Yo! It's been a long time hasn't it? Again, sorry about the late update. I actually have finished five years ago, but I didn't want to put it up until I finish chapter 11. But I got really busy and forgot all about it, so now 5 years later you guys get to enjoy it.

So without further ado, go ahead and read chapter 10.

Summary: Neji x Sakura Meet Haruno Sakura, a typical junior high school prankster. When her prank got out of hand, the school principal decides to assign Sakura a mentor. Sakura thinks it's going to be a hell but things might not be as bad as Sakura thinks. As Sakura was starting to behave herself, a new problem occur that made her more rebellious than before. AU and hopefully not too much OOC

Genre: Drama/Romance

A/N – Author's Note

Italic - thoughts and/or emphasis on the word

Bold – emphasis on the word

New character!

The storekeeper name is Yamada, even though he might not show up again in the future fanfic, I thought it was appropriate to give him a name.

Kaede's boyfriend name is Fuji Satoshi

Troublemaker

Chapter 10: The Runaway Sakura

Continuing where I left off

"Sold out? Who could have…?" thought Ino.

"What do you mean by sold out old man!" shouted Naruto as he grabbed the storekeeper's collar.

"Naruto, calm down." said Iruka.

"Who?! Who did you sold it to? What's his name? What does he look like?" Naruto yelled.

"I'm sorry. I can't give away customer information."

"What did you say!?" Naruto has snapped.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey I told you to calm down already. Ino-san, please help me drag this idiot out of here."

"Yes, sir." answered Ino.

Naruto was still yelling at the store keeper as he was dragged outside by Iruka and Ino.

The store was quiet again when Naruto and the others left. Afterward Yamada-san, the shopkeeper, recalled back a few minutes ago before the noisy blond boy arrived there.

Flashback

"Why would I want the whole set?" the teen cocked an eyebrow.

The storekeeper asked, "You're buying for your girlfriend right?"

"…" the brunette boy remain silent.

There was a moment of silence. You could hear the rustling of wrapping paper as the shopkeeper neatly covered the bracelet before putting it in the appropriate box.

"I'll take it." came from the teen.

"Pardon, what did you say?" asked Yamada. (A/N: if you don't know who he is, then look at the top of this page. I added him as a new character)

The teenage boy said, "I said I will take the whole set."

"Oh, okay. Please wait a minute. I need to get the order form."

"Let me confirm that you want to order and reserve a necklace and a pair of earrings, correct?"

"Yes." The teenage boy replied.

"Then please write your name and phone number here, and then sign at the bottom. I will contact you immediately when the items arrive."

"Okay."

The brunette boy did as he was told and return the slip of paper. The storekeeper took a glance at the paper and smiled. "I see your name is Hyuuga Neji. That's a good name you got there, Hyuuga-kun."

"Thank you …er…" Neji looked at the storekeeper name tag and saw his name was… "Yamada-san."

"Would you like to make a deposit before the items get here? The total amount will be subtracted to the amount you deposit."

"Okay."

"Excellent. Then how much would you like to deposit?"

"1,000 yen."

"I see. In addition to the bracelet you are buying today, then the total come to 11,000 yen. But for today you're only buying the bracelet and paying the deposit fee, so then your total for today is 3,600 yen."

(A/N: Yes, I change the price again. I thought 30,000 yen for a bracelet is too pricey.)

Neji gave the exact amount and in return the storekeeper passed Neji the box that contains the bracelet inside.

"Please allow three to five weeks for the reservation to come, Hyuuga-kun."

"I see." Neji gave a nod and proceeded to walk toward the door.

"Whoever getting that bracelet is a lucky girl. Is she your girlfriend?" asked Yamada-san. Yamada could have asked if it was for the teenage boy's mother, but the design on the bracelet won't look good on a middle-aged woman. So, the storekeeper thought up the first thing that came to his mind.

Neji stopped right in front of the door when he heard the question. Then he tilted his face toward the storekeeper and said in a denying voice, "You're wrong." Neji immediately opened the door and left the store.

After Neji has left, it took a few seconds for Yamada to register what the young brunette just said. The storekeeper smirked and remarked, "That was so cute! He was trying to hide his feelings."

End of flashback

Next day

Sakura was running late for school so she was rushing to go to her locker to get her textbooks and stuff, but when she opened it she saw a strange green box with a card on top of her books. She took it out to see who was it from, but the only thing on the card was "To Haruno Sakura".

"That's weird, there's no name other then my own. I wonder who is it from." Sakura thought.

Right then, the bell rang which dedicated that class has started. "Aw, man! I'm late!" shouted Sakura.

Without thinking, Sakura shoved the box back into her locker without opening it and grabbed all her stuffs and ran to class.

After a few hours, it was finally lunch time for Sakura. She was about to head to the cafeteria to buy her lunch when a classmate called her name.

"Haruno Sakura, someone asks to talk to you." yelled the classmate who was near the classroom door.

"Huh?" Sakura got off her seat and processed to the door. When she got there she saw a familiar face at the door.

"Neji-senpai!? What are you doing here?" asked Sakura.

"You were about to go to the cafeteria right? I'll go with you." Neji said.

"Okay." "Senpai is weird today. He never offers to walk me to the cafeteria before." Sakura thought.

On the way, Neji glanced at Sakura hands and noticed that she was not wearing it.

"You…" Neji started but didn't finish what he was going to say. Then he started again but did not say what was on his mind, and so the pattern repeated several times until Sakura couldn't take it anymore.

"Neji-senpai, if you have something to say, can you just say. Don't just keep pausing." said the annoyed Sakura.

"You…did you…" Neji hesitated as he thought of the right words to say. "Did you see anything strange lately?"

"Other than you being so dawdle?" Sakura half joke, half asked while giggling.

An anger vein popped on Neji's head, "Just answer the question!"

"No, nothing out of the ordinary." She keeps thinking then "Ah!"

"I did find a weird green box in my locker today!" That caught Neji's attention.

"But the strangest thing was there was no name as to who it was from. The only thing on the card was [To Haruno Sakura]. Ne, don't you think it's odd, senpai?"

Neji kept silent for a few seconds then asked, "Did you open it?"

"No, I was late for class so I don't have time to open it. I put it back in my locker and rush to class this morning."

"I see. Bye." Neji said.

"Huh? Oh, we're here already. Neji-senpai, aren't you gonna buy lunch too?" asked Sakura.

"No." and Neji took his leave.

"Wha-!? He's so weird. Why would he bother coming with me to the cafeteria if he's not buying lunch?!" thought Sakura.

Sakura opened her locker again when she was about to go home. She took out the box again and put it in her pocket.

As she was walking home, she examined the box very closely.

"Oh, what am I so hesitating!? It's not like it's a bomb or anything."

Sakura slowly pulled the ribbon and removed the green wrapper. She opened out the box and saw inside was a…

"A bracelet?" thought Sakura.

"Heh, it's really cute." Sakura smiled. "Hey, wait a second, isn't this the bracelet I wanted to buy?" Sakura asked herself. Flashback in Sakura's head.

"I didn't get a chance to buy, so Ino must have bought it for me. Hehe, silly girl, why did she have to be so secretive about it."

"I'll have to make sure to thank her tomorrow."

Sakura thought she would come home to an empty house, but then she heard some noise rustling at the door. She quickly took out her keys and opened the door. Once inside she saw luggage and bags that were still unpack.

"I'm home, Sakura!" cheered Kaede, "how are you feeling honey? Were you lonely while I was away? Oh yeah! Before I forget I have a special present for you. Come, come, this way. Come sit down at the sofa while I get your present out."

It has been awhile since Sakura heard her mom's voice again; it was good to see her home again.

"She must have a good time at her work. She's so cheery." Sakura thought.

"Here you go! A brand new wrist-watch for you!"

"Thank you." murmured Sakura.

"By the way, Satoshi is coming over for dinner on Sunday. So be on your best behavior." Kaede said while unpacking her stuff.

"Satoshi…Satoshi…who the hell is that? …AH!" thought Sakura.

"Fuji-san eh?" said Sakura with a sigh.

"Sakura, I have something important I must tell you." Kaede sounded serious.

"Hmm…what is it?"

"Sakura, Satoshi asked me to marry him!" Kaede confessed.

Sakura was dumbfounded.

There was a moment of silence while Sakura waited for her mother words to sink in her head.

"A…an…an…an…ANSWER! And what was your answer!?" Sakura stood up.

"I said YES of course!" Kaede laughed.

A volcano just erupted inside Sakura mind and she fell back down on the sofa.

"Mar…mar…marry…marry…marry…marry…marry…marry…marry… marry…marry…marry…" those were all the things Sakura could think of at the moment.

As Sakura was deep in thought, Kaede went on and on how happy she was of her engagement.

"Oh, and then the wedding dress is going to be so beautiful."

"Wedding dress? They're already planning the wedding!?"

"Sakura honey, are you listening dear? As I was saying…blah blah blah…" was all Sakura could hear at the moment.

Sakura was blocking every single word that came out of Kaede mouth except for words like wedding, marry, engage, and anything that related to marriage.

"I'm so happy to be engage to Satoshi…blah blah blah…" Kaede continue to blabber on.

"Engage? My mom? To who? That bastard Fuji?" Sakura felt the coldest chill down her spine. And inside her mind was the biggest blizzard in the history of blizzards. "NOOOOOOOOO!"

Then Sakura finally got back to her senses.

"And everything is gonna be fine, oh and I forgot to mention that Satoshi has a son about your age, his name is S-." Kaede was cut off.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING MEEEEEE!" Sakura shouted as loud as she could.

"W-what is it honey? You scared me."

"I-I-I—I-I—I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I reject! No! I-I-I-I-I—I—I refuse! NO!" Sakura was in panic and couldn't find the right word to say.

Kaede looked at Sakura with a puzzled face and she thought "Is there something wrong with my daughter?"

"I—I—I-I-I-I obfuse. NO! I mean I-I-I—I-I-I object! Yes! That's it! Object! Yes! NO! YES! I object!" Sakura finally found the right word.

"Object to what?" Kaede asked Sakura.

"I object to the marriage."

"What! Object!?" asked Kaede loudly.

"Yes! Object!" answered Sakura even louder.

"Object!?" asked Kaede in confusion.

"YES! Object!"

"Object!?"

"YES! OBJECT! As in objection, oppose, against, protest, to make an objection, be in opposition to, to be against it, to not like! Not like! Object!"

Sakura and Kaede were panting from exhaustion.

"But…why?" Kaede asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I object because I don't want you to marry that bastard Fuji!" Sakura answered.

"But why don't you want us to married?"

"Because I hate him OK!" Sakura finally said what was on her mind, but then a couple of seconds later she realized what she has just said.

"Hate? I never knew you hated Satoshi before."

"Of course, you never notice. You're inside that happy little world of yours so much that you don't notice my feelings at all."

Kaede knocked on Sakura's bedroom door, which was slightly open but Kaede hesitated to enter, and so she stood in front of the door.

"Sakura…" Kaede thought that her level of voice it enough to reach Sakura in her room, so she said it softly.

When there was no answer coming from inside, Kaede tried again. But this time she said it a little louder. "Sakura…!"

Again, Kaede received no answer. So she decided to enter the room. Kaede slowly opened the door and tried to step in quietly. When she entered the room, the first thing she noticed was that the bed was empty. Usually, Sakura would be sulking or take out her frustration on the bed. But this time, Kaede didn't see Sakura on the bed, so she assumed that Sakura was hiding somewhere.

"Sakura, I know you're hiding somewhere. Come out. We need to talk." Kaede said while searching everywhere that Sakura could possible hide. Sakura wasn't a little girl anymore, so then her hiding space was limited.

When Kaede searched more and more space and couldn't find Sakura anywhere, she began to panic. "Sakura, this isn't funny anymore. Come out now!" Kaede hands were starting to shake out of nervousness. "Since when did Sakura become so good at hiding?" Kaede mentally asked herself.

Then, Kaede just forgot about how limited the space that Sakura could hide in, and she started to search everywhere else. Kaede even looked under the bed, which was only small enough to fit a cat, not a human. Kaede then realized how ridiculous she was by trying to look under the bed. Then she stood up and she came face to face to an opened window.

Inside Kaede mind, she was thinking of the worse possibility that what opened window could mean. Kaede was terrified to find out the truth, but her worries for Sakura got the best of her and she started to approach the window. When Kaede reached the window, she looked down saw a rope that was tied to the pole and it reached all the way down to the ground.

"Sakura!" Kaede cried. Kaede was screaming inside her head, but then she tried really hard to keep a positive attitude about it. "Maybe Sakura just went to one of her friend's house to stay for the night." Kaede thought while shaking uncontrolled. "Y-yes, that must be it. Sakura is just staying at Naruto or Ino house. She just wanted to use the rope to climb down because she didn't want to see me. Y-Y-Yeah, that must be it." Kaede tried to come up with all the possible reasons as to why there was a tied rope on Sakura's window. But deep down inside, she knew exactly well what was going on. "S-S-Sakura…h-has…r-run…a-a…" Kaede couldn't finish her sentence.

Then an idea came to Kaede and she decided to call Sakura's friends to see if she was really with them. Kaede rushed out of the room and into the living room where the phone was. She searched through the phone numbers that she kept in case of emergency. She quickly scanned through to find Ino's number. "There is it." Kaede finally found the number and started to dial it.

The phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello, may I speak to Ino please."

"This is she. Maybe I ask who is calling."

"This is Sakura's mom, Kaede."

"Ohh Kaede-san, what is it?"

"I-Is Sakura at your place by any chance, Ino?"

"No. Sakura is not at my house. Why? Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure yet. It is only an assumption. But I think that Sakura might have run away from home."

"What! That is serious, why don't you call the police?"

"Like a said, it is only an assumption. For all we know, she might be at Naruto place. I'll go call him now."

"Ok, but if there's something that I can help, please call Kaede-san."

"I will. Thanks for your offering. Good-night."

"You're welcome and good-night to you too."

Kaade then hung up the phone and began to search for Naruto phone number. When she found it, she picked up the phone once again and dialed the number.

"Hello?"

"Naruto, is that you?"

"Yes. Who is calling?"

"This is Sakura's mom."

"Oh! Kaede-san. What brings you to call me?"

"I just like to know, that if by any chance….is... Sakura… at your… place?"

"Um, no. She's not here. Why is there something the matter?"

Kaede almost dropped the phone when she heard Naruto reply. Sakura is not at Ino or Naruto house, then where could she be. Those two are the only friends that Kaede knew that Sakura had.

"Hello? Hello? HELLO? Kaede-san, are you still there?!" Naruto shouted over the phone.

"N-Naruto, I t-think…that…Sakura…might…have…r-run…a-away…from…home…"

"WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SAKURA RUNAWAY FROM HOME?"

Kaede began to cry. "I don't know. I came in her room and couldn't find her. Then I saw there was a rope tied to the window and I panicked and thought she ran away from home, but then I want make sure and so I called Ino earlier but she said Sakura was not there. And here, you said that Sakura is not at your place either."

"Ok, I understand. Let's contact the police about this."

"No, don't contact them. I think Sakura is just angry at the moment. Let's not involve the police in this."

"Ok, then I will search for her as soon as tomorrow morning."

"…"

"Don't worry, Kaede-san. Everything will be fine. I will find her back for you."

"Thank you for your kindness, Naruto."

"Hey, Sakura is my friend. That's what friends do for each other."

"I'm glad to know that Sakura have such great friends."

Next day on Monday

At Iruka office

Neji was asked to hand some paperwork to Iruka-sensei. As he was approaching Iruka's office, Neji could hear a familiar voice.

"Iruka-sensei, what should we do? Sakura-chan has been missing for one whole day now!"

"Sakura… is missing?" thought Neji.

Unaware that another person was outside the door, the others continue their conversation.

"Calm down Naruto. Now let's think about it for a second. Do you have a clue as to where Sakura-san could be hiding?" Iruka asked.

"We used to go to the arcade together, but I already checked there."

"I see then Ino-san, you used to hang out with Sakura-san. Do you girls have a special place that you go? asked Iruka.

"Well, not really. I wouldn't call it a special place. We mostly go to the comic book stores to read manga or to the nearest convenience store to buy junk food."

"I see. That's too bad. By the way, do you know the reason why Sakura runaway from home in the first place?"

"I do!" Ino raised her hand "But I'm not sure about the details. I think it has to do with her mom getting married. She was really upset about it."

"In the past, she always do crazy things to get some attention but she never runaway from home before. Something must have push her to the edge for her to do such a thing."

"Anyways, standing here discussing about it won't bring Sakura-chan back. Let's get going."

"Sakura ran away from home…?" Neji pondered.

So, how's that for a cliffhanger? Look forward to the next chapter as it will get interesting. And guess who will find Sakura first? I think it's obvious (wink)

I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully it's within this year. (so you guys don't have to wait another 5 years - again, I'm sorry)

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