A/N: I'm back with a new AU fic! Yakuza II will be on hiatus for a while.

Disclaimer: I own the plot and the original characters. The songs belong to their respective singers/creators, the Naruto characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto

Ironies of Life

She stared at the picture, reminiscing her high school years. She sighed and leaned back, still holding onto the picture of the ace basketball player of Konoha High, Uchiha Sasuke, all in his black and silver-grayish jersey with a white shirt underneath it as he had a look of determination in winning the game.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Sakura looked up from the photo to greet her companion who gave her a light kiss on the forehead, looking down at the item she held on to. "Is that him?" he asked while she nodded, a smile forming on her lips. "Well, just a few more minutes and you'll be seeing him leave the plane that will land." he said, grinning. Sakura giggled and turned to the big window where it showed the blue sky and some planes landing. "I miss him..." she whispered, not catching the smile her male companion had as he held her hand in his own. "I'm sure he misses you too. In the meantime, can you tell me again about your life when you were still in high school?"

The pink-haired girl gave a nod and averted her gaze back at the sky. "It all started when Hinata told us who her crush was, Uzumaki Naruto, her husband now, it was the start of my turning point... the start of a cherry blossom blooming..."

Chapter 1: Accidentally Kissed

She sighed and closed her locker door shut, remembering how her friend told them who her crush was. "Hinata likes Naruto too, huh?" she walked down the hallway, not seeming to take note of her best friend's, Ino, call and warning. She was so deep in thought that it took Ino a while to get the girl's attention. "Sakura, snap out of it before you hit the wall!" Blinking, she looked up, her face inches away from the flat surface as she laughed nervously and thanked Ino for the right timing.

Ino shook her head at this. She knew that her friend was having a hard time deciding whether she would give up on Naruto and stay friends with Hinata or if she would fight for her love. This was such a challenge to their friendship, and if worse comes to worse, she would have to pick either of them. "Come on, I'm gonna be late for cheer practice while you still have to head for the gym."

With a nod, they both walked towards the stairway, Ino rambling about a few things as Sakura still had her head down and deep in thought. "What should I do? Our friendship matters to me more than love, but…" she sighed, and when she kept walking down the stairs, she failed to notice a small puddle of spilled water on one step, which she unfortunately slipped on, causing her to fall down, face first. She shut her eyes, expecting the solid, cemented ground to meet her face, but instead, felt someone's lips catch her fall.

"What the-!" she thought, quickly opening her eyes, having them staring into deep pools of ebony, and there was only one person whom she knew who had those eyes that gave off an impression to her, an impression of being watched whenever she was in the gym. Those eyes, and the lips that caught her, belonged to none other than her crush's best friend, team captain of the basketball team, Uchiha Sasuke.

He stared back at her with wide onyx eyes, shocked obviously. Even she was surprised at the incident, and to make matters worst, she heard a very familiar chuckle, a laughter that she always dreamed she would be the cause of; yet now that it somehow came true, she wished that it didn't. "Teme!" and that voice just really made her wish she disappeared. "I can't believe you couldn't evade that when you can practically pass any best defense players in basketball!"

Sakura quickly got up, a blush on her face as she turned her head away, her eyes shut as tears were threatening to fall. Sasuke noticed this. He got up, pocketed his hands and sighed. "Haruno," he spoke, she stiffened, and he would be stupid enough to not see this. "Be careful next time," he whispered. "If I wasn't there to… break your fall, you would've gotten seriously hurt." He said and walked pass her, his friends looking at him in bewilderment as he reached the top of the stairs and stopped. "You do know that Sarutobi-sensei still needs to have a word with us, guys." And he continued making his way to the principal's office.

Ino raised a delicate brow and turned to Naruto and his gang, minus Sasuke. "You had another gang fight?" Naruto grinned and folded his arms behind his head. "Yup. Against Sound High, and we won. Unfortunately, Kiba broke an arm." Ino looked at his gang and noticed the other loud and annoying male's absence. "And Lee?"

"Gai-sensei bailed him out." Neji explained. He then climbed the stairs as well, Naruto tailing behind and Shikamaru and Shino followed suit. "A-Aburame-san…" Shino stopped and turned to Sakura who now had her head raised and looking at him. She bowed down a bit, confusing the shades-wearing boy. "Please tell Uchiha-san my apologies." And she left, Ino calling and running after her. Shino turned to the three guys who raised their eyebrows at him. He shrugged and they continued heading towards Sarutobi's office.

"And furthermore, having a fight with other schools is not a very good idea or impression!" Sarutobi lectured, slamming both hands on his desk as Naruto just yawned, Shikamaru slept, Neji nodding, Shino sighing and Sasuke looking down, his mind drifting back to the incident earlier. "Haruno Sakura…" he thought. "Sort of clumsy, always cheery…" his brows knitted. "Yet has a warm heart. She's not exactly a fan girl… but rather…" a small smile managed its way on his lips. "A supporting team manager; she's not that popular but she has both beauty and brains." A frown reached his face as he thought some more. "How come I only noticed all these now? Was it… because of the kiss..?"

"And as for you, Uchiha,"

Sasuke looked up, snapping from his thoughts and noticed that his pals were no longer in the office. Sarutobi sat back down and massaged his temples. "Please, don't let me give you detention with Ibiki, don't let me suspend you. That will be a waste for your family. The Uchihas don't have a single record of being late, suspended or given detention."

"Look, I had to fight; otherwise, we wouldn't have made it out alive!"

"Sasuke, I have no choice but to call your father regarding this matter, this has been the fifteenth time you've been in a gang fight. I'll have to inform your father about it just so that I won't have to give you suspension or detention."

"But sir," he noted the final look Sarutobi gave him and he sighed. "I understand."

Sarutobi looked up at him before pressing the final number on his phone. He noted the distant look the boy had as he hung his head a bit low. With a soft sigh, he hung up and smiled at the boy. "Tell you what," Sasuke looked up at him with slightly widened eyes. "How about you give me a VIP pass on your next race? Kakashi has been boasting about your skills and himself always being a special guest there, do you think you could give me an ID?"

A small smile formed on the teen's lips as he gave a nod. "I will, thank you sir." Sarutobi dismissed him as Sasuke went towards the door after giving a respectful bow to the principal. When he left, Sarutobi shook his head and sighed heavily. "This boy, he has talents, smarts, everything. It's such a waste for him to be hanging around Naruto, it only pulls him back." He checked Sasuke's profile and sighed. "Uchiha Sasuke…"

"Crap, I'm late!" Sasuke said, running down the stairs and heading towards the boys' locker room to change into his basketball jersey. "Coach is going to blow a fuse when I get there." He muttered, putting on his white shirt and starting to remove his pants. He took out his black shorts and jersey and put it all on, afterwards, ran outside the locker room and quickly headed towards the gym. When he opened the doors, his face was greeted by a basketball that caused him to fall back, blood gushing out of his nose at the process.

The coach blew on his whistle. "Okay, time-out! What kind of pass was that Morino? You even hit someone!" they all turned to see who the victim was, and soon, most of the players' faces turned pale. "C-Captain..?" one squeaked, clearing his throat when most of the guys raised a brow at his girlish voice.

Sasuke cursed and sat up, one hand holding onto the bridge of his nose as he glared at Morino Idate who froze and laughed nervously. "Um… sorry?" and the next thing he knew, the same ball that hit Sasuke was thrown at his face.

Zabuza had to suppress the smirk that was trying to appear on his lips when he saw Idate fall from the impact. "Honestly, I'm glad Uchiha replaced Lee in the position of team captain. The players tend to not listen to Lee at all." He glanced at Sasuke who got up and dusted himself, afterwards, turned to Idate with a smirk. "Apology accepted." Yup, he was really glad Sasuke replaced Lee. "Okay Uchiha, please explain us why you're tardy."

"Principal's office." He muttered, walking inside and putting on a black wrist band on his right wrist. "You can ask the dead-last for further information." Naruto gave a dirty finger to Sasuke who ignored it and started doing some stretches. Zabuza nodded at this and blew on his whistle again. "Okay guys, get back to practice!"

Sasuke stood up from his bent position and stretched his arms. For some strange reason, he felt like glancing to his left, only to have eye contact with the team manager, Haruno Sakura. When her green orbs clashed with his onyx ones, he recalled what happened earlier, and instantly, he blushed and looked away, frowning at the sudden feeling he had. "What the hell was that?" he thought, trying to clear his mind and delete the image of him and Sakura kissing.

On the other hand, Sakura blinked and wondered why her cheeks were warm when Sasuke had spared her a glance. She had been staring at him since he arrived, and just when his gaze met hers, she felt her insides turn to jelly, and how she found herself drawn into his obsidian eyes. "Why was I even staring at him?" she thought, averting her gaze elsewhere as it landed on Naruto. She watched in awe when he managed to dunk a ball and started laughing at the guy he just passed. She smiled a bit as her face turned red once more. "Wow, he's good…"

"Shino!"

She turned to where the voice came from, seeing Sasuke raise his right hand to signal Shino who quickly passed the ball to him. Once he got it, he stopped running when the player guarding him was gaining speed to catch up to him, cursing when the team captain abruptly stopped and shot the ball towards the ring, making a perfect three point shot. "Whoa…" she thought, her mind going wild upon seeing his form, his perfect timing, his eyes full of concentration, his bangs that urged her to brush off of his face, his lips-

"What the hell?" she hissed, turning red when she thought of all of those things about Sasuke. Her heart started beating fast and she slowly placed a hand on her hot cheeks, eyes dilating whenever the accidental kiss earlier flashed through her head. "I… I can't stop thinking about it!"

"Sakura?" She looked up to see Hinata give her a worried look, a pencil in hand as the other lay on top of the desk where her own record notebook lay. "W-what is it Hinata?" she asked, forcing her blush down as she gave a smile to her friend and assistant. "Are you feeling alright? Your face is so red and you haven't been taking notes of the team's plays."

"I-I haven't?" she asked, looking down at her own notebook, where the date for the day was written, and below it were the players' names. Other than that, nothing was written below the rebound, shots, passes, assists, fouls etc. It was all blank. Her eyes landed on the first name, and again, she blushed when the image of her and Sasuke kissing appeared in her mind. "Damn it! What is wrong with me?"

Zabuza approached the two, seeing how their attention was elsewhere and not on the practice game. "Haruno, Hyuuga, what seems to be the problem?" he asked, worried about their condition. It was weird whenever Sakura wasn't concentrating on her job, especially since she loved the sport so much. And to see Hinata not watching Naruto might as well cause hell to freeze over. Hinata turned to Zabuza and shook her head. "I just thought that Sakura wasn't feeling okay because she wasn't taking down notes, but don't worry, I took down some."

"I see, that's good." He turned to Sakura. "Are you sure you're alright?" Sakura gave a nod and a reassuring smile. "I just had something in mind, that's all." She said, picking up her dropped pencil and preparing to write something down. "Okay, tell me if you're not well okay?"

"Yes I will sensei."

The coach went back to refereeing the game, his whistle in his mouth so that he can blow anytime he sees a foul.

"Naruto is getting better." Hinata commented out of the blue, a small blush on her cheeks as Sakura spared her a glance and forced a smile. She turned back to the game and watched, her eyes looking downcast as she slowly lowered her head, still unsure of what to do now that Hinata has told them who her crush was. "Hey, Hinata?" the female Hyuuga of the school turned to her friend with a sweet smile. "Yes Sakura?" she watched her pink-haired friend try to find the right words to say, turning to face her. "I just wanted to tell you that I have a-"

"Heads up!"

Sakura and Hinata faced in front, only to see an orange ball heading their way, most specifically, Sakura's. "Get out of there you two!" Idate yelled but they only shut their eyes as they raised their arms up for defense.

Slam!

Slowly opening their eyes, the two girls looked up to see Naruto standing in front of their desk with his back facing them. Hinata blushed and looked down when the blonde turned to face them. Sakura managed to keep her cool but failed to stop the blush from appearing on her cheeks. Being dense, Naruto just thought that they were recovering from the shock. He turned to Hinata who turned a deeper shade of red and caused him to smile inwardly. "Cute."

"T-thank you, N-Naruto-san…"

"Don't mention it." He then faced Sakura who lowered her head slightly, as if bowing in gratitude. Naruto's brow creased a bit. "I can't exactly tell you to be careful, because it isn't your fault, but you should be alert." He looked at her notebook, his brows narrowed all the more. "And you haven't written a single thing! You didn't record Shikamaru's awesome assists and passes, Shino's steals and straight three-point shots, Idate's new move, my first three point shot since I started playing this year, and even Sasuke's abrupt-"

"I'm sorry, Naru-"

"Hang on," Naruto cut her off. "Last time I checked, we're not on first name basis. I do believe that we last talked about a year ago, and I don't count that as a friendly chat! It was more of a message delivered to you by me from a teach-"

"Alright Naruto, shut it and get back to the game." The blonde turned to his best friend who stopped him from finishing his sentence. He narrowed his blue eyes at him a bit. "I wasn't done talking Sasuke, as the gang's leader you shouldn't interrupt."

Sasuke remained calm and kept approaching them, his eyes having a stern look. "And as your team captain, I order and request you to go back to practice. You may be my leader in your gang," he emphasized. "But when you're wearing that jersey and inside the gym, or anything that has something to do with basketball, I'm your superior. And I say go back to the game."

With one last look at Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto went back to the others, leaving the two girls and Sasuke behind, unaware that the whole team have exhaled in relief, for fear of having to stop another brutal fight. "Same goes to the rest of you, get back in the game." Sasuke ordered as the team moved. He turned back to the two girls. "You two okay?" Hinata gave a nod but Sakura still had her head down, her face still red, whether from embarrassment or something else. "Hinata, take over for a while, I need to have a few words with Haruno."

"Okay."

He looked at Sakura who raised her head to give him a questioning look. Sasuke used his head to gesture her outside as he began walking towards the door, Sakura running after him.

She stopped when he went inside the locker room and come back out carrying his sport's bag, along with his back pack. "Uchiha-san, why did you-" she stopped when he placed a finger on his lips, indicating her to keep quiet for a while. Next, he led the way outside school as she continued to follow. "Where's your bag?" he asked. "I left it in my locker," she said. "We don't have any homework or tests tomorrow."

"Hn."

"Uchi-"

"What's wrong with you?"

"H-huh?"

He stopped at an outdoor court near the park and placed his things down on the cemented ground, taking out his own basketball from his sport's bag and began dribbling it, his back turned to her as she stared at him. "What's wrong with you?" he repeated. "I mean, I know that you like Naruto ever since but, why do you allow him to just tell you off like that? Last time I heard, you don't let anybody do that."

She remained silent, not knowing what to answer. She felt really uncomfortable being alone with him, much less talk to him. "Haruno," She looked back up. "Don't keep your hopes up on him, otherwise, you may end up crying." And he began to run towards the basket and did a lay-up shot. "What do you mean?"

"Just… don't think too positively about your feelings with Naruto." He picked up the ball, stared at it for a while before turning his head to face Sakura. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked, avoiding his gaze. "I'm just sick and tired of having to watch him look down on others. Even us, his friends." He sighed exasperatedly and dribbled the ball. "He's too bossy…" he muttered, earning a giggle from Sakura. He raised a brow at this.

"Sorry, it's just how you said it and the way you turned away," she grinned. "It was what I would say, well, cute?"

He blushed and looked away, an annoyed look on his face. "Shut it Haruno."

"Sorry."

"Don't be." Again, he shot the ball towards the basket as it went in. "Uchi-"

"Sasuke." He corrected.

"What?"

Sasuke turned his head to her slightly, causing her to blush on the look he gave her. "I hate formalities, so drop it and just call me by my first name."

"Okay but, we aren't that close enough."

"Hn, in that case," he jumped and shot the ball. "Start asking me questions."

The next day wasn't so good at all for her, especially since almost every girl in school had given her death notes, glares and even the signals of beheading her once school ends. Just when she thought she was safe in her classroom, more of Sasuke's fans had gathered and gave her venomous looks that disrupted her attention in class. Her teachers were worried as well, knowing what had happened the other day, even though it was an accident.

"I can't believe this! Once I get my hands on the tattle tale…" she trailed off, censoring all other thoughts of violence to prevent her from destroying the wooden pencil she had on her hand. "Five more minutes before lunch, then I can finally escape."

"So class, you have to make sure to add the acid on the water, not the other way around. Otherwise, it will cause a nasty reaction." Her chemistry teacher, Orochimaru, said as he wrote some notes on the board. "Just when I was starting to think that having one S7 member as a friend would be cool…" she sighed and turned back to the clock. "One more minute…"

Orochimaru dropped the chalk so he bent down to pick it up, missing the girl who threw an eraser at Sakura's forehead, causing her to wince and cry out from the pain. It was, after all, thrown really hard at her. Orochimaru raised a brow and looked at Sakura, seeing her glaring at someone in front as she rubbed her forehead that had a red mark on it. "Haruno-san, would you care to tell us what the commotion is all about?"

"Oh, it's nothing sensei, a mosquito was on my forehead and I attempted to kill it, only it got away." She lowered her head in embarrassment when the whole class snickered, especially some of Sasuke's fans. "Good thing Hinata's my classmate." She thought, glancing at her friend who gave her a worried look. "I see, as mentioned in Biology class last year, mosquitoes have fast reflexes. Make sure you catch it the next time it tries to suck your blood." He said with a small smile and continued to write on the board, only to have the bell ring.

With a sigh, he placed down the chalk as he turned to face his students who were starting to pack their things and bring out their lunch boxes. "Okay class, since the period is over, I might as well give you an assignment. Read pages 408-411 on your book." And he dismissed them. "Am I glad I'm only teaching class A and C for today, I don't want to hear any of that Uzumaki brat's whines…"

"Finally, I can take a break!" Sakura said, stretching her arms and gathering her things. She stood up and went over to Hinata. "Hey, Hinata, I won't be joining you girls for today, I wanna practice shooting some hoops." She grinned when Hinata's eyes widened and she answered in a whisper. "But you know that girls aren't allowed to use the gym unless it's PE class or if the coach or the team captain of the basketball team approves you."

"It's okay! No one's going to be there during lunch anyway! I'll be fine." She whispered back and smiled. "Don't tell anyone okay?"

"Alright, be careful Sakura."

Shinobi Seven was hanging around Naruto and Kiba's locker for a while, waiting for the two to finish getting their books for the next subject. "Gee Kiba, I never thought that your broken arm was that serious." Lee said, looking at the boy's left arm that was in a cast. "Oh, this is nothing, I've felt worse." He said, slamming his locker door shut and turning to Sasuke with a big grin. "I heard someone here had his first kiss stolen." The rest of the gang snickered and turned to Sasuke who gave a death glare at Naruto who laughed.

"Sorry, couldn't help but share it to the world."

"You what!" Sasuke asked, rather, yelled, not just because the whole school now knows about his accidental kiss with Sakura, but because he was worried as to what his stupid fans would do to the pink-haired girl. "Shit, I have got to look for her before those idiots do anything bad." He straightened himself from his leaning position on one of the lockers and began to walk away, hands in his pockets.

"Yo, Sasuke, where are you going?" Kiba asked.

"It's none of your business, dog-boy."

"Hey!"

He ignored Kiba's insults and just continued walking away, glancing at every corner to see if Sakura was there or not. "Damn, if I don't find her soon, she will be dead." He rolled his eyes when he passed by a group of girls who giggled and stared at him. It happened every time, be it in or out of school. "Sakura, where the hell are you?"

Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

She panted and wiped the sweat away from her forehead as she picked up the ball and dribbled it. Sakura had removed her school uniform's top, and now only wore a short sleeved white shirt. She also removed her shoes before entering the gym, since it wasn't allowed inside.

"I should've brought my sneakers." She muttered, looking down at her socks. "It's hard to run in these." And she dribbled the ball and jumped, shooting it from the three-point area. It hit the ring, but didn't get in, and again, she cursed. "Why can't I get it right?"

From outside, someone had seen her, and that person just couldn't help but stare and smirk at her. Oh she was busted; she was going to be in trouble for sure.

To be continued…

Next on Ironies of Life: Chapter 2: The Game that you Play

"Sasuke…"

He looked down at her as she raised a hand slowly. "Why..?" she thought, her hand getting close to his face. "Why can't… you be Naruto..?" He felt her palm on his cheek as his gaze never left hers. "Why didn't I… just fell in love with you?" she smiled at him. "Why… am I happy that you came instead of… Naruto..?" and she opened her mouth to speak.

"Thank you… for noticing me…" and she lost consciousness.

A/N: Hope you liked that! Thanks to my co-director, who I will hide under the name Mayline, for helping me out! She also says that: "Mga Pinoy na SasuSaku fans! Add niyo ako sa YM! mayline(underscore)the(underscore)black(underscore)assassin and ID ko!" Just replace the parenthesis with underscores.