A/N: FIRST I'D JUST LIKE TO MAKE A SHOUTOUT TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED THIS STORY COME TO LIFE, AND WHO HAVE HELPED ME SO MUCH THROUGHOUT THIS STORY! So here we go, shout out to Alice, Audrey, Patti, Flavia, Ro, and Alicia for ALL BEING THERE FOR ME AKSJHDASJKHD AND TO MY EDITORS: ALICE & AUDREY FOR MAKING THIS STORY FLAWLESS, AND DOUBLE SHOUTOUT TO AUDREY FOR literally making this story even possible, as she is responsible for a lot of this plot as well. I love you guys so much. Seriously.

This story is an AU, and it is a SLOW BURN which will eventually include smut. So be on the look out for that steamy shit. hehehe. Also, I have done my best to keep everyone in character. Additionally the only shit I know about baseball comes from my experience from softball (for like a year) so some of this might not be accurate and I apologize.

Although this story takes place, I am not Japanese nor have I ever been to Japan, so this story will be fairly AMERICANIZED. I apologize if it's not entirely accurate, but I assure you I have tried :D

One last thing: This story will also include some SOUNDTRACK, and I will include the songs along with the chapters as they come.

THANKS AGAIN!

~ CAPTAIN! ~

PROLOGUE

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"—recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the creation and extinction of species. Living organisms—"

Sakura blinks heavily, tuning out her teacher's lecture with shameful ease. With her chin resting sleepily in her hand, she glances at the clock above the chalkboard, nearly rolling her eyes in dread when she sees that the minute hand hasn't moved merely an inch since the last she checked. Which was like an hour ago.

(Okay, so maybe it was like a minute ago, but seriously, come on.)

She drums her fingernails impatiently against the wooden desktop, blatantly ignoring the searing glare directed at her fingers from the guy next to her, annoyed.

Green eyes trail lazily back to Kakashi-sensei, a teacher she's almost positive has a porn-addiction if the orange book that is always sticking out of his back pocket is any indication. Sakura scrunches her nose in disgust—It's no wonder he's teaching Biology. A shudder runs down her spine.

She debates whether or not she should sneak a nap. There's still twenty minutes left of class and, if she was being honest, she knows this stuff already. Oh yeah, she's read the textbook—all three-hundred and twenty pages of it, and Sakura is more than ready for the test this Friday. Maybe she's an overachiever (an over-doer, if you will), but if she's going to be a surgeon one day, she has to be. There's no half-saving someone's life—no room for slack in their final moments between life and death.

But at least she doesn't have to worry about falling behind, unlike her best friend who wouldn't be a senior right now without her. She snickers to herself, remembering all the notes she had slapped onto Ino's minty-blue bedspread two nights before the final exams last year.

'You mean, I have to read all of these?!' She had screeched, her face nearly purple with terror.

Sakura clapped a simple hand on her shoulder, smiling, unabashedly relishing in her misery. Maybe next time, Ino will actually study for once instead of poking fun at Sakura's notes all the time, now that she sees how much work she puts into them. You live and you learn, Ino-pig. 'Yup!'

(Speaking of notes.)

Glancing down at her spiral notebook, her bubbly scrawl of handwriting takes up only half the page since she had abandoned writing about fifteen minutes ago. Pursing her lips, she stops drumming her fingers (she swears the guy next to her moans in relief) and picks up her pen, drawing nonchalantly in the empty space. Mindlessly scribbling little spirals along the faint blue lines, she pauses when she suddenly finds herself doodling a familiar name.

Sasuke.

Sasuke Uchiha.

Baseball captain. Brilliant. Top-of-the-class. Perfect lean body. Tall, dark and handsome—you know, everything that shouldn't be possible for one man to be all at once. (It's so unfair because nobody should be that perfect. Seriously.)

Despite his obnoxiously shining qualities, he's quiet for the most part. Keeps to himself like a secret. Or maybe he killed someone—it's not like she'd ever know, since the only stuff she knows about Sasuke is purely by rumor. They just happen to float her way, and honestly, it's a little hard to ignore gossip that involves the baseball captain of KHS. Everyone knows him. Loves him. Worships him, actually.

Okay, so maybe only the female population worships him. The males, however, are a different story—but they're just jealous sore losers if you ask her. It's not like Sasuke asked to be born that freaking attractive.

Not to mention he's rich. His father, the CEO and founder of Uchiha Enterprises, owns just about every commercial trade-corner in Japan, branching internationally where the States stand as their biggest client. In just ten years, Uchiha Enterprises exploded into a monopoly, eclipsing competition by miles—too big and too powerful to be rivaled. The red and white Uchiwa fan paints every cargo ship on Japan's horizon; like vast navy fleets sailing off to war. One time, She and Ino decided to google the Uchiha's net worth for shits-and-giggles, but their smiles were wiped clean from their faces when they saw the nine digit number across the screen. Needless to say, Sasuke could never work a day in his life and still live like a king.

She's also heard on several occasions that he's actually antisocial—withdrawn to a point. He doesn't attend activities outside of school, other than baseball, and he's never seen at mixers or parties. In fact, the only person he's really ever seen with outside of school is the catcher of the baseball team; Naruto Uzumaki. A blonde knucklehead of a guy she's seen, heard of, but never spoken to. Attached at the hip, it always seemed as if one was never without the other wherever they went—at least, that was the case whenever the reclusive Uchiha decides to show his face in public.

(And even though Sasuke and Naruto were rumored to be gay, Sakura secretly hoped Sasuke was at least bi.)

You'd think a guy like him would embrace his genes and take advantage of every opportunity he gets, considering the way he can literally make a whole room swoon just by entering.

But as far as she knows—or anyone knows—he's never had a girlfriend. (Or boyfriend.)

Too bad it only serves to make him more interesting, if half—all—the crooning girls of the school are anything to go by. Sakura likes him too, but she's not screaming across the baseball field, clinging to the chain-link fence like a wild animal, asking to have his babies in the middle of his pitch. (True story. She was there. The girl was escorted off campus, kicking and screaming until she was shot in the rear with a horse tranquilizer.)

After punctuating the last letter of his name with a little heart, she sighs wistfully and looks up, green eyes following the incline of desk rows downward where the very man himself sits at the edge of his row, diagonal from her perspective, whose quick hands are working away at his notebook diligently.

He's as handsome as ever, she sighs to herself, cradling her chin in her hands and practically floating in her seat on a cloud of daydreams. She studies the side profile of his perfectly unblemished face (he probably doesn't even try!) His sharp raven bangs fall sinfully over equally dark eyes that are slightly narrowed in concentration—his left wrist flicks languidly across the paper, following Kakashi-sensei's lecture with ease. Sasuke pauses every once in a while to look up at their teacher, nodding curtly in understanding at whatever the silver-haired man is saying, as if he's genuinely intrigued by the lecture, before returning back to his notes.

Sakura blinks in surprise, however, when Ino—who somehow managed an assigned seat next to the Uchiha, the conniving pig—turns her platinum blond head in her direction. Baby blue eyes squint mischievously, accompanied by a smirk that Sakura has learned to detest over the many years of their friendship, when her eyes flicker to Sasuke and back to Sakura. A smirk like that from Ino is nothing short of dangerous.

What, Sakura mouths impatiently.

Blonde eyebrows waggle suggestively to which Sakura shoots her a look as if to say: Whatever you're thinking about doing, Pig, don't even try it.

Ino's smirk only grows more wicked, eyes twinkling impishly when she swiftly turns back around and begins to scribble something in her notebook. Eyes narrowing in suspicion, she studies the back of her best friend's head with a frown.

Slowly, reluctantly, Sakura returns to her own notebook, picking up where she left off, but she's only added a few more little hearts around Sasuke's name before something light and airy smacks her forehead and bounces off to land directly upon her notebook.

What the—

She snaps her head up, eyes immediately finding Ino's platinum ponytail. Despite not being able to see it, Sakura sends her a dark scowl and inwardly curses. Passing notes in class is a huge no-no; it's an instant detention and maybe Ino doesn't care about her perfect, unblemished school record but Sakura does. ThankYouVeryMuch.

(If she gets in trouble, Ino is so dead.)

With a petulant huff, she finally looks down at the offending object. A crumpled ball of paper sits innocently upon Sasuke's scribbled name. Kakashi-sensei has long since turned his back to the class, his ever-boring monotone voice a mere drawl in the background as he jots something on the chalkboard, completely oblivious to the paper note that has soared half-way across the classroom.

Sakura makes a face at Ino's back one last time before she gingerly opens the wad of paper before her, almost afraid of what she'll see. Maybe it's a picture, she thinks. The paper crinkles a little loudly and naturally, she flinches. But somehow luck is on her side—Kakashi-sensei's back is still turned. Sighing in relief, she quickly reads Ino's sloppy note.

Don't think I don't see you eyeing Sasuke-kun, Forehead girl. If you want his dick that bad, you could always just ask... too bad you're such a prude. And you might wanna wipe that drool off your chin, although I suppose Sasuke-kun could lick it off for you. How 'bout it, Sakura?

A cute little smiley face punctuates the end of the sentence and it takes every ounce of control in Sakura's body not to openly gape. Turning seven shades of red, she jerks her head to send the deadliest glare she can manage at her best friend, only for her simmering anger to amplify when she finds Ino smiling back at her, a hand over her mouth stifling laughter. That witch! Flustered, Sakura grinds her teeth together and snatches her pen, eager to put the pig in her place.

You're disgusting. Sakura scribbles angrily, but then pauses abruptly as an idea sprouts in her head. "Two can play at this game," she whispers sourly to herself. Sakura will be damned if Ino thinks she can embarrass and tease her without getting a taste of her own medicine.

Oh, I'll show her 'prude'.

Smirking and feeling quite proud of herself, she promptly erases her first two words and begins to rewrite.

Lick it off? Oh, Pig. I'd let Sasuke-kun do far more than just that. In fact, I would pull him between my thighs and let him fuck—she underlines this word with an angry bold line—me until I'm screaming. Against the wall, pressed against the cherry tree behind our school, or smack dab in the middle of his baseball field, you name it. And speaking of prude, I've never seen you with a guy either. Why don't you ask him out yourself? Hypocrite.

P.S. if Kakashi-sensei catches this note, I'll personally kill you.

Satisfied, Sakura draws a tiny passive-aggressive heart, crumbles the paper back into a wad and waits until Kakashi-sensei turns around again. The second his back is turned, she hurls it through the air where it bounces against Ino's shoulder and onto the floor. She hastily bends over to pick it up, skims it over, and throws Sakura an offended look over her shoulder.

Cha! Take that, Ino-pig!

Sakura childishly sticks out her tongue, inwardly pumping a fist in triumph. Ino can make fun of her all she wants, but at the end of the day, she's really not one to talk. She's never seen her best friend advance on a guy, and the fact that she's hounding her for not busting a move on Sasuke Uchiha—the freaking baseball captain, of all people—is laughably ridiculous. A cruel joke.

Sure, she's liked him for four years. But who hasn't. The day he transferred from Sound freshman year, he was an instant school sensation; a celebrity of the highest caliber. His name—whispered in every hallway, scribbled on the walls of dirty bathroom stalls, passed around campus like a sweeping disease—was inescapable. And she, along with every other girl with eyes, had fallen for him the moment she saw him. It was a harmless, silly crush; something she's never expected to grow into anything other than just that. He's so far out of her league it's embarrassing. They've never even spoken before, least of all looked at each other. She's pretty sure he doesn't even know she exists—at least, he pretends not to.

Sakura remembers all too clearly the day she once tried (with all the courage her hopeful heart could muster) to greet him for the first time since she laid eyes on him. They had been the first ones to arrive in the classroom one morning, leaving them completely alone with each other. He had already been seated at his desk, writing something in his notes, clearly absorbed—oblivious to her entrance. Her palms had been so sweaty it was a wonder how she even held onto her notebooks.

"Good morning, S-Sasuke-kun." She had greeted cheerfully (nervously), nearly choking on his name, a one-thousand-watt smile lighting her face like a Christmas tree. Heart thundering, she clenched her notebooks to her chest, face blossoming as pink as her hair as she waited for him to acknowledge her as she casually passed him by.

He hadn't even looked up. (That jerk!) But when she had settled into her desk, deflated and deeply humiliated that she had been disregarded so easily, so rudely, it was only then that she had noticed the earbuds in his ears. Her chest flooded with relief. He probably hadn't even heard her.

Maybe next time, he'll notice me.

But that was over a year ago, and there had never been a next time. Sighing heavily at the memory, she is ripped from her thoughts when a crinkled ball of paper plops onto her notebook again. Sakura takes in a deep breath, not even bothering to look over at Ino—who, Sakura would bet a million dollars, was smirking with glee. She unfurls the note as quietly as she can manage.

Wow, billboard brow . . . I am genuinely impressed. Have you been watching porn lately? I had no idea you even knew that many positions. And I may not have ever been with a guy, but at least I've been kissed. Tell me, what's it like though? Daydreaming about Sasuke-kun's wet, sloppy kisses, that is. You've liked him for like, four years now, Sakura. Get a fucking move on, already. Wrap your cute little ass in a bow and slip him your V-card.

P.S. Kakashi-sensei can suck my dick.

Eyes nearly popping out of her skull at that last sentence, Sakura hunches forward protectively when the guy next to her scowls in disgust, as if he read the note himself over her shoulder. Arms still shielding the crinkled paper from unwanted eyes, Sakura chances a look at Kakashi-Sensei before she furiously writes back.

For gods' sake! What if Kakashi-sensei catches this note by accident! Also I definitely do not daydream about his kisses. Okay, maybe just a little . . . But don't you dare bring up my virginity, Pig. I bet Sasuke-kun doesn't even know my name—

"—Sakura?"

She nearly jumps out of her seat, startled like a child caught with an arm halfway in the cookie jar.

"M-Mitosis!" She blurts without thinking, only to shrink in mortification when the rest of the class explodes in peals of laughter.

Kakashi-sensei quirks a single visible eyebrow in what she assumes is surprise (nobody can really tell what kind of expressions he makes under that weird medical mask and eyepatch anyway.)

Sakura feels one hundred pairs of eyes on her back, and every head in the front four rows have turned, craning their necks to see the face of the unlucky person who has just embarrassed themselves.

Including Sasuke.

Over his shoulder, he looks right at her; expression as blank as a sheet of paper. She stares right back at him, blinking in astonishment, because it's the first time they've ever made eye contact. And it's so intense—piercing, even. Like two black holes sucking her in and crushing the oxygen from her lungs with their devastating gravity. Butterflies flap wildly against the walls of her stomach; she thinks she might hurl her breakfast across the room. His eyes glisten like obsidian marbles—

When his dark brows furrow marginally (she needs a magnifying glass to be sure) in confusion, her breath hitches, and suddenly she feels as naked as a mole rat. As if someone has snapped their fingers and every article of her clothing disappears. She sits naked, squirming under that smoldering gaze that pierces through her like Cupid's arrow. Heart stuttering, chest heaving, face flooding with heat, Sakura quickly tries to calm down. Tries to breathe.

Well if he didn't notice me before, he definitely notices me now!

"Sakura?" Kakashi-sensei's usual monotone voice is now laced with concern. She snaps her gaze back to the teacher, breaking free from the baseball captain's wicked spell, mumbling a quick apology before lowering her eyes in shame. The silver-haired man studies her for another moment, as if he's hesitating whether to ask if she's alright (as if he's questioning her sanity), but resumes his lecture after a quiet murmur of 'Pay attention next time.'

Spine snapping straight, it dawns on her suddenly—what Sasuke's first impression of her must be now. She's just made a complete idiot out of herself in front of the whole class. All because of . . .

Sakura's pearly teeth mash together, narrows her eyes into dangerous slits, slowly turning to glare at a certain blonde pig. But she's not facing Sakura. No. She's staring straight ahead at the chalkboard, a little too casually to be genuine, twirling a strand of her blonde ponytail nonchalantly as if to say: 'Don't look at me, I didn't do anything.'

Sakura's fists clench on the table top. She's positive a deadly miasma is radiating off her at this point, because the guy next to her scoots a few inches away.

"S-Scary . . . " she thinks she hears him whisper.

Snatching her pen, she scowls down at the crinkled note as if her very eyes could set the paper on fire, before erasing the last sentence she wrote and picking up where she left off.

—are you happy now, Pig? Are you? Because you've just totally ruined everything with this stupid note. Sasuke-kun probably thinks I'm a dumbass now, no thanks to you. There goes my chance.

P.S. don't talk to me for the rest of my life. I hate you.

With that, she balls up the wad of paper with more force than necessary and, as Kakashi-sensei turns back to the chalkboard, she chucks it with all her might across the room, watching with pure satisfaction as it soars downward like a projectile missile—

—only for it to violently smack the head of a very raven-haired baseball captain.

Sakura claps a palm over her gaping mouth to stifle her petrified shriek of terror.

Oh gods! Oh fuck! No way—!

She sinks down into her seat immediately, as low as she can physically go, eyes wider than the moon in absolute horror. Oh gods. Holy shit. No, no, no, no! Please don't pick it up—please, please, please—

Sasuke whips his head behind him, obsidian eyes slit with anger, searching murderously for the culprit as he rubs the side of his head where he was just unforgivably assaulted. Sakura keeps her eyes trained on the notebook before her, nostrils flaring and swallowing against the growing lump in her throat. Trying to remember everything that was written in the note, she cringes fiercely, her whole body shaking with trepidation. She thinks she might be sick.

'And you might wanna wipe that drool off your chin, although I suppose Sasuke-kun could lick it off for you.'

'Lick it off? Oh, Pig. I'd let Sasuke-kun do far more than just that. In fact, I would pull him between my thighs and let him fuck me until I'm screaming. Against the wall, pressed against the cherry tree behind our school, or smack dab in the middle of his baseball field, you name it.'

'Tell me, what's it like though? Daydreaming about Sasuke-kun's wet, sloppy kisses, that is. You've liked him for like, four years now, Sakura . . . Wrap your cute little ass in a bow and slip him your V-card.'

'And I definitely do not daydream about his kisses. Okay, maybe just a little . . . '

Attempting to swallow again, she gathers the courage to sneak a peek at her impending doom, only for her heart to plummet into her stomach when she sees him finally bend over and pick up the offending wad of paper on the floor by his feet.

Sakura squeezes her eyes shut, bringing both pale, trembling hands to her face in utter mortification, but not before catching the terrified look on Ino's face as she realizes what has just happened.

Her teeth sink into her bottom lip painfully. There's no coming back from this. Nope. She can't even open her eyes. Oh, gods. The sound of light crinkling paper has her sinking even further in her seat. Sakura's racing heartbeat echoes in her ears, pounding and pounding until she feels her whole body alight with fire; flight or fight mode. If only the floor could swallow her up. If only she could just disappear into thin air, if only she could—

A few tense seconds tick by, but she's still too afraid to open her eyes, pressing the heels of her palms harder against her eyelids. Her shoulders shrug inward toward her ears, entire body taut with arresting panic. She knows (she knows) he is reading it. He's reading it right now.

Goodbye, cruel world. It was fun while it lasted.

Cracking an eye open, a new tidal wave of humiliation crashes over her when she physically sees the note unfurled in his hands. Nope. Mm-mm. This is so not happening. She crosses her arms over the desk and buries her head in the nook of her forearms, wishing and praying and hoping to all the gods that are listening that Sasuke doesn't hate her. Because, surely, after reading a note like that, he will be so disgusted by her that just looking at the color pink will make him hurl. She probably sounded like such a creep! Or worse . . .

A whore.

But—but. . . I'm a virgin!

Tears prickle her eyes. The lewd things she wrote were to explicitly piss Ino off; she would never do any of those nasty things! (Okay, so that's not entirely the truth . . . Sex with Sasuke is a fantasy she dreams about more often than she cares to admit.) But still, she never should have risked it—never should have played Ino's games that only get her in trouble time and time again. She should have known. Ino always gets her in trouble.

(You live and you learn.)

Exhaling a shuddering breath, Sakura finally lifts her head up, only to startle forcibly when bottomless black eyes lock with hers.

He's staring at her shamelessly over his broad shoulder, eyes peeking through his dark fringe, the incriminating note still open in his hands in all its wanton glory. Her lips tremble and she's positive she looks like a deer in headlights. Against her will, those smoldering black eyes send zips of electricity coursing through her veins, down and down and down until it spreads along her lower belly where heat stirs like liquid fire between her legs.

A tiny, helpless squeak escapes her throat.

Help.

The bell rings suddenly, ripping through the air and shattering the moment like a bullet through glass. Oh thank god! Sakura jumps out of her seat faster than lightning, scraping her notebook into her book bag and slinging it over her shoulder so quickly, she almost smacks the guy next to her across the face with it.

Kakashi-sensei is announcing something as everyone is gathering their things, but right now she really doesn't care. Galloping down the stairs between the rows of desks, bumping shoulders with people she doesn't bother apologizing to, she books it—runs like hell to the door and into the hallway (sweet, sweet freedom) before even Ino can catch up with her. She doesn't look back.

And she doesn't see the pair of onyx eyes that follow her out the door.

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PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE IT :D Till next time! -Sloshi