Behind Those Eyes

Summary: Sakura is a strong and spirited sixteen year-old college student, working as a nightclub waitress. Becoming someone's mistress wasn't what she really wanted. All she wanted was true happiness. She doesn't want to pretend and lie anymore. Love seeks her but is it true love?

Chapter One: Zero Nightclub

"Out, Out, OUT!"

The scary-looking landlord threw Sakura's luggage out of the door and slammed the door hard in her face. Sakura began banging on the door in protest. "Hey! It's only late for a month; I'll pay up soon. Honest!"

"Its not just one month, it's five months! Five months without any rent paid. You have been living for free, girl," The landlord shouted through the door, eager to attend to more significant duties.

"My parents have left a sum in your hands, right? It should be enough until I graduate," Sakura said persistently and continued banging on the door until her hand was becoming a pink shade.

"Your parents, still want to talk about them huh? They did not even leave any money behind. Didn't you know they owed the loan sharks' money? That's why they decided to end their lives in a car accident!" The landlord yelled, irritated, her voice becoming increasingly sharper by the second.

Sakura couldn't believe it. Her parents lied to her. She thought they really died in an accident. She never thought that they would fake the whole thing and just leave her without any money. Her damn fucking parents.

No matter how hard she refused to believe the landlord's words, they explained why there were strange noises at their old home and the paint on their front door and why she was being packed away to stay here alone. Her parents just kept saying they were overseas. It was all bullshit.

Sakura picked up her luggage and walked out of the grey building. She was not going to look back. She would still continue her college studies and maybe she would apply for a job with reasonable pay. She had gotten fired at her bakery job.

But first, she now required a new place to stay and a place to change out of her uniform. Her uniform consisted of a black-collared pinafore and was white on the sleeves. Her skirt was below knee length. She wanted to buy a longer skirt but there was just not enough money to afford it.

Sakura Haruno, a bubbling 16 year-old girl who studied at Monichiwa College.

A very inactive adolescent when it came to sports but a very active girl when it came to studies. She was not overly smart but she was hardworking and she disliked receiving grades lower than the students in her class.

She was not exactly open and so only had a few friends. One of her best friend's was Ino. Sakura's waist-length pink hair was pulled back into two pigtails. She was quite pretty as her skin was fair but she seldom smiled.

Sakura swept her emerald eyes across the street in search for the nearest phone booth, having decided to call Ino. Ino knew what to do best in these kinds of situations.

The phone rang for a long time; the monotonous ringing was beginning to give Sakura a headache. Wasn't Ino at home? Just as Sakura was about to hook the phone back into place, Ino had picked up the receiver.

"Hey Ino," Sakura spoke in a relieved voice. She counted herself lucky that she did not put down the phone as she already slotted in the money and it would have been a complete waste.

She heard some noises in the background. She heard Ino moaned followed by kissing noises. What happened to her? Then slowly, Ino's voice was back on the line.

"So sorry Sakura, Shikamaru was getting on my nerves," She stopped and Sakura made out distinct noises of Ino wrestling with Shikamaru.

Then Ino panted back into the phone, "Sorry, so what's up?"

"Ino, I've been kicked out my house! I have no place to go to. Can I stay at your place?" Sakura asked in earnest, knotting her fingers together out of anxiousness.

But Ino's reply resulted in disappointment.

"Sorry no can do, lately Shikamaru has been hanging around here."

"Oh…"

Again, Ino paused and then came back. "But guess what, Shikamaru said his friend's nightclub is hiring some waitresses and the pay is good too. He also mentioned that there's an old building where rooms can be rented. It's just opposite the nightclub. Oh ya, the nightclub is called "Zero". Good luck, girlfriend!" And with that, Ino put down the receiver, accompanied by the familiar dial tone.

Ino is sure cozy with her one-month boyfriend. Wonder whether she is going serious this time. And nightclub? Did she say nightclub? Sakura was only at the tender age of 16 and had no plans on working in those kinds of places but she guessed she had no other choice. She was really desperate.

The 16-year-old decided to visit the old building opposite the nightclub first. She was not greeted with a very pleasant sight as the building was extremely dull and the signboard was falling off. "Happiness," it read.

She went in and approached an old lady who was occupying herself by swatting flies at the counter.

"Hi, I would like to rent a room," Sakura bowed politely.

The old lady looked up and replied, "It will be 400 dollars per month and your lucky room will be…………….. A-18."

She quickly passed Sakura the room key and went back to swatting flies, opening a magazine as she did so. Sakura took the key and went off to find A-18; she wondered where the fuck it was. The corridors were so dusty and some of the doors had their signs missing.

She saw a room, A-17 and figured that her room should be right adjacent to it.

As she twisted the door knob the door was not locked to her surprise.

Though, as the door swung open, she heard some disturbing moans and then set her eyes on 2 men partially naked with a girl. Out of sheer embarrassment, she abruptly slammed the door and apologized loudly, hoping that they would hear it.

That room must have been A-19 and the one opposite must be A-18. Luckily it was locked and when she stepped into the room, the TV had an A-18 sign on it. She sighed in relief and set her things aside.

The bubblegum-haired teenager collapsed on the bed. She found it to her distaste as the mattress was not really bouncy, it was hard. And as she lay down with the door closed, she still heard some noises from next door.

Was this some kind of prostitutes' place? That girl must be indecent.

Just as Sakura was slowly closing her eyes, the door opened without warning and in stepped two guys who she vaguely recognized and realized they were from the opposite room.

She was startled and her cheeks turned pink because when she was sleeping, her skirt had folded out, revealing her white underwear.

The two guys seemed quite happy. One of them said, "Hey, don't go barging into some other peoples' room again." He finished, his fist on the door.

Sakura was shocked. They did see her and before she could reply the male had bid his farewell.

"Ciao." They left her room without even bothering to close the door.

Oh man. Sakura was melting. Those guys actually noticed her and they were talking to her. Guys like them. They were quite hot with and without their clothes.

One had dark raven hair and the other had golden hair. They seemed like hooligans but their outfits were kind of cool.

If only she could stare at them again, she would melt into a bucket of water.

Get out of your head, Sakura. She snapped out of her reverie and decided to change and apply for a job at the Zero nightclub.

Sakura changed into an entirely different set of clothes which comprised of a black tank top with a white tank top underneath it and a cute pleated skirt. She had no other nice seductive clothes for that nightclub.

She came out of the rundown building and right across from her stood Zero nightclub. It was easy to spot as it had one big signboard with Zero on it decorated with bright neon lights and two sweet schoolgirls.

Sakura almost became sick from what she was getting into, but knew she must bear with it. For her future, for her studies, she could do it!

The 16-year-old went into the nightclub with apprehension; luckily it had not opened yet. It looked new. Must have been around for like a week only.

She spotted a young blonde lady in her twenties, and approached her. Sakura mustered her best smile but before she could say anything, the lady had asked, "Do you want to work here?"

Sakura was delighted. She could not bear the embarrassment of asking for a job in a place like this. She agreed right away, nodding gratefully.

"Great, we sure could use you here. Are you sixteen and above?" The lady enquired casually.

Sakura nodded in reply.

"Good. I'm Tsunade, the assistant manager. We have only been open for one week and if we want to meet the records, we must have enough girls working here. So your pay will be 1000 dollars per month," She said matter-of-factly and began to pick at her manicured finger nails.

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. 1000 dollars! Not only could she pay her rent at Happiness but her study fees too. She could also buy herself lots of nice clothes. Sakura smiled at the prospect and nodded her head again, rather excitedly this time. This was getting too awesome.

"So would you like to be a bunny girl, nurse or school girl?"

Sakura was confused at the assistant's words and then chose schoolgirl. Tsunade riffled through a large pile of outfits sitting beside her and handed Sakura a schoolgirl outfit. "This will be your uniform for this job. Your hours are 6pm-12pm. So right now…" the blonde-haired woman glared at the clock, "You change into this and place your clothes in the locker located in the employee's room. Be fast, we are opening soon."

Sakura nodded quickly and set off at once to change into the given outfit.

Oh my god! Sakura shrieked at what she was holding out before her. It was a low cut pinafore with laces at the collar and the sleeve was ripped. The skirt was pleated and very short, it only covered one third of her thigh.

But for the sake of money, she had no other option but to wear it. It was only a few years before she graduated and then she would be able to get a better job. Not that difficult, huh?

After changing into the clothes, Sakura found that the small top exposed a bit of her breasts but luckily her white bra would probably cover it and as for her legs, her legs looked quite nice. They were fair and thin.

As she came out of the employee's changing room she came face to face with a girl standing outside. She was the exact girl she saw when Sakura had accidentally walked into room A-19 back at Happiness.

The mature-looking teenager had short blue hair, 5 piercings on each ear and a nose stud. She looked startled from Sakura's sudden appearance, but as Sakura walked past her, she said in a soft tone, "Be careful tonight, be very careful…"

Before Sakura could ask her why, she had gone to change her clothes.

Sakura didn't bother to care less or more. She placed the clothes she owned in the locker and then walked out of the room with an air of confidence.

It was 6.05pm. Now, it was time for her to get serious. She had exactly 5 hours and 55 minutes before she was knocked off. What could be so tough? Her job was just to serve drinks and clear the cups.

As she weaved her way around the room, busying herself at various tables, she only saw a few girls working.

Guess this place is really in need of workers.

They wore nurse and bunny girl outfits. Doesn't the school girl outfit seem more decent?

Sakura walked around, serving some customers. They seemed nice but then as the time drew on, the people started to become drunk and she could feel hands on her butt. Sakura gasped and gulped in disgust.

She backed off hurriedly and went to clear the cups at other tables. A girl wearing a nurse outfit came and made conversation with the rather shocked Sakura.

"The customers are like that. Hope you are fine with that."

Sakura nodded for lack of anything to say and smiled sheepishly.

"I'm Ten-Ten," She said over the din. Ten-Ten looked pretty cute in her outfit and her almond hair was done up in a Chinese style. Nice.

"I'm Sakura. I'm new here." Sakura smiled again.

Ten-Ten laughed lightly. "Can see that, anyway good luck and… be careful tonight," She warned in a hushed tone and walked away to serve some new customers.

Why does everyone keep telling me to be careful tonight? Is there going to be a dismissal tonight? She hoped she wasn't the one getting fired.

Sakura was in the process of putting away some cups when she noted two hot guys. The exact same guys that were from A-19 and who came into her room unannounced.

Are they looking for that blue-haired girl?

She observed them sitting down at a vacant table and calling to Tsunade. Sakura decided not to care so much; she still had two more hours before she was knocked off.

Just as she was getting the drinks, Sakura felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see the assistant manager behind her.

"You're off," Tsunade said.

"What? Why? Am I being fired?" Sakura was bewildered and checked around to see if anyone was looking in her direction.

"Nope, the big bosses just want to spend their time with you," She replied coolly and she gestured to the two males sitting by the table Sakura was looking at earlier.

"They are the bosses of Zero and if you do not go, you will be fired."

Tsunade's voice had a final tone to it.

Sakura couldn't believe it. They were so young and yet they were bosses of this nightclub. She put down the drinks and went to them, feeling nervous.

After what seemed like ages, Sakura finally arrived at the table, a bit shaken by the fact that the bosses wanted to see her. They looked so hot. It's different when you are given the privilege to look so closely and get an eyeful.

"Isn't she that rude girl from before, Sasuke?" The blonde-haired boy humored with a smirk.

Sasuke peered at Sakura with interest, drinking in her features. "Ya, extremely rude, spoiling our fun with Hinata." The raven-haired boy had a grin on his face.

"Why don't you sit down, girl?" Naruto smiled deviously and patted at a spot beside him.

Sakura was hyperventilating now and sat down at the edge of the sofa with wary eyes. She was scared and was aware she looked it too.

The pair burst out laughing. "Isn't she the cutest thing, Naruto?" Sasuke glanced at the golden-haired boy as he said this. Sakura shifted a bit closer towards them. She was not going to be the butt of their jokes.

"Exactly, with that cute school girl outfit… man… must thank Tsunade for designing it." Naruto reached out at Sakura's face and tried to touch it. Sakura immediately pushed his hand away and felt her cheeks heating up.

"Hey…" Sakura maintained a stern tone and gave her attention to the table top.

"Oh look… she's fierce," Sasuke laughed in mockery.

Naruto tried to brush his hand past Sakura's face, and before she could do anything he landed his hand on her neck, tightening his grip around it.

"Argg…" Sakura struggled to breathe and felt her eyes watering out of anger and fear.

"Listen girl, don't try to be rude to us," Naruto glared into her emerald eyes. He released her and left Sakura trying to catch her breath. Sasuke smirked in amusement.

He and Naruto were immersed in conversation when Sakura, blinded by anger grabbed a cup of water and splashed it over them. She was fuming.

Tsunade noticed the commotion and hurried over. "Bosses, I am deeply sorry… she is ill-mannered… I will take her in hand."

Sakura stood up to look at the clock; appearing calmer than a few moments ago. Tsunade stared at her warningly, "Sakura, you will get fired…"

She was interrupted by Sasuke. "She's okay. We'll keep her here." He smirked at the pink-haired adolescent as he said this.

"Fine… okay…" Tsunade said carefully and went back to her post. As Sakura followed her in retreat, she looked back and said curtly, "I don't appreciate your help, suckers!"

Naruto and Sasuke grinned. Sakura, this name kept appearing in their minds.