Chapter One - Naruto
"Hey, wait up!" I called, rushing down the winding dirt road.
"Don't count on it!" Sakura replied over her shoulder, relishing in the fact that she was going to get to school first. Another victory was all that she wanted at the moment, and I was going to do all that I could to stop her from obtaining that goal.
Pumping my arms and forcing my legs to work even harder, I continued sprinting. I wouldn't lose. So what if this was Sakura, the girl of my dreams? I didn't want to lose, and she was just an obstacle in my way at the moment. My true goal was to arrive before Sasuke. Dust smacked my face, along with sand and loose dirt. "Heh," I muttered.
"What?" Sakura said in disbelief, her bubblegum pink hair flowing in the rush of air that represented me zooming past her. "What the hell was that?"
"Come on!" I shouted, knowing that I'd have to play one last card to get her to continue competing; Sakura gave up too easily. "Sasuke will be there before you!"
Sakura snorted, lowered her head, and charged forward. I thundered down the path, my subconscious reminding me that she was catching up. I whipped around the turn, the one-room schoolhouse in sight. I dared to take a glance to the side; Sakura was matching me step by step, but she was exhausted. Sweat poured down her large forehead, and her eyes watered in the effort. Unfortunately for her, I didn't like to lose. My feet pounding down the walk, I let out a victory whoop. I threw open the door, grinning at the sight of the empty hallway. All that was left was to see if the classroom was empty. I ran down the hallway, and zoomed into the doorway. My jaw dropped.
Sasuke sat in a desk by the window, leaning his head against the wall, his hair raven-colored fallen over one black eye. I gritted my teeth, and proceeded to cross my arms. Sullenly stalking into the room, I took a seat on the other side of the room. Somehow, he always managed to get here first. I wondered if he slept in the school. Sakura entered the room, sweeping her hair into a ponytail, and panting. How un-ladylike. Oh well, I gave her a quick smile, raising my eyebrows and waving. She stuck her nose in the air, working her hardest to ignore me. Instead of looking at me, she glanced at the clock, which read 7:15AM. School started at 8:00AM. Great. Forty-five minutes with Sasuke. I didn't mind Sakura's company though, in fact, I enjoyed it.
I yawned, swinging my legs back and forth. Nothing was worse than being bored, except for maybe being bored with Sasuke. I decided to add a little pizazz to this early morning scene, knowing damn well that Sensei wouldn't arrive until 7:30AM or later. He was late most of the time, but I didn't want to take any chances with this plan. "Hey guys!" I said, arising from my seat.
"What?" Sakura snapped.
"Just shut up," Sasuke grumbled.
"I know exactly what we should do on a boring morning like this!" I tried to keep my voice down, but I was failing considerably.
"Here's an idea: Go have fun in hell. They'd welcome you with open arms," Sasuke replied, making up in the quietness that I was so obviously lacking.
"Wow, Sasuke, that is so clever," Sakura giggled.
I rolled my eyes. "I'd rather not," continuing, I added, "but we could do something fun, like..."
"You are so lame," Sakura laughed, plopping down in the chair next to Sasuke.
"Not when you hear this idea!" I wasn't going to let Sakura get me down. "Why don't we check out the Hinamizawa school records? We could look at all of those old stupid pictures of people! Come on, don't you want to see those awful fashion senses?"
"No," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes at my idea.
"Come on, don't you want to see? Maybe Sensei keeps a stash of porn too!" I felt a nosebleed coming on. "Anyway," I said, changing the subject to avoid getting labelled as a pervert, "where's your curious side?"
"Sasuke's just being smart!" Sakura leaped to Sasuke's defense. "I bet he'd have much more fun hanging around here with me!"
Sliding his chair out, standing up, and looking more than just a little uncomfortable, Sasuke said, "Uh, let's just look for a moment..."
"I'm coming!" Sakura bounced up, almost crashing into Sasuke in the process.
Positive that the two of them would follow me like a herd of sheep, I marched out of the classroom confidently, entering the principal's office with a swagger. Sasuke crept in afterwards, sighing in irritation over being dragged into one of my plots. Sakura stepped in, keeping close by Sasuke's side. I made my way to the filing cabinet, and froze when I heard the noise of a door creak open. "Shit!" I muttered, "Sensei's probably here!"
"Where do we hide!?" Sakura said frantically, whipping her head from side to side in panic.
"Sensei's footsteps are louder, and he's usually mumbling to himself," Sasuke rolled his eyes at our reaction.
Not wanting to be outshone, I tuned my ears into the sound of the person in the hallway's footsteps. They were light, unlike Kakashi-sensei's heavy, somehow accented ones. I didn't want any intrusions though, and stayed as silent as I could. For some reason, the Hinamizawa school's records had been taunting me with their secrets for years. There was no way I was going to let some goody-goody ruin it. Poking my head out the window, I saw the slight form of Hinata Hyuuga trudging to the classroom. At the sight of me, she began sputtering apologies and various excuses. "Don't tell," I whispered, "please?"
Hinata nodded, her head bobbing up and down as quick as a squirrel on crack. She continued nodding for almost two minutes, and it finally took me putting a steady hand on her shoulder for her to shut up. Her face became as red as a robin's breast. "Are you okay?" I asked; she looked pretty damn sick. Hinata didn't respond to me, just nodding her head to represent a yes. I shrugged, making my retreat into the wonderful world of the principal's office. "Who was that?" Sakura whispered, her forehead wrinkling in concern.
"Just Hinata," I said, now sure of our success.
"Okay," Sakura let out a sigh of relief.
Noticing Sasuke leafing through a drawer of sizable files, I went back to my former position. After only a few moments of watching Sasuke, I wanted my turn to examine them! It was my idea, after all! I rammed into his side, throwing all of my weight onto his thin body. I know that sounds totally wrong, but all I did was knock him over! Sasuke took a slide to the left, smacking into the wall, which was devoid of any academic awards, I noted. I doubted that anyone got any good jobs after spending a few years at this school. Whatever. I leafed through the files, treating them like precious gold that would be lost if I made the wrong move. I drew out a rather large one, looking at the picture that was tacked onto the cover. The picture depicted a boy who looked to be about sixteen, with light brown hair that only slightly masked his facial features. His eyes were purple and abnormally large, and seemed to be laughing at me. His mouth was twisted in uncertainty. My eyes traveled to the name under this student who, judging by what it said about his graduation state.... oh, what the hell. There was no graduation date! The student, Keiichi Maebara, like the name-tag said, never graduated for some reason. Why didn't he graduate? Did he drop out or something, or did something worse happen?
I didn't think I'd ever been so curious in my life. I happened to be a naturally curious person, but never to the point of being compelled to snoop into a total stranger's records. After a moment's hesitation, I opened the cover, looking through the papers stored in the teen's file. The first page that I saw was normal, just a report card. He got relatively good grades, with the exception of Science class. After flipping through the first ten pages of schoolwork, I began to wonder if there was anything worth reading and if this was all just stupid. Yawning, I turned to the next paper. I froze, shock overwhelming me.
It was a crime report. More specifically, a report on a murder. Becoming more and more interested, I read on.
"June, 1983, in the remote village of Hinamizawa of Houken Shishibone City, two female students were murdered."
"Guys?" I said, shivering.
"What?" Sakura asked; Sasuke remained silent.
"This is crazy," I laughed nervously, "no one would die in Hinamizawa? I mean, this is Hinamizawa, right?! Nothing happens here, right?"
Thanks for reading! This is my first attempt at a crossover, so I hope that it has turned out well so far.