingering particularly on her pink hair. Gaara's brother leaned back, completely uninterested in everything except a piece of artwork he was fine tuning- a sort of sculpture. Sakura fought the urge to stare at the inky details on his tattooed face.

She had seldom felt so uncomfortable in her life, and all Gaara did was sit across from her with an amused tilt of his lips.

"You're in my chemistry class. Ibiki sensei." Temari said finally, apparently through boring holes into the pinkette's face with her eyes.

Sakura nodded; at least she'd recognized her. Maybe now it wouldn't be as awkward-

"You were late on the first day," The blonde girl continued, her voice containing a hint of flippancy "with Naruto."

Sakura stiffened, remembering how Mr. Morino had nearly kicked her out of the class. What a lovely way to start off the conversation. She glanced at Gaara, who had since turned to his brother and was now watching idly as he slid wires around the base of his art.

She was about to say something to Temari- heavens knows what, but the girl's head was already buried in the thick black tome before her. Rolling her eyes, Sakura rested her head on the cool wood of the table before her. They were seated in Chemistry lab 1, Mr. Morino's classroom, but he wouldn't be there for about half an hour, when she'd have to relocate to the paramedics lecture theater.

She hadn't thought Gaara's siblings would be socially challenged and rude. When she told him she had time to kill, he had let her know he was on his way to meet his brother and sister before his first political science class, and she was welcome to join him.

The pinkette obviously hadn't had any other pressing appointments, and she enjoyed the quiet boy's nature. Gaara's words were softly delivered, but more often than not full of wit and sarcasm that made her laugh quite a bit. She found their occasional conversations stimulating, and she supposed she'd expected his siblings to be pleasant people as well, but alas, that had not been the case.

Lids growing heavy, Sakura closed her eyes, habitually sifting through her plans for the day.

Stopping by the bookstore on her way home sounded like a good idea. There was a textbook she had somehow missed in her online shopping for school, and heavens knew she'd gone too long without a good novel.

It would do well to have one now, she thought, because dying of boredom was imminent. Either that or she'd fall asleep right in front of the Sabaku siblings.  
>Mr. Morino probably wouldn't be pleased if he found her snoring in his classroom at ten o clock in the morning either.<p>

Shifting her head minutely, Sakura glanced up to see Gaara explaining something to his hoodie clad brother, while Temari's sharp emerald eyes sped across the pages of her book. Her own thoughts shifted idly to food. Perhaps a slice of cake from the hut adjacent the ice cream parlor would be fitting…

Whatever she did, there was an hour to kill before paramedics. Excusing herself, the pinkette hoisted her bag over her shoulder and left. Temari and Kankuro didn't even look up; the only indication that someone had heard was the inclination of Gaara's head. Swinging the door open, she hoped the redhead wouldn't be offended that she hadn't remained in the company of him and his siblings… but then again he didn't seem like the type to care about such trivial things.

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. And what was with Temari's attitude? Kankuro hadn't paid her any attention, but at least his response to her presence was void of cheek. Although truthfully, it had almost been void of anything really.

Stopping into the empty hallway, Sakura glanced around. The lab's awkward silence had become unbearable, but she didn't actually have anything else to do in mind. It was times like these she appreciated Ino's hyper, talkative ways. If the blonde were around they'd definitely find a way to pass the time.

She shook her head. What was she thinking? Now was the perfect time to do a little introductory reading! She'd skimmed through all her books upon delivery, and each peaked her interest, if even a little. It wouldn't hurt to be prepared for class either.  
>Descending the stairs, the petal-haired girl made a beeline for the front doors of the medical building, stepping out onto the mosaic tiles and heading east for the library. There was a quaint arrangement of flora on her left as she approached the building, and she stopped to glance at a particularly vibrant royal-blue blossom from the lot. Her mother had always loved gardening, for whatever reason. She don't really see the thrill-<p>

"What the fuck are you saying to me?" a voice hissed from just beyond the plant growth.

Sakura froze, her hand millimeters from the petals, and stupidly glanced around behind her.

"Don't be ridiculous," the voice, decidedly male, continued, "I'm sure that other men, or even women were available to stand in my place-"

The direction of the voice's origin became clear to her then. Behind the wasit-high, neatly trimmed wall of flora, she glanced over to discover a small, vine-covered pergola nestled in an immaculately kept rose garden.  
>Sakura stood rooted to the spot, thinking obscurely that this was probably not a conversation she should be hearing. She had somewhere to be- that's right, the library!<p>

"So you approved the selection an eighteen year-old boy? I am obviously not doubting my brother's abilities, but this is task will place a mammoth weight on his shoulders; he has _school_ to attend and-"

The speaker stopped abruptly once more, as though whomever they were speaking to (Sakura assumed the person was on a phone call, either that or he was missing a few screws upstairs) kept cutting into their sentences.

There was a snort.  
>"Of course he agreed, he's a cocky little bastard but that doesn't mean that has the experience, and I will not allow any undesirable repercussions to befall him."<p>

Sakura frowned. How contradictory- describing someone as a bastard, but still giving the impression that he cared. But why was this conversation of importance to her? She should end the eavesdropping and move; it was none of her business. When had she become so rude and inquisitive? As discreetly as possible, Sakura began to inch away from the forgotten flowers before her. However, a pair of exquisite black eyes were now regarding her somewhat amusedly from the boundary of the pergola, her chance to leave undetected now eliminated.

He was tall and dark haired, with a face that was familiarly regal and held traces of irritation.

It took Sakura a moment to unfreeze herself, and she opened her mouth to apologize to the suit-clad man, feeling the stutters before she voiced them.

"I-I'm sorry," her eyes widened, mortified at being caught. She fanned the air in a dismissive manner, shaking her head. "Don't mind me really, I was actually on my way to the library and I stopped to look at these flowers-" here she broke off, frantically snatching the bloom off its petiole and holding it up as evidence. Her cheeks flamed as the man regarded her coolly, sliding his eyes over her face as before presenting her with his back and resuming his conversation in much quieter tones. Horrified at her own behavior, Sakura spun on her heel and scurried on towards the library. What was her problem? Well, yes she had been bored of course -she rolled her eyes as she recalled sitting with the Sabakus- but that was absolutely the wrong course of action to take. Shaking her head as if to rid her thoughts of self inflicted embarrassment, the pinkette pushed the door of the library open and stepped inside.

It occurred to her, once she had settled down and opened the BSL textbook, that the person she encountered earlier held a striking resemblance to Sasuke Uchiha.

. . .

Sasuke resisted the urge to kick the thick marble column upholding the Namizake building's expansive white roof. He was ticked off, and the fact that Neji was late provided zero alleviation.

Of course, the Hyuuga was probably less than five minutes tardy, but since when had the younger Uchiha needed an excuse to get angry?

Besides, the morning's occurrences had already fueled his temper.

Being late for the Hokage's meeting could have been avoided, if his housemate wasn't a complete idiot when it came to something as simple as making the right choices concerning grocery shopping. Sasuke was feeling the sting of tiredness in his obsidian eyes even now, after he had woken up late to find nothing but stacks of ramen in the cabinets at home.

If there had been time, he would have thrown out every last pack of Naruto's rubbish. Instead he was forced to drive down to a restaurant for breakfast, where they took forever to serve his meal. However delicious the tomato soup had been, Sasuke's irritation towards Naruto hadn't dissipated. The blonde would be dealt with later.

The Uchiha began toying with the idea of leaving, when his chocolate haired friend emerged from the building, gait fluid and somewhat arrogant.

"What took you?" the raven-haired boy spat as his companion fell into step beside him.

Neji shot him a sideways glance beneath raised brows.

Sasuke kept his gaze forward, knowing his anger towards Neji was unnecessary. The boy had been a few minutes late at most.

"Good afternoon to you too?" Neji offered, amused at his friend's behavior. He hadn't expected sunlight to be shining out of Sasuke's ass of course- the Uchiha was usually reserved, and somewhat acrimonious at worst.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Trust Neji to find his anger amusing. His temper would have scared most people off; either that or they'd apologize profusely until he was seconds away from wringing their necks.

"Naruto and his damn ramen obsession." He muttered sourly in way of explanation to the Hyuuga, who nodded in understanding as they headed towards the engineering faculty.

Neji always found it interesting that Sasuke, whom everyone knew had low tolerance for loud, obnoxious, bright things, managed to live with Naruto, who was the complete embodiment of said things.

Neither of the two was particularly talkative, but even walking in silence they attracted attention from several of the people they passed. The fact that Sasuke's characteristic scowl was particularly steely seemed to draw girls' eyes even more so than he was accustomed to. Not that the Uchiha got out much- though he was more often than not calm and collected, he had in fact been home-schooled throughout his eighteen, almost nineteen years.

Such reactions somewhat irritated the handsome young man, but at least onlookers wisely stayed out of his way. Most wondered if they were really freshmen, since they definitely hadn't seen either of the boys around before, yet they moved with unusual self-assurance and almost majestic ease.  
>Neji Hyuuga's immaculate locks were the only softening to his stony appearance, his gait even more haughty and purposeful than that of his friend.<p>

Brrrrrmp. Brrrrrmp.

Without breaking stride, Neji glanced down and slid the vibrating phone out of his pocket.

"Yes?" he answered curtly into the mouthpiece, earning a glance from Sasuke.

"Where are you?" Neji stopped walking, sounding slightly irritated. He turned to see that his friend had done the same. "Okay, I'm coming to collect it now." The Hyuuga hung up.

"I need to pick something up in the cafeteria." He explained to the waiting Uchiha, who nodded and glanced at his watch.

"Fine." Sasuke answered tersely, though he seemed to have calmed down since meeting up with his stoic friend. It didn't matter if he accompanied Neji; they were in no rush.

Both boys turned and headed in the direction of the cafeteria.

. . .

Paramedic class couldn't have been over any more quickly. Sakura groaned, rubbing her empty stomach. Now she knew what it was like to have a concave belly, like those models she and her friends used to foolishly obsess over.  
>The teacher had called on her for almost every question, but that was partially her own fault for being a know-it-all since she read through half the book before class. As if that wasn't enough, he was the most eccentric man she'd ever met in her life! Before he insisted that she go up to the dummy and pretend that it was a live patient, the man had burst into the classroom wearing a bright green suit and orange, fingerless gloves. She had actually looked around at the other students, wondering if it was some kind of joke.<p>

Sighing, she massaged her forehead. At least it was time for lunch now, and that dreadful hour had passed. Although it would come around again the next time she was scheduled for Maito Gai's class, Sakura refrained from considering what possibilities awaited her in the next lesson, lest she found the nearest hole and crawled into it.

So caught up in her own thoughts, the pinkette didn't even realize that she'd made it to the front of the very short line. The cashier had begun gazing at her in mild irritation.

"One footlong, please." An embarrassed Sakura requested, paying quickly and then moving down in the line to choose her toppings. As she finished, a voice sounded to her left.

"Sakura-chan! Hello… "

The pinkette turned to see a dark haired Hinata beside her, also purchasing food. Both girls exchanged smiles. Hinata was a well-mannered, interesting looking girl from Sakura's paramedic class, with unusual pigment-less irises and long, deep black hair.

"Hi Hinata!" Sakura collected her sandwich, waiting on the shy girl to collect her own food even though she herself was dying to dig in.

"You're eating that all by yourself?" the smaller girl questioned softly, gesturing to the footlong in the Sakura's hand. The pastel-haired girl's cheeks flamed as they both headed outside towards a long, empty marble table.

"Yeah, I eat quite a bit… and I'm especially hungry at the moment." she glanced at Hinata's choice of a small BLT sandwich, and briefly felt like a pig. But whatever. She was a growing girl, and she was hungry. As if to support her thoughts, Sakura's stomach rumbled loudly, causing her friend to spout soft giggles as they took their seats.

"Ah. I understand. I have a friend, Tenten, she eats a whole lot as well and she is very active…"

A whole lot? Sakura thought indignantly, she wouldn't go as far as to say she herself ate _a whole_-

"Sakuraaaaa!" a voice bellowed from across the lawn opposite their eating spot.

Sakura flinched at the sound of her name being yelled so raucously across the grounds. It was only the third week of school, but she had a fair idea of whom that voice belonged to…

"Naruto!" she hissed as he came to a screeching halt in front of her table, appearing to have sprinted. "Must you yell?"

Her friend's cerulean eyes looked around somewhat abashedly, as though he hadn't known he was being vulgar. Sakura rolled her eyes. She hadn't meant to sound so venomous; perhaps it was her roaring stomach that had set about such a beastly response.

"Sorry about that." he apologized hesitantly, glancing at Hinata, whose eyes were downcast, a smile on her face.

"It's okay, I've realized that that's just... well, you." The pinkette exonerated, earning a grin from the tall boy. "It's not like you're disturbing anyone much anyways." she amended.

And it was true- not many people were around this side of the school. It seemed the cafeteria was barely used in favor of the food sources on campus, not to mention most of JISNY's students owned vehicles. The school hadn't been too big population-wise to begin with.

"Hinata," Sakura addressed her girlfriend, who finally lifted her gaze in response, "This is Naruto. I met him yesterday, and he's my neighbor."

Naruto's grin widened.

"Yeah, I know Hinata already!" he slid into a chair beside the dark haired girl. "Well, sort of… she's Neji's sister." He turned to Hinata "Right?"

"Yes, but actually…" Hinata turned to face the blonde "I'm his cousin." She smiled somewhat wanly, which went unnoticed by Sakura, who was now beginning with her sandwich.

"Oh! Right, my bad." He offered a smile to the girl, who nodded and mumbled that it was okay. Turning to face his neighbor, his eyebrows raised slightly. "Wow Sakura… that's a big sandwich."

Sakura looked up at him, chewing. Why did everyone seem to have an issue with her sandwich? Was it attacking them?

The pinkette said nothing as Naruto stared at her, and soon she became uncomfortable. Hinata had started on her own meal, and Naruto glanced between the two of them. There was an awkward silence.

"Well, since everyone's eating…" He muttered, extracting a pastel-coloured packet from the pocket of his blue button down. Sakura peered curiously at the wrapper. It seemed to have some sort of Japanese characters printed on the front.

"What is that?" She asked finally, halfway done with her sandwich. Her own meal finished, Hinata sat quietly, observing the two.

"These?" Naruto held up the packet, and slid a thin pink stick out. "You don't know pocky sticks?" he asked, biting into one and glancing at Hinata as if to say:is she mental?

Sakura gave him a flat look, while Hinata explained that they were chocolate covered sweet biscuits in the shape of a stick.

Naruto had gone through half the pack when he elaborated- "Yeah. People use them sometimes for kissing games." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, a blushing Hinata nodding beside him.

But Sakura was puzzled.

"Kissing games?" she questioned, her sandwich now practically finished (record time, even for her). "How?" she was curious, having participated in games of similar nature, but she'd never heard of pocky before. Then again, she thought, most of the games she played were western… pocky was a Japanese sweet.

"Well," Naruto began, "You stick it in your mouth-" he took one end of the stick between his lips-

"And someone else takes the other end," Hinata spoke up, a small smile on her face as she glanced at Naruto, who couldn't speak with the sweet in his mouth. "The two of you nibble at it until it's done. I-if you both do it right, you end up kissing, but whoever breaks the stick, loses." she finished, and Naruto nodded.

"Here, you should try one!" Naruto shoved one of the sweets her nose, and Sakura glanced down at it. The smell of strawberries and sugar assaulted her nose. She loved sugar.

"Thanks." The pinkette accepted, breaking off half of it in her mouth. It was sweet and crunchy. "Wow," she munched "it's pretty good!" This snack would make a lovely collection to her car's glove compartment.  
>Glancing at the packet in Naruto's hand, Sakura wondered if it would be okay to ask for another.<br>But she was already far too full to eat anything else really…

"Would you like one, Hinata?" Naruto offered the dark haired girl, who shook her head politely.

"No thanks Naruto-kun." She answered softly, glancing at him briefly before settling her eyes on the marble tabletop. Hinata really was quite a shy girl.

Naruto-kun. What did that mean? Sakura was about to question the mystery that was honorifics, when the blonde's eyes became fixed on a spot behind her, and suddenly a shadow fell over her shoulder.

"Gaara!" he all but yelled, regardless of the fact that Sakura had reprimanded him about it earlier. Gaara slid into the seat beside the her, donning a smooth, leaf green jacket and glowering at his friend across the table.

"Don't yell." He said shortly, and Naruto frowned.

"Well excu-use me for greeting you happily." He shot back, crumpling the empty sweet packet as he swallowed his last one. "Next time you won't even get a hello!" he childishly turned up his nose, which earned a giggle from Sakura. She found it funny that Naruto hadn't responded to her reprimand in that manner.

"Whatever." Gaara replied tonelessly, obviously not amused by his friend's behaviour. "I need to have a word with you for a second." He turned to Sakura and Hinata. "Excuse us, will you?" He glanced at Naruto, who pouted.

"…Fine." Naruto stood reluctantly with the redhead, and both excused themselves a couple metres away from the girls, Gaara's back facing them.

"Hinata," Sakura began tentatively "what does –kun mean? I know it's an honorific, but I'm not really familiar with how they're used…" she trailed off, feeling somewhat silly. It was her own race's culture for crying out loud. But better to question someone nice, like Hinata, than to continue feeling puzzlement and discomfort whenever others added –chan to her name.

Hinata only smiled.

"Well," she began softly "-kun is used for um…" she trailed off, red colouring her pale cheeks momentarily. "For boys." She finished abruptly, leaving Sakura to wonder about her reaction. "Then there's –chan…" Hinata went on, explaining the full list of honorifics to an eager Sakura, who soaked up the information like a sponge. The pinkette had an exceptional mind when it came to storing information, a trait that had helped her qualify for the medical field.

"For example, I'd refer to my older cousin as Neji-oniisan. Neji is my cousin, but he is like a brother to me." Hinata finished, her eyes trailing across the lawn. She gestured towards her object of attention. "Look, there he is now."

Sakura turned in her seat to see two relatively tall forms making their way across the flourishing lawn. As they grew closer, she could see that one had insanely long dark hair, and as they came even closer, she realized with apprehension who the other person was.

The pinkette turned to face Hinata smoothly, composure held in place. "I see. I'll try to remember them, it's been rather strange to hear people refer to me as Sakura-chan and not know what it means-"

"Hinata." A deep voice sounded directly behind Sakura, cutting her off. The tall, lean figure of Neji Hyuuga strode up to his cousin, and Sakura saw that the ends of his chocolate grazed his… rather nice ass. His ass, clad in black denim, beneath a black leather jacket, sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

What am I thinking? She reprimanded herself. One did not go around eyeing Neji-san's ass; it wasn't a very becoming act to engage in. As if on cue, Neji's eyes slid to Sakura, who barely concealed her blush as she inclined her head in a silent hello.  
>His eyes were striking; the same pearly hue as his cousin's, beneath thick dark lashes and above a straight, fluid nose. His lips turned down slightly as he wondered who the pink haired girl across from Hinata was. Responding to Sakura's acknowledgement with an brief nod, Neji's gaze returned to his cousin.<p>

"You have something for me?" he questioned, voice assertive and almost demanding. A slight frown etched itself into Sakura's features.

Hinata nodded. "Yes, father gave this to me this morning…" her voice trailed off as she began rummaging in the teal shoulder bag she carried, finally producing a cream envelope.  
>As the cousins made their exchange, Sakura allowed her gaze to slide casually to the form next to him, who hadn't uttered a single word to either of the girls.<p>

If Sakura had thought Neji had striking dark lashes, she certainly didn't feel that way now.

Sasuke's eyes could be likened to a pair of deep dark wells, fathomless and framed by lashes that could only be describes as the embodiment of ink. At the front, his slightly windswept hair framed his face, falling to a spot just below his chin, almost grazing his collarbones. From where Sakura was seated, she could see how the back stuck up in a manner that would have been cripplingly strange on anyone else. It was much different from the immaculate style he'd donned at the orientation. A part of her grudgingly admitted that despite his messy, odd hairstyle, Sasuke was so handsome it almost hurt. No wait, it did hurt just to look at him, a little bit.

She couldn't find a thing to criticize, save for his stinking attitude. His nose was patrician above ample, carelessly scowling lips, which probably hid a flawless row of pearly teeth. She doubted she would ever see him smile enough to reveal them.  
>He was clad in a white button-down Hurley above immaculate black pants and slim red converse sneakers. Sakura could see that he was trim, but his physique was definitely on the lean side, and the regal aura he'd given off during their previous encounters was unwaveringly present.<p>

The pinkette refused to allow her traitorous, viridian-coloured eyes access to his ass.

He was not to be ogled. Sakura would forever know him as The Pig, unless he really was a one in a million person, as Naruto seemed to believe.  
>She snorted.<br>That seemed about as likely as Hinata streaking across campus.

So fixated on quelling the urge to ogle, Sakura received quite a shock when her gaze finally travelled back up to rest upon his visage.  
>Scorching black eyes were trained on her face, skimming from her cotton-candy hair to the very tip of her chin and back up to meet her gaze, his expression somewhat... calculating?<p>

The most agonizing blush Sakura had ever experienced burned through her cheeks, and she was shocked into holding his gaze. Why was he looking at her like that? Her mind signaled for her to look away, but another, more self indulgent part of her brain assured her it was fine, since he was staring too, after all.  
>The developing arrhythmia in her chest fell short when a slightly irritated look flit across Sasuke's features, after which he broke eye contact and nonchalantly walked away from her, Neji suddenly by his side.<p>

Sakura felt dimly as though someone had delivered a stinging slap to her face, and barely registered Hinata apologizing for her cousin's interruption. But why should her mind take things to new extremes? All he'd done was look at her- well, give her a once-over followed by practically staring into her eyes... and then stop.  
>Yes, he hadn't acknowledged her presence, but it wasn't like she had expected anything from him.<br>He'd merely caught her off guard, that was it...

"Naruto!" a cutting voice snapped Sakura out of her reverie, and she looked up to see the Uchiha practically snarling at the blonde haired boy, who was still in the middle of his conversation with Gaara. Naruto looked up, and made a face at his friend. Couldn't Sasuke see that he was speaking to someone?

Sasuke's face was carefully controlled again, though the irritation in his features was quite evident. "If you don't go grocery shopping- properly, by the time I get home, I will throw out every last packet of ramen you bought." he hissed, watching Naruto's eyes widen in horror. Then he was stalking away with Neji, who sported a slight smirk on his handsome face.

* * *

><p>Thank you for reading :)<p>

The fun begins in the upcoming chapter!

Just in case:  
>-BLS stands for Basic Life Support.<br>-BLT means bacon, lettuce and tomato I believe.


	4. Nocturne

Hello to you all

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

Nocturne

Though she had stayed up until 1 in the morning almost daily slaving over her textbooks, falling asleep in Paramedics was out of the question. Sakura's eyes sagged, burning with fatigue, but she had no opportunity to allow them even five minutes of rest in this man's class.

"However, if your patient lacks the lovely essence of _youth, _their heart rate will be around sixty, to eighty beats per sixty thousand milliseconds!" Maito Gai's discoid eyes gleamed with intensity, which in Sakura's opinion, was sorely unwarranted.

Sixty thousand milliseconds? The pink-haired student rolled her eyes, cool marbles burning against the warmth of her lids. Would it have killed the man to say one minute? At least, she thought it was one minute… yes, that was what she had read in her BSL textbook six weeks prior, during the glorious hours before she'd attended her first Paramedic class. Before she had to hear every Monday, Tuesday and Friday about how much her rosy tresses radiated youth and burning passion, and all other manners of nonsense.  
>What was worse, Kankuro always took the mickey out of her where her hair was concerned, making snide but playful remarks at least once every class period. Sakura wasn't sure if she preferred this side of him to his standoffish, silent mode.<p>

It seemed that since Gaara liked her well enough, the other two Sabaku siblings had more or less accepted Sakura subsequent to their horribly awkward first encounter. Temari was still the acidic, quick-tongued person she'd met three weeks ago, but Sakura had grown to realize that the girl was also amusingly clever, and probably didn't mean to come off so haughtily. It had been one afternoon two weeks ago, when Sakura had been so disgusted by Temari's patronizing attitude towards Naruto that she had vented to Hinata who told her quite a bit about the blonde vixen. Apparently the Sabakus were a prominent Japanese family, their father was even affiliated with the school's administration. Sakura couldn't remember precisely the position, but Hinata had told her he was on the JISNY school board.

Whatever position of importance Gaara's father held, their family was very high class. Temari had grown up ingrained with an attitude of condescension from a young age, something that the Hyuuga knew because their parents were all friends.

Hinata had also divulged to Sakura that Gaara's father was extremely hard on his three children, relentlessly pushing for them to be perfect and more often than not offering words of opprobrium. It was their mother who offered love and care to the family… at least, that had been Hinata's point of view, and Sakura trusted that the girl would not lie.

Though she didn't think it was a sufficient excuse for Temari's behaviour, the pinkette could acknowledge that Temari's family environment must have contributed to it. Kankuro on the other hand… he remained a mystery, for the most part. Hinata hadn't known much about Gaara's brother. One thing was for certain; both Gaara's siblings loved the redhead fiercely, and put him before themselves and anyone else. They seemed ready to pounce on those who gave any inkling of ill will towards their brother, and sometimes Sakura wondered if she was imagining the slightly irritated expression that permeated Gaara's face at his siblings' over-protectiveness.

The Sabakus hadn't been the only family she'd found out about. Apparently many people attending JISNY had traditional, Japanese families who more or less acquainted with each other. The Sabakus knew the Hyuugas and Uchihas, and all were very well off financially. The Uchihas in particular- Sakura had found out from Hinata that the reason why Naruto lived with Sasuke was because the blonde's own parents had perished in a car crash.

When she found out, Sakura was shocked to say the least. Naruto was easily the most cheerful of everyone she'd met (not that she had met a whole lot of people), never failing to make her smile and even if he did irritate her sometimes with his loud, brash behavior, she had no doubts that he was a genuinely good person with a really big heart.

According to Hinata, Sasuke wasn't such a horrible person either, since he could have someone like Naruto as a friend (Though Sakura didn't think anyone could reject Naruto's friendship really). Hinata chose to describe the younger Uchiha as "enigmatic", and Sakura didn't voice the few choice adjectives she'd thought up herself, since Hinata probably wouldn't have been able to handle her language.

Sasuke wasn't enigmatic at all, in her opinion. He was a pig. That characteristic was plainly displayed for anyone to see. Yes, Sakura had gathered that he was graceful and admittedly very attractive, not to mention he seemed intelligent. But enigmatic? Gaara could be described as enigmatic- he could be amiably argumentative and engaging one minute, then silent and closed off the next. But he never displayed characteristics of a jerk.

Sakura looked sideways at the redhead. A hint of amusement showed in his eyes, which were were fixed upon Gai, who had chosen to don yet another hideous green suit. Sakura had long given up hope that the man would try wearing a different colour. Perhaps she would suggest it?

Her eyes slid out of focus, and she found her vision blurring, barely making out Gai's form as he bounced energetically over to the wooden supply cupboards in the corner of the room.

The pinkette's mouth parted slightly as her eyes slid closed, and her head began tipping forward-

"My lovely cherry-blossom student!" Gai boomed across the room, causing Sakura's eyes to shoot open again with a jolt.

Gaara smirked beside her.

"Please distribute these stethoscopes and sphygmomanometers!" the man instructed, and Sakura wildly wished for the ground to swallow her up. She should have listened to herself last night and gone to bed at twelve, but no, her inner perfectionist had driven her to work her mind until three in the morning.  
>Standing up unsteadily, she rubbed her eyes and began making her way to collect the devices, when Gaara stood up.<p>

"I'll do it." He stated in his low smooth voice, much to the shock of the first-year paramedic class. There was a pause as the class turned to look at him. No one opposed however; they could clearly see that Sakura was half asleep, as well as the fact that none of the students felt it would be prudent to oppose Gaara Sabaku. He might not have actually been a part of their class, but his authoritative, slightly threatening demeanor was easy enough to recognize, and he was certainly present on enough occasions.

Gai seemed to be seconds away from sobbing with joy, as though the sign of gallantry was entirely too much for a Friday morning.

Sakura meanwhile, sank back down into her seat and smiled gratefully at the handsome redhead, who gave an answering smirk as he relieved her of Gai's appointed chore. Fifteen minutes later, after learning how to check blood pressure the traditional way and practicing on her group members, Sakura was fast asleep on the hard surface of her BSL textbook.

. . .

It was the seventh of October.

Leaning his silken head against the smooth, ivory pillar of the gazebo, Sasuke scowled at the vivid green grass stretched out before him. Not that the plants had in any way wronged him.  
>It was some time after lunch, and he had long since finished his double tomato bruschetta and home made rice balls. Finally, he'd been blessed with home cooked meal… not that the Uchiha couldn't cook, but his mother had decided to send some lunch for him that day, and for that he was grateful. Especially with the rubbish Naruto had taken to hoarding in their cupboards.<p>

Though his mother's cooking had somewhat lifted his mood, it was long forgotten in light of his assignment from the Hokage.

How in all hell was he supposed to find time for this task? Training an inexperienced ninja was doable enough, though it might test his patience, but he would need to wholly introduce them to a completely new way of living.  
>Hours of physical activity he could handle, and he had an extraordinary grasp of various jutsu for his age, but it was the first step that unnerved him- telling his assigned student about the world hidden beneath their nose. Helping them to adjust.<br>An arrogant part of him knew he could do it; he was an intelligent, highly skilled ninja who had been trained since he could walk, sparring with his older brother and observing his parents' more vintage techniques. His goddamn great-grandfather had helped found JISNY.  
>And though there were adults who scoffed at his age, the same adults were forced to acknowledge his exceptional skill.<br>He snorted quietly.  
>Though they didn't hold him on as high a pedestal as they had his brother…<br>He knew that this was supposed to have been Itachi's job and not his, but the older Uchiha had become extremely busy with family business of late. If only his boastful father had not insisted that an Uchiha take the job, Sasuke wouldn't have been saddled with this duty in place of his brother.  
>His father wanted to exploit the family name so much, why didn't <em>he <em>do it?

"Ah. Uchiha Sasuke."

Thoughts interrupted, Sasuke looked up at the sound of mellow tones to find the silver-haired copy ninja, Kakashi Hatake, looking down at him. The young man grunted in response, and refocused on the greenery before him.

Rolling his eyes at the younger ninja's antisocial behaviour, Kakashi took a seat beside the raven-haired boy, earning him an expectant, somewhat unwelcoming glance.  
>Yes, he could see that Sasuke was thrilled by the sudden company.<br>Taking the hint, Kakashi cut to the chase.

"Have you dealt with your assignment yet?" the older man questioned, and the Uchiha turned to look at the grass once more.

"No." He answered shortly, and Kakashi nodded.

"Hmm, well you do have the rest of the day." The elite jounin paused. "Do you know how you're going to go about doing it?" he questioned, and the Uchiha shot him a withering glare. If the man was going to offer advice, why didn't he just get on with it? Not that he specially needed any help from anybody.

Kakashi cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, and offered a smile. At least, Sasuke assumed it was a smile from behind that damned mask he always wore.  
>"Yes, well… you should know," Kakashi continued, "that not everyone is guaranteed to accept what we have to tell them… and if they do, it won't be very easy on them."<p>

Sasuke glanced at him with slight irritation. Of course he knew that. It wasn't everyday people were informed that they were born as ninja and were asked to join a secret society to hone their skills and maintain traditions they knew nothing about. Did Kakashi think he was that horrendously ignorant?

"What I'm saying is… Choose your settings wisely, and leave no room for doubt." The older ninja's eye crinkled at the corner. "I'm sure you don't want to have to apply a memory modification jutsu."

Ah. Sasuke nodded, he really didn't want it to come to that. The process of modifying someone's memory was not only complicated, but it was one of the few things which made him slightly uneasy.

"I will not fail." He answered, thinking bitterly of the fit his father would throw if this assignment did not go well. Aside from that, Sasuke Uchiha did not fail at _anything._  
>Except perhaps, cooking stewed beef.<p>

Kakashi nodded, turning to gaze upon the grass as his dark-haired companion was doing.

"I know you can do it." His tone was light, but confident. Such a stark contrast to Saskue's own father that the Uchiha wondered if he heard Kakashi correctly. "Though… I do think at this age you should be focused on school, and your own training." Kakashi stated without looking back at the young man, and Sasuke, surprised and somewhat appreciative, agreed with him.

He glanced briefly at Kakashi. There were rumors that the man had an unpleasant childhood. Sasuke knew that he had been a prodigy from an extremely young age, and many a ninja regarded him as the best in his generation. He was pretty sure his father had told him once, that Kakashi had become a chunin at the age of six. That sounded nothing like a normal childhood, and Sasuke wondered if the man had even been allowed time to breathe comfortably.

Perhaps his own situation had sparked memories in the notorious jounin.

. . .

"_That is not allowed in here!" _a voice whisper-shouted from behind the bookshelf, causing Sakura to freeze in the midst of replacing the borrowed volume of _Biological Science 1 & 2._

A responding growl met her ears, and the pinkette's brows furrowed in wonder. What was happening behind there?  
>The memory of stumbling upon Itachi Uchiha's conversation was suddenly conjured in her mind, and she immediately turned away, making her way back to the small, white table she had occupied, texts strewn over its surface.<br>All her classes had finished two hours prior, and Sakura had gotten a fortifying nap in Ino's dorm room. Unfortunately, the blonde had insisted that if Sakura was going to sleep in her room, she'd have to accompany her to a party later on in the day.  
>In her exhaustion, the pinkette had agreed without giving the deal much of a second thought.<br>Now however, she was thinking that perhaps she would have been better off sleeping in the cramped back seat of her car, or even driving all the way to her own apartment for a nap.

"I'm not bothering you am I? If you don't leave me the hell alone, I swear…!" A second, harsh voice sounded from the direction of the bookshelves, and Sakura looked up to see the wearer of a red t-shirt and khaki board shorts standing with his back to her.  
>In front of him, Sakura spotted large, round eyes beneath a hideously infantile bowl cut.<br>Maito Gai?

"I cannot allow you to do this Kiba! This is a library, and you are rule-breaking!" The responding voice issued, scandalized, from the person facing in her direction, and she noted that this was most certainly _not _the voice of her paramedic teacher.  
>Red t-shirt spewed a bark-like laugh, and took two steps aggressively towards Round Eyes.<p>

Sakura shifted hesitantly, wondering if she should get involved.  
>No! She shouldn't, really... she'd done quite enough of sticking her nose into others' business, and it wasn't a serious problem-<br>"Oh? Then stop me!" the taller, more aggressive individual closed off the space between the two, snatching the do-gooder by his shirt. The smaller boy's eyes widened to the likeness of dinner plates, but he held his ground.

"_Excuse _me?" Sakura cringed at her own high pitched, slightly squeaky voice. She wasn't too confident butting in on yet another situation, but what if that guy was beaten to a pulp?

Fierce, dark eyes met hers as the aggressor turned to see who had interrupted him, while the smaller boy peered over the shoulder opposite to him.

Sakura pressed on quickly, before she lost her nerve. "You don't need to fight." she glanced around, expecting an authority figure to appear and kick them out of the library for all the noisemaking.

"And you shouldn't be eating in here, don't bully him just for that!" her voice was firm, even though another voice in the back of her mind was telling her that she was being a nosey goodie-two-shoes as usual.

The brown eyed boy blinked, some of the anger having dissipated upon seeing this small female glaring at him despite the hint of apprehension in her expression. A bag of chips hung limply in his hand.

Sakura held up both her palms. "Just let him go, please. He won't bother you anymore, and you can eat outside."  
>Her voice was calm and diplomatic now, anxiety somewhat quelled.<p>

Meanwhile, the smaller boy extracted himself from the restricting hold on his shirt and maneuvered nimbly out of the uncomfortable position of being pressed against the bookshelf. Brown eyes still focused on Sakura, curiosity seeping into his gaze.  
>Seemingly forgetting all about about his previous target, he began to make his way towards the pinkette's seat, while the other young man bowed deeply towards Sakura- so deep, in fact that his head almost collided with the floor. When he met her gaze again, his eyes had all but transformed into gleaming pink hearts.<p>

Sakura tried to not look uncomfortable as she smiled back at him, slightly inclining her head as well. Then he was gone, and a pair of intense, chocolate eyes were staring down at her.

"Who are you?" came the question, and Sakura glanced absently at the food he was still eating.

"Sakura." She stated shortly, diverting her gaze back to the texts before of her, still slightly uncomfortable. The slight scraping of wood followed her answer and she was surprised when the boy pulled a chair out and took a seat.

"I'm Kiba." He offered, and Sakura waited to hear what he wanted from her, or what his reason for telling her this was.

But Kiba didn't say anything further, he just sat there a few seconds longer, eating his chips. Sakura could feel his gaze on her and before she could stop herself, she blurted out

"Do you want something?"

Her own eyes widened at her sudden outburst, and Kiba raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, you're just sitting and staring at me. I'm trying to do some work." Sakura finished in a slightly apologetic manner, and for a second, the brunette looked embarrassed.

"Well you're the one who but into my conversation with Lee." he said after a moment, looking irritated. Sakura snorted, raising her own eyebrows.

"You call that a conversation? Interesting..." she trailed off and let her eyes fall down again to the textbook before her while Kiba sat there, wondering why he hadn't left already.  
>He peered over into her textbook.<p>

"That looks rough." he commented, brows furrowing as he inspected her diagram of the nervous system. Sakura smiled slightly.

"It can be. But It's worth the effort." she responded, eyes never leaving the page.

"So you do medicine huh? What kind of doctor do you wanna be?" Kiba continued, sounding genuinely interested and for a second, Sakura was taken aback by his sudden striking up of a conversation.

"I'm not sure yet. I may just settle for being a general practitioner." she answered, and he nodded. "What about you?" Sakura asked almost automatically, out of politeness.

"I'm not sure," he paused. "I think want to be a vet, y'know? I really like animals." he answered, and Sakura was surprised. He didn't seem like the animal loving type at all. But she had no reason to believe he was lying to her.

"Well good luck with that." she offered sincerely, gracing him with a small smile which he returned, before getting up and excusing himself, glancing back at the pinkette once.

"Weird." Sakura muttered, though she had to admit Kiba didn't seem to be that bad.

. . .

Ino's flawless, tanned shoulders protruded above water's surface in the bathtub.

"Ino, do I really have to do this?" Sakura hung upside down from her friend's bed, shining pink tresses pooling onto the cream carpet.

The blonde didn't even open her eyes. Not that she could have, since they were covered in fresh slices of cucumber. "Yes Sakura, you have to do it. What will it take to get you out of your house? Bribing you with the latest textbook?"

Sakura's mouth thinned at the question. Her friend made it sound like she was an academically obsessed house rat. Which she was _not. _She just appreciated how much she got done in her alone time more than most people her age...

"It's Friday Sakura. One of the two _fun _days of the week. I am having a party, and you will be here. How many new people have you even really met?" Sakura opened her mouth to tell Ino about Hinata, Kiba, Gaara,Temari, and even Neji, but the blonde cut her off. "That's right. About five. And I bet they're all from your classes too." blue eyes were looking up at her now, cucumbers gone. "You're in college! Lighten up for god's sake. I know for a fact that you haven't fallen behind in any of your classes; you're probably pushing yourself for all A pluses already."

Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but Ino cut her off.

"I'm right, and you know it." the blonde smirked, before gesturing to the large white closet beside her thickly cushioned bed. "Now if you'll just sift through my closet, there's a dress I bought for you the other day." Ino's voice held a smile, but Sakura was apprehensive.

It wasn't that she was a spoilsport or ungrateful, but Ino tended to choose dresses on the more _revealing _side, and while Sakura knew she had a nice body, the pinkette wasn't very comfortable with displaying it to the world. She didn't mind showing a little skin from time to time, but her style was downright conservative in comparison to her friend's.

Ino could see the doubt in Sakura's eyes, which she responded to with a roll of her own blue orbs. "It won't show too much skin, I promise." came the overly sugary reassurance before a muttered "_Granny_."

Sakura shot her a vicious look before neatly righting herself on the bed and making her way to Ino's ivory closet.

From the foremost baby blue plastic hanger, she pulled a bodycon dress that exactly matched the colour of her eyes. The back was low cut and tapered in to form a vee, ending with a large, intricately patterned chiffon bow. Fine swirls of gold glitter covered the adornment.

"Ino, this is a bit mu-"

"Oh shut up." Ino snapped, causing Sakura to raise an eyebrow at her aggressive behavior. "It isn't too much Forehead; it's not flashy or low cut or too short. And we both know it will look damn good on you."

Sakura had to agree with that; minus the low cut back it didn't seem like any of her lady parts would be in jeopardy. She wanted to snap back at Ino anyways, but the blonde beat her to it.

"You made a deal with me. You are coming to the party."

Sakura didn't bother to argue, since she knew her friend was right.

Ino's toweled figure stepped out of the bathroom, her smooth face wearing that trademark smirk her friend wanted very much to wipe clean off.

"Now get dressed so I can do your makeup!" She all but squealed, and Sakura replied by making retching motions with her face and hands. Ino frowned as she passed the pinkette all the necessary toiletries, herself beginning to get dressed. It was 7:30, and the sun had long gone down.

"So." Sakura began once she was in the shower (as opposed to Ino's need to soak in a tub and go the extra mile, Sakura was very much capable of cleaning herself in a quicker, less extravagant way) "How's Shikamaru?"

Ino's head appeared swiftly in the doorway of the bathroom, pale hair wet and limply framing her furious expression. She brought a manicured finger to her lips and glared at her pink haired friend, gesturing left to the dorm room wall.

Sakura giggled, peering over the frosted section of the shower glass and feigning ignorance as she lathered her loofah with strawberry-scented body wash.

"What?" She pressed on "Don't you remember Shikamaru Nara? I thought you liked hi-" SLAM.

She was cut off by the door being slammed by the steaming blonde, and promptly gave in to the fit of laughter she had been keeping at bay.

. . .

(11:32PM)

It started out pleasantly enough. College students trickled in, then arrived in groups, and as the night progressed a short line developed at the entrance of Sarutobi Hall. Ino and Sakura didn't have to take care of much, since it was apparently a dorm party, meaning all hall members were involved in the planning. Guards had been placed outside to allow solely JISNY students inside, and of course for precaution in case of any violent occurrences. So far there were none.

Sakura had met around twenty new people, if that little; she'd lost count by now. The fact that Ino seemed to know almost everyone who entered the building baffled her, as she stood in her skin-tight green dress and tried to stem the occasional feelings of discomfort that seeped into the pit of her stomach.  
>She sipped the vodka mix Ino had shoved into her hand not two minutes ago, and tried to ignore the stares she was receiving from several pairs of male eyes in the room.<p>

Sakura knew she looked good, especially since Ino had applied winged liner paired with Kohl in the region of her eyes, and insisted that she wear a layer of NARS Larger Than Life berry-coloured lipgloss. Personally, Sakura felt irritated by the layer of oil on her mouth. Her lips were luscious, but for every five minutes that passed, her hand longed to wipe the stuff away.

"Hey." A voice semi shouted from her left. She turned to find Shikamaru Nara looking down at her with a passive expression on his slim face. His black hair was in its trademark spiky ponytail, and a half-finished cigarette hung between his middle and index fingers, releasing thin wisps of smoke.

She tried to identify exactly what Ino saw in this guy. He was attractive, yes, but a completely different package in comparison to the blonde's usual choices.

"Hey Shikamaru. Having fun?" She asked, having to raise her voice a little and trying to ignore the couple that had just begun tongue wrestling four feet away from them.

The taller boy shrugged, bringing the cigarette to his lips before he turned his head and blew the smoke away from Sakura's face. He looked bored.

At least he had manners, she noted satisfactorily.

"You okay? Ino says you've just been standing here all night..." Shikamaru began to look a little uncomfortable and Sakura figured out that Ino had probably put him up to this. She cursed under her breath. Ino hadn't given up her attempts to turn her into a social butterfly. When would she learn? Sakura would socialize more when she was good and ready.

"Oh, I'm okay really." She paused. "It's just that I'm not into partying that much-" her explanation was cut off then as a large, tanned arm reached over Shikamaru's shoulder and a brown-haired boy appeared behind him.

"Kiba?" Shikamaru and Sakura half-shouted in unison, and the boy smirked. Sakura glanced down briefly at her toes, remembering the library incident from earlier in the day. At least Kiba had responded better to her than Sasuke had. Not, of course, that she cared about Sasuke.

"Hey Shikamaru. I see you've met Sakura." Kiba greeted with a hint of suggestiveness in his tone. Shikamaru glanced questioningly from his friend to the more quiet pinkette, who rolled her eyes.

"There she is! Sakura!" came a yell from halfway across the room, and said female didn't have to think twice to know that it was her noisy neighbour, Naruto.

His tall frame bounded towards her before he stopped short, eyes widening and descending from her face all the way to her white sandals. It was then that Sakura noticed Temari and Kankuro behind him, the female Sabaku clad in a loose, stylish button-down emerald blouse and black, form hugging pants. Her hair was out of it's trademark style and instead hung loose, longer than Sakura would have thought, brushing just below her shoulders. Kankuro wore his usual all-black ensemble, minus the hooded sweater. Naruto donned a plain white tshirt and black jeans.

His mouth hung open for a couple of uncomfortable (for Sakura) seconds, after which he mumbled that she looked amazing. Temari smirked, and Kankuro agreed, asking if her hair had possibly gotten any pinker. Slightly embarrassed, Sakura smiled and thanked Naruto, ignoring Kankuro's statement altogether while Shikamaru took in the scene with something that almost seemed like interest.

Given the fact that Naruto was now around, it wasn't long before Sakura loosened up a bit enough to play fuzzyduck with a large circle of people. And after about seven or eight shots, the pinkette actually won.

. . .

With only minimal stumbling, Sakura managed to find herself at the foot of the Sarutobi Hall staircase. Squinting tiredly, she fumbled with the golden ornate door handle and pushed it open with a click.

Outside was almost pitch black.

Where was the moon? She glanced up dazedly, spotting a silvery hint of lunar light permeating a large blanket of clouds. Oh! The moon was hidden behind the clouds, treacherous things. Her thought process was slowed by the shots she had taken. The many, many shots. Shaking her head forcefully, Sakura blinked, opening her eyes as wide as she could. The larger her pupils dilated, the more light they would accommodate… and the less likely it was that she'd fall on her face in the dark, on her way to the car.

At least all sense had not left her, she thought bitterly, though Sakura was admittedly being a bit harsh on herself. She knew she wasn't even close to flat out wasted,but slightly drunk.  
>She was almost nineteen years old for god's sake! She could handle a bit of liquor, right?<br>Suddenly, the thought of driving home while intoxicated, even if it was only slightly, caused an influx of apprehension in the pinkette's system. Uncertainty tugged sharply at her legs, forcing them to decelerate. The alcohol's effects spurred her rapid emotional fluctuations, and she took a deep breath to calm herself.

Walking carefully to her car, thoughts of the Uzumaki's car accident were unavoidably recalled to the forefront of her mind. She shivered.

It wouldn't happen to her; she was over-thinking and being silly…  
>Or would it? What made her so special, that whatever deity up there would decide to spare her tonight? Naruto's parents, from what she'd heard, were as genuine and compassionate as human beings could have been. Though she continued walking, the pinkette's thoughts persisted in that fashion until finally, she arrived two hundred metres away at her car, having only stumbled once. The key already hanging from her finger, Sakura leaned slightly against her vehicle, feeling a few cold droplets of rainwater stick to her skin. She shivered again, thanking god for car heaters and suddenly craving some of the chocolate stashed in the VW's glove compartment.<p>

The car key was halfway into the slot, when a hand clamped over her mouth, fully stifling the shriek that fought to release itself from her throat.

Sakura's mind went blank for a second, before her breath hitched so sharply she almost choked.

Immediately, another hand took the opportunity to pull her wrists together, and the college student found herself being turned to face her assailant, whose grip was smooth yet undoubtedly like iron. Her body gave a jolt as the cold metal of her Volkswagen pressed up against bare skin. Gritting her teeth, the pinkette's knees shot up wildly as she desperately tried to find an opening. Legs kicking, she continued her attempts to scream, voice still muffled and her lips probably bruising against the hand as they clashed with her teeth. Her appendages were locked in place even as she flailed and writhed more violently, her mind trying bewilderedly to process what was happening to her. She felt the weight of the person pressing against her own petite form, eliminating any significant movement she might have attempted.

Was she dreaming? Her situation briefly took on a surreal quality.  
>The night's cold stabbed her exposed skin with renewed vigor, darkness coming at her from all sides.<br>Was she going to be raped? Her small frame obviously did not possess sufficient strength to trounce her attacker; he was holding both her hands solidly with only one of his own! Her racing heart thudded more painfully in her chest at the thought, and tears began to prick at the corner of her frightened, jade eyes. Sakura found herself being dragged somewhat roughly to the trunk of her car, and having a fair idea what was coming next, the pinkette increased the fervor of her resistance, completely disregarding the fact that she was wearing a form-fitting dress as small squealing noises escaped the firm prison of fingers atop her mouth. She couldn't even open her mouth enough to deliver a solid bite to his hand, like she wanted to.

Without warning, she was somehow propped up onto the hood of her car before her assailant slid smoothly between her legs, eliminating any space between them. His smell filled her nostrils; cold with a sharp hint of mint and smoking wood. Out of shock and confusion, Sakura ceased her struggling for a split second.

That was when the figure spoke.

"I'm not going to hurt you." His voice was firm and a bit harsh, the muscles of his arm taught and unyielding.

Sakura couldn't help but raise her eyebrows to look down pointedly at their position. Yes, of course she would believe that. He merely wanted to have a chat with her about school. This was the norm for passive conversation.  
>It was a pity he couldn't see her disbelieving expression in the dark.<p>

An annoyed sigh issued from his mouth. "I'm serious. Just calm down and be quiet." his tone was now clipped, traces of irritation colouring his speech. Sakura also detected a trace of sincerity, but quickly shoved it aside as her anger sparked. No good intentions could have fueled such actions.

She was indignant. How dare he be irritated! She was being assaulted in the middle of the night, she was scared to death and didn't know who the fuck this person was! Did he expect her to sit still while he carried out whatever twisted acts he had in mind?  
>She began to squeal and writhe again, only to find herself getting no further than before.<p>

Just then, the moon finally emerged from its cloudy covering, allowing the pinkette a better view of her attacker. His body still up close and personal, the first thing she noticed was the leather of his jacket, accented with shining silver zippers that somehow looked vaguely familiar to her. Unfortunately, the jacket was hooded and only the very tip of his nose was left uncovered.  
>A slightly pale, toned arm held both of her own into place, one still clamped over her lips.<br>Eyes travelling downward, she mentally stored the image of his pale grey jeans and slightly muddy, blue converse sneakers in her mind, in case she survived to give a description. Her muscled were growing weak, the adrenaline waning from her veins.

Minutes passed, and her assailant stood unmoving, offering no further explanation. If he wanted her money, why didn't he just take the goddamn purse? Growing more and more frustrated, Sakura managed to surprise him with a well-aimed kick to the chin due to their position. His head jerked back, and she caught the fleeting look of shock that passed over his beautiful face.

Sasuke Uchiha stood in front of her, onyx eyes blazing and full of impatience.

Sakura stopped moving.

The Uchiha cursed lowly under his breath and tugged her body abruptly to his, hand still clamped over the mouth now buried in the crook of his smooth neck.  
>Sakura was sure she was going to pass out from confusion when without warning, her surroundings flashed out of focus and she found herself moving at light speed, before stopping suddenly in a pitch-black environment.<p>

Her vision swam, and the beginnings of regurgitation rose to her throat. She was still plastered to her assailant's- Sasuke's torso, her mind ringing and completely unaware of the steady pulse beneath her ear as his hand slid from her mouth.

The temperature had dropped even further, and Sakura shivered slightly before attempting to push Sasuke off of her, only to discover that her knees buckled from exhaustion.  
>A frustrated "tch" sounded above her head, and the sound vibrated through Sasuke's warm chest.<p>

"Calm down." His voice had lost some of its previous edge. "You're adrenaline is dissipating, and you were already weak to begin with-"

"Where the hell am I?" Sakura choked out, starting to panic. Would anyone look for her? What did Sasuke Uchiha of all people want from her? He was drop dead gorgeous, but she didn't want to be raped by him! Though it was difficult to imagine Sasuke having to resort to rape... unless he was mentally disturbed? Yes, that had to be it. It was a pity that such a beautiful boy had turned out to the likeness of an asylum escapee. Though really, he'd already proven himself an ass during their first encounter.

"The underground basement of Namikaze hall. Start breathing deeply, or you're going to pass out." He snapped, still holding the shaking girl to his chest. He didn't want to have to deal with her dead weight, and fail his task altogether. Admittedly, this had probably not been the best way to inaugurate the girl, but he doubted she would have been compliant if he asked her to accompany to an underground basement at two in the morning.

The irritation in his voice was still present, and Sakura's anger sparked yet again. She took a deep breath and managed to push him off of her, stumbling to her knees in the process. The pinkette straightened unsteadily, sweeping her eyes in all directions, hoping to find a light source. There were none, until-

"Eurgh!" her eyes stung as bright fluorescent light shocked her retinas, forcing her pupils to pinpricks of black amongst the seas of viridian. Squeezing them shut at the pain, she shielded her face with both hands.

A heating unit was suddenly blasting, piercing the silence and causing her to jump. Once her eyes adjusted to the change in light, Sakura lifted her lids to take in her surroundings. Everything was a blur through her watery orbs, but there seemed to be white walls, interrupted by what looked like two large pictures and a long, shining table surrounded by wooden chairs. She assumed the dark blob standing about five feet away from her to be Sasuke.

Sakura swallowed. She was still slightly disoriented and extremely confused as to what the hell happened to just trying to get into her car. In the beginning, panic had caused her to chalk things up to the alcohol, but now that it was obvious she was being harassed and captured. She didn't know what to make of the situation, but at least Sasuke hadn't hurt her- yet.

Wiping the moisture from her eyes, Sakura's vision cleared, allowing her a view of Sasuke's almost bored expression from his place in front of the long table. His inky brows were severe above unamused black pupils, slightly dipping towards the centre in a small show of irritation.

As though the bastard had anything to be irritated about!

"I'm not going to hurt you. Relax." he commanded, the beginnings of discomfort washing over his sharp features for a second, before it was gone so fast Sakura deemed it a figment of her imagination.

She straightened, facing him angrily despite the bubbling panic wreaking havoc in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh?" she shot back, surprised at the clarity of her voice. She felt like screaming. "Then pray tell, why am I here?" her voice rose shrilly at the question, and Sasuke's jaw twitched in annoyance. "In the middle of the night, no less…" She swiveled around somewhat frantically, searching for a window.  
>There were none. The only opening was the door across the room, behind her captor. It was unlikely that anyone would hear her if she did scream. She had no clue where they were, but Sasuke seemed completely comfortable- like he'd gotten her right where he wanted her, along with the fact that it was approximately two o' clock in the morning and people were either partying, at their homes, or asleep in their precious beds.<br>Sasuke claimed to mean no harm, but the boy had dragged her away from her car to an unknown location in the middle of the night, apparently using some form of inhuman speed. Yes. Either she'd had far too much to drink, or…  
>The pinkette stopped there, refusing to permit her thoughts to to tip the scale of logic.<p>

She squeezed her eyes shut, quelled the rising tears at bay and took a deep breath, before reluctantly settling her gaze on him again.  
>With forced calm, she tried again.<p>

"Okay Sasuke…" his name felt strange on her lips. "What is it that you want from me?"

At her question, his dark eyes grew even more serious. Sakura steeled herself.

At least a minute crawled by when finally, Sasuke decided to respond to her.

"Do not speak until I have finished explaining myself, or I will silence you." came his commanding reply. Sakura shifted on the spot, her temper flaring yet again at his peremptory tone, but she held her tongue and waited silently, trying to ignore the unease that blossomed in her stomach. It would be best to play it safe until she figured out exactly what he wanted from her.

"Do you know who your real parents were?"

Sakura's mind went blank for a second as she stared in shock at the boy before her. The small, functioning portion of her brain wondered how he knew she was an adopted child. _No one _knew about that, save for Ino and her aunt. Where on earth had Sasuke gotten that information?

Closing his eyes, the Uchiha's jaw clenched marginally before he regarded her with a slightly calmer expression. "Your parents," he began "were native Japanese people. Your mother was born in Shuzenji, a south-eastern town in Japan, and grew up there until she moved away to a smaller, very secluded village. Before meeting your father, she worked..." he paused here, while Sakura's insides seemed to have gone completely limp "for the government. After working with them for some number of years, she met your father in the work force." his voice was  
>Sakura stared dumbly at him, mind reeling. No one had ever given her information about her parents; her foster family knew nothing about either of the two, having adopted her from a rural district in Japan, in the early stages of her father's car dealership business. There had been no real records for Sakura, she didn't even know what her birth name was, as her parents told her the caretakers at the adoption agency named her based on the strangely coloured hair she possessed. She was completely thrown by the information Sasuke had just given her. Should she believe him? But how would he have known anything about her birth parents? The night was getting stranger and stranger, leaving Sakura to wonder again if she was just trapped in a very realistic dream.<p>

Sasuke's gaze intensified, seeming to zone in on every detail of her face. "This village is known as Konohagakure. It is an area hidden and far removed from the more advanced areas in Japan. Olden traditional practices are the norm there; they are run by their own government and it's existence is kept entirely secret from the outside world. The government work your parents did involved the protection of their village." he continued after a short pause. "They worked as a part of a group likened to an army, if you will. This army-"

"Hold on, wait one minute, if you please." Sakura cut in, her mind unable to accept the information the boy was giving her. It was all _baseless,_ not to mention too sudden. "Where did you get this information from?" It was pointless to question how Sasuke knew she was an adopted child. The secret, if one could call it that, was out in the open already, at least between the two of them. However she found it difficult to believe Sasuke would have been able to get a hold of any truth regarding her parents, as her own very influential foster parents had made countless attempts and come up empty-handed. Why would Sakura's background be of interest to Sasuke anyways? Was he, like her, an adopted child? Was his place of birth the same as hers? Did his family know her real parents? "Where did you get this information? How do I know if any of it is plausible? _Why _is this any of your concern anyways?" She snapped, slightly irritated at the night's entire chain of events. She'd been kidnapped by possibly the most attractive guy she'd ever met, at two in the morning no less, and now he was giving her some kind of history lesson on the life of her biological parents. It had been ridiculous before, but this took the escapade to a whole new level. The fact that he had a supposed wealth of information on Sakura's birth parents was strange enough, but was kidnapping her necessary for the disclosure of said information? The more Sakura thought about it, the more her head hurt. Her heart jumped at the details he was giving her; she _longed _to hear _anything _about the parents who'd given birth to her, but her mind was nearing the point of exasperation.

Sasuke watched as confusion washed over Sakura's delicate features with renewed intensity, and resisted the urge to yell at her. He understood that it would be difficult to accept any information he had to give her, but that would be taken care of in a minute. If only she would shut the hell up and avoid working herself into a panicked state. He supposed he could have carried this initiation out more simply, but he'd been unable to get a hold of the pink haired girl all day, and by the time he had caught up to her, it was improbable that Sakura would have willingly accompanied him for a chat before she went home. He took in her disheveled state and bright, makeup smeared eyes, along with the slight trembling of her short frame. Guilt washed over him for a split second.

Okay, things could have gone a _lot_ better. He'd have to get this over quickly, it wasn't shaping up to be a fun experience for either of them.

"I said it before, do _not _interrupt me. You will only puzzle yourself further. Do not test my patience." came his flat command, before turning to the large desk and retrieving a manilla envelope from a hidden drawer underneath. He pulled two sheets of paper and held them up to face Sakura.

Sakura felt her heart skip a beat.

An almost _exact_ replica of her own image looked back at her from one of the two slightly faded pictures in Sasuke's hand. The only differences as far as she could tell, were that bright red hair replaced her trademark pink locks, and the woman's eyes were a golden, honey-like hue. As she shifted her gaze (with much difficulty, jaw all but grazing the floor) to the second picture, Sakura immediately recognized the two as her parents. A handsome man stared back at her with viridian eyes- _her _eyes, his mouth set in a crooked grin. Lost for words, Sakura continued to stare at the two pictures until Sasuke grew irritated with holding them up and dropped hid hand to his side. The pink-haired girl blinked in shock, feeling the beginnings of tears wet her eyelashes.

"Their records are right here." He held the folder out towards her, and before she could muster up the strength to take a shaky step forward, Sasuke approached her with a soft "tch", shooting a sharp, irritated look at her wobbling legs, and placed it in her hand. He did not move while Sakura's shaky hands grasped the remaining papers and slid them out to read.

_Birth in the district of: Tagata, Shizuoka Perfecture, hometown Shuzenji__  
><em>Date Of Birth: August 20th, 1978<br>Surname: _Ito_  
><em>__Given Name: Kuhiko  
>Maiden Name: Yoshida<br>__Sex: Female  
><em>_Clan: Senju  
><em>_Residence: 15 Yamagura street, Nagomi Square  
><em>_Occupation: _Anbu_  
>Team: Sarutobi Irai, Kawana Tengo, Watanabe Haruki<br>__  
>No known family outside of husband, Ito Harata.<em>

Sakura's heart pounded in her chest as she moved to the older, more worn sheet of paper stapled to what she'd just read, finding that it was covered in foreign, presumably Japanese characters. She swallowed and took two deep breaths before moving on to the next pair of papers.

_Birth in the district of: Kyoto Prefecture, hometown Konohagakure__  
><em>Date Of Birth: March 8th, 1972<br>Surname: _Ito_  
><em>__Given Name: Harata  
><em>_Sex: Male  
><em>_Clan: -  
><em>_Residence: 15 Yamagura street, Nagomi Square  
><em>_Occupation: _Medical nin, Lvl Tokubetsu Jōnin_  
>Team: Takashita Akira, Kawana Seiichi, Watanabe Kei<br>__  
>Father: Ito Takeshi<br>Mother: Ito Masami  
>Brother: Ito Shin<br>Wife: Ito Kuhiko_

At the back of this sheet also, was a worn, kanji-filled form. She expected that these slightly yellowing papers attached were the original documents that had been translated to the English copies she read.

"You've probably noticed that their occupations are not ones you've come across." Sasuke cut in sharply, and Sakura jumped. She'd all but forgotten he was standing before her.

"Sakura," he began again, eyes taking on a steely glint "Your parents served as as high ranking, government-employed ninja."

Sakura's mind went blank for a second. That was certainly _not _what she had been expecting to hear. Was there no end to the surrealism of this night? _Ninja_? _Government-employed _ninja?  
>Sakura knew, from watching the countless Japanese films Ino loved so much, that ninja had actually existed in ancient Japanese eras. However, the idea that her <em>Parents- <em>They had to be of a certain, rather post-19th-century age to have given birth to her- were basically _assassins, _was absurd.

She began to reconsider her original suspicion of Sasuke's possibly skewed sanity, but then she glanced down at the pictures in her hand. They seemed like real, _authentic_ images. And there was no denying the resemblance between Sakura and the people in said pictures. This was way too much for Sakura to handle, even without dragging the strange job description into the picture. It was true, Sakura hadn't come across the word __Jōnin __or _Anbu _in her life. But they could easily be some kind of unusual Japanese occupations. She knew little about the culture of her birth country.

"Um, Sasuke, I think you might have some wrong information here," she approached the topic tentatively, unsure of how volatile his emotions were, or how dangerous he himself was. He hadn't shown anything but irritation towards her for most of the night... but he _had _captured and brought her here. Only god knew how they'd moved so quickly into this room, all Sakura remembered was blinking and then opening her eyes to the surrounding pitch blackness. There had been that sensation that she'd been flying... but she had no plausble explanation for that. "I don't know where, or _how_ you got all this information on my parents... It seems convincing enough, but..." She trailed off, having no real reason to disbelieve him except for the fact that this whole situation was crazy and out of the blue. What was a random university student doing running around with information on her parents? "Anyhow, I'm pretty sure my parents weren't... Ninja." She finished, holding back a snort of amusement. She felt delirium sneaking up on her. He probably wouldn't respond well to that.

The brunette held her gaze with an unflinching downward tilt of his lips, eyes stoic. He was growing impatient; the night had dragged on far too long for his liking. Sakura stood before him, her large green eyes glittering with suppressed fatigue and a hint of fear. It would be futile, continuing along this path of verbal persuasion.  
>Abruptly, Sasuke turned on his heel and made his way purposefully to the more spacious part of the room. Sakura waited to see what he would do, her confusion mounting while her muscles got ready to put up resistance if need be.<p>

"You are a descendant of ninja." his words were loud and solid, sounding almost ridiculous the pastel-haired girl. "You belong to the world of Shinobi. There are special things you will be able to do, like tap into your chakra network, and use that energy to perform jutsu." he went on, while Sakura's mind continued it's struggle with the comprehension of the first statement. "Your body can withstand what regular humans cannot, and with sufficient training, you will be able to call yourself a true ninja."

Sakura blinked. Her eyebrows pulled themselves together in a wrinkled display of puzzlement.

What?

"For example." Sasuke turned sideways, presenting her with his angular profile. A sliver of hair fell into his face, which he swept back smoothly.

Sakura's mouth was currently hanging slightly ajar as she tried to remember the words he used. So, in addition to being the child of two Japanese ninja, she could perform... some word she'd forgotten, by tapping into her "chakra network" and oh yes, she belonged to the world of "_Shinobi"_.  
>Certainly Sakura was trapped in dreamland. How odd, her dreams had never been this vivid. And why in the world was she dreaming about the Uchiha pig?<p>

She glanced around, hoping for signs of her dream dissolving into reality, but there were none. When had she fallen asleep? Perhaps she was still at the party, on a couch? No, she couldn't sleep with too much noise...  
>Then... had she fallen asleep in the car? Sakura began to panic again. Did she crash? Was she in the hospital, unconscious? What was happening?<p>

Before she could have a full-blown panic attack, the dark-haired figment of her imagination distracted her momentarily. Sasuke brought his arms up to his chest, and more quickly than she could follow, pressed them together in a series of odd twists and clasps. Sakura distractedly likened the action to performing an aggresive secret handshake with oneself. He pulled his index finger and thumb up to his lips in a small 'O', took a breath, and blew.

Fire spilled from his mouth, roaring orange and yellow flames that almost singed the wall across from him.

The distant feeling of dread that had been quietly festering in the pit of Sakura's stomach exploded.

She swore her heart stopped beating. Unconsciously, the eighteen year-old stumbled back, her mind blank. Even after the flames had disappeared, the image of searing orange burned hotly in her mind's eye.  
>She could still see Sasuke's midnight hair whipped back from the wind his fire conjured, face still sinfully alluring, and though she was loathe to admit it, what she had just witnessed momentarily sparked a heat that crept up her neck and caused a slight shiver to course down her spine. Her muscles refused to move, rooting her to the spot as she gaped stupidly.<p>

Sasuke turned to face the pinkette, noting the realization that coloured her petite features, though the amount of fear in her eyes had almost tripled.

That hadn't been the best way to gain her trust since she was now terrified of him, but it had certainly done the trick where convincing her was concerned. He knew she was intelligent; Naruto had told him more times than he could count about how well she did in her science classes, so hopefully the girl wouldn't suddenly adopt a completely pig-headed nature.

"W-what was that? How did you-" Sakura stuttered, her voice not unlike a shrieking kettle as she fought to keep the shaking at bay before Sasuke cut her off.

"It's as I explained. That was a manifestation of my chakra." he cut in on before she could further insert her annoying voice into the equation, "Chakra is a combination of both physical and spiritual energy."  
>The Uchiha's austere, explanatory tone faded into the background of Sakura's mind as she let the truth of the matter finally sink in.<br>Whether Sasuke was crazy of not was still an undecided issue, but Sakura was astute enough to acknowledge the solid evidence she'd been presented with. Things didn't seem to be shaping up as a dream either.

Those roaring flames had been borne of the Uchina's plain old lips (but not plain, really... they were quite nice), his 'chakra', as he called it.  
>As Sakura tried to tie things together in her mind, she surmised that the same chakra must have been what allowed the boy to whisk her away from her car and to this room in what was barely a couple of seconds. Just how powerful could this chakra make him? Of course, she had just witnessed him spit fire...<p>

The only speck of disbelief in her mind now was her involvement in the whole thing- the Ninja World.

Sasuke had to have gotten the wrong person. There was no way in hell she was a ninja. The thought was so absurd, Sakura all but burst out laughing again. Instead, she studied the Uchiha before her, who had gone silent since he realized she wasn't listening to a word of his utterances on the details of chakra.

What would happen when he realized he had the wrong person? What then? It was obvious that he was on a mission to make her believe... for what reason, Sakura wasn't too sure. Maybe he wanted her to join this world of _Shinti _or whatever it was called. If he realized she wasn't who she was supposed to be, would he let her go? No matter what Sasuke said, or what elements he spit from his mouth, Sakura knew she wasn't a ninja. She would have been different. She'd be good at sports, at least. But Haruno Sakura was average where physical activity was concerned. She was more interested in reading, and driving instead of walking. Laying on the beach rather than swimming in the ocean. Yes she dabbled in gymnastics from time to time, but she wasn't particularly superb. If this was something one inherited based on birth, as was the impression he gave her, she would have had special abilities without trying too hard right?

She decided to tell him the truth, since, as much as she just wanted to leave, lying and going along with the whole thing wasn't really an option. Next thing he demanded that she spit flames from her mouth.

"Okay." the pinkette spoke quietly, and Sasuke continued with his unmoved, if-I-had-the-choice-I-would-not-be-here stare. Sakura pressed on. "I believe you." She confessed, and before he could comment, hurriedly added "but I... I can't be who you're looking for."

Across the room, Sasuke rolled his eyes inwardly, catching onto Sakura's train of thought. Here he'd thought she was finally going to accept everything and make his damn job easier. But he could see where she was coming from. Sakura was small and slightly pale, with a distinctly delicate, almost weak aura- at least physically. She obviously hadn't managed to do him an ounce of damage, rather she had tired her own body out. There was nothing ninja-like about her- _yet_.  
>Her petite body could be trained and developed to be lithe and flexible, even more so than her limited gymnastics abilities had allowed. Not to mention she had enough meat on her to get a useful amount of muscle to back her movements. He'd witnessed smaller women than her develop into very capable kunoichi.<p>

"So you see," her voice faded back into his senses "I couldn't possible be who you're looking for. I couldn't even fight you off!" She finished, looking hopeful. "If you let me go, I won't tell anyone about this." she paused. "I'll forget it ever happened; I swear on my life."

Sasuke snorted then. She wouldn't have been able to fight him off even if she was a trained ninja.  
>Sakura frowned at his reaction, wondering if she was hoping for too much. But she couldn't just give up; he could very well burn her to a blackened crisp here. What's that saying? Two can keep a secret, if one of them is dead.<p>

"Who would I tell anyways?" She added in a last ditch effort, her eyebrows drawn together in desperation. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed as he looked down his nose at the girl. Her begging and pleading was grating on his nerves him even more. He'd need to get rid of that weakness fast. Ninja were not weak.  
>"Everyone would think I'm insane..." she continued "And it's not as though-"<p>

"Shut up." Sasuke growled impatiently, looking away from her, inky locks grazing his collarbone. Sakura's mouth snapped shut as she looked at him reproachfully, somewhat shocked at his aggression. "You are a ninja. I can see the special chakra running through you. I have been observing you. Other ninja have observed you beforehand. You have been chosen by our Hokage- our leader. She makes no mistakes, and you have a duty to fulfill. Now stop this grovelling, because it is weak." he looked back at her then, uncaring for her shocked expression. "Ninja are not weak; you are not weak. I have been assigned with the task of training you, and I will _not _fail. Don't make my job any harder than it is."

* * *

><p>There it is! Sasuke is really an unreasonable guy, isn't he?<br>Btw I need a good beta, so if anyone's interested, please message me.

Things might be progressing a bit slowly thus far.. but fret not! Now that I've properly introduced a decent amount of characters and the plot has begun to develop, things should be more exciting from this point on. A HUGE thank you to my first batch of reviewers, reading your comments actually stimulated me to get a move on with this fic. I'm trying to fill any plot holes that might have been formed, thus the level of detail I put into things. I hope it's not exhausting to read.

Lastly I have a question for you all; I'd appreciate it if you took the time out to provide a response: Do my characters have, well... Character? Personalities? Do you feel like you're reading about an actual _person_ or just random dialogue being spouted? This is a genuine concern of mine.  
>Thank you for reading :-)<p> 


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Romance