Hey! If any of Caught in a Riff's readers are reading this, I just want to say that I will not be neglecting Caught in A Riff but the updates on this story will be a little unpredictable since I'm working on that story too. That's all. Happy reading and hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or Bleach, or Megan Meade or anything at all, except the plot.

Summary: A new town, new school, new friends, an arrogant jerk and his weirdly familiar older brother and even weirder friends? People with disturbingly unethical agendas, students and teachers alike whose plans strangely seemed to revolve around her? Just how much is a sixteen year old supposed to handle? A simple boarding school story or is it? ItaSakuDei for the moment.

Chapter 01

I remember being really excited when my parents told me that we would be moving to Seattle, Washington. I mean, Seattle is like the birthplace of the grunge rock movement, my favorite genre of music, and my parents even promised to take me to visit the late Kurt Cobain's home in Aberdeen, so yeah I was pretty psyched.

But all that turned out to be worthless when my parents dropped the bomb about school.

I know what you're thinking. Everyone has goes to school so why am I complaining?

However, this is not normal school, its boarding school! And not even cool boarding school; it's a JAPANESE boarding school. And why am I being sent to a Japanese boarding school in Seattle? (Did you even know that there were Japanese boarding schools in Seattle?) Because, apparently I am half-and-half and mine and my brother's first names were not just something my mom and dad came up with when they had too many glasses of vodka. God my brother is so lucky. He's going to college while I'm stuck here! Well, at least I don't have to do my studies in Japanese since the school has an English program and almost all of the kids are enrolled in it, so that they can benefit from learning English. Still, I wonder why my parents waited this long to tell me that I was half Japanese? I mean, they could have done it when I was still a kid, which would have made it easier for everyone. Well, I'm sure they had their 'reasons' as they like to tell me constantly.

Thank heaven I didn't have a lot of friends back in Chicago, or my parents would have been put into a situation similar to that of the book 'Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan boys'. In it, Megan's parents want her to move to South Korea but she doesn't want to leave her friends so decides to stay with some family friends, i.e. the McGowan family, which consists of seven boys. Of course, the only people I would be staying with are my fussy aunt and her annoying sanctimonious snob of a daughter and the only boys I would be seeing are the fictional ones in mangas.

Anyway, that little disclosure followed a huge argument involving some choice words and a few door slams, which bring me to where I am, listening to a boring lecture for all the new students in the entrance hall of Naruto Boarding School (lol), my luggage already delivered to my room wherever that was.

The Head Mistress, a severe looking woman called Tsunade started to brief us on the importance of a good education and my eyes slipped longingly out the window over to the lawn out in front where all the older students were laughing and having lunch. Sigh. I wish I could be out there instead of listening to this boring speech… Well at least there were no classes on the first day.

Suddenly, a boy in the lawn looked up from the book he was reading and gazed straight at me, his onyx eyes piercing my own sea foam green ones. He had pale skin, paler than mine, which was saying something, and dark hair that was hidden by the hoodie he was wearing. Girls were fawning all around him but he didn't pay any heed to them.

Something like surprise lingered in his dark eyes for a brief moment but was soon replaced by an unreadable expression.

I gazed back earnestly. There was something about him that was weirdly familiar. I racked my brain but just couldn't put my finger on it.

Then, he scowled at me; his dark eyes alight with something I couldn't put a name to.

I blinked. Why the hell was he scowling at me when I hadn't done anything? Weird.

Out of the blue, he stood up, popped his book into his messenger bag and took off, hands in his pockets and a trail of giggling girls following him.

I kept staring at the spot he was sitting on as if he would appear magically if I stared hard enough but he didn't appear.

"Miss Haruno, do you have something to share?" Tsunade asked, and I tore my eyes away from the lawn and onto my lap.

Hm. I wonder whom she's talking to...

"Miss Haruno!" Tsunade said again, her voice angry but somehow amused at the same time.

"Hey, girl with the freakishly weird hair, she's talking to you", the girl next to me whispered.

I jumped in my seat. Shit! It was so hard to remember that my name was Haruno Sakura and not Sakura Porter like I thought it was.

"Um, yes?" I said nervously and a few kids giggled in their seats. "Please pay attention and refrain from staring out the window", Tsunade said with something in between a frown and a smile and returned to her lecture.

I nod but kept a discreet eye out the window in case the guy came back apparently, my luck was out today because he didn't reappear.

"That being said, I hope you enjoy your school life here to the best extent", Tsunade concluded her lecture more than a half hour later and many students (including myself) sighed in relief.

"Students, please proceed to your dorms with your house master", Tsunade's gruff voice boomed over the din of the kids.

Another "interesting" fact about this school was that the students were divided into houses based on their strengths, interests and personalities. There were three houses in all, Konoha or leaf, Suna or Sand, Oto or sound, and then Akatsuki, the elite college branch of the school with apparently very few students, which my brother couldn't get into because his 'qualifications were not substantial enough' or some bullshit like that. Apparently, I was in leaf. Leaf, surprisingly, was not represented by a leaf like I had thought it would be but some weird swirly thing. Sand was represented by an hourglass, Sound by a musical note obviously and Akatsuki by a red cloud. I had already been handed a red cloth like thing with a metal plate on which the leaf symbol was engraved which I had tied onto my wrist.

Three men appeared out of the doorway. One wore a mask, which revealed a lone eye and had spiky silver hair. Another had red hair and green eyes and looked like he had a stick up his ass. The last, frankly, looked disgusting, since he kept looking at us and licking his lips like we were something to eat.

The silver haired one spoke out. "Students in leaf, follow me please". Seems like I was stuck with the least creepy looking person, thank god for that.

Some other students and I followed him out into a hallway.

"Yo! I'm Kakashi and I will be your house master", he said in an extremely bored tone of voice. His eyes looked as bored as his voice sounded and there was the swirly leaf symbol tied onto the long sleeved shirt he was wearing.

"Thanks for pointing that out Captain obvious", I muttered under my breath but I'm pretty sure he heard me.

He sighed in a long suffering manner. "My first impression of you guys is I don't like you".

I rolled my eyes and a few students gasped while others ignored him. "Aren't you going to take us to the dorms already?" one kid whined.

Kakashi ran his hand through his absurd hair. "Sure, sure, follow me".

Drawing the hood of my jacket over my head, the rest of the kids and I followed him. On the way, we saw a bouncy guy with a few kids. The kids seemed to be bullying him and he was just sitting there, taking it. I sort of felt sorry for him.

A blonde haired guy saw me watching and grinned at me. He looked like a delinquent; a yankee or yakuza in manga-speak. Me gusta.

I grinned back and turned to Kakashi. "Who is that masked guy?" I asked him.

"Oh, that is Tobi. He is one of the members of Akatsuki", Kakashi replied noncommittally.

"That guy is a member of Akatsuki?!" a chubby guy asked, obviously surprised.

"Ah", Kakashi nodded. "But he doesn't look like much", another kid remarked.

"You shouldn't judge others based on their appearances", a soft though deep voice came from behind the kid.

A guy with long dark spiky hair smiled at us. "It's been a while, Kakashi-san", he said. This guy looked a bit like the boy I'd seen before except for the fact that he was older and much more strict looking.

"Aa", Kakashi replied. "How have you been Madara-san?" he inquired politely though something about his tone gave out a subtle hint that he wasn't pleased that this man was here.

"I have been well, thank you", this Madara guy responded callously. Was it just me or did the room get a little colder. Jeez.

"Who is this guy?" I whispered to the chubby kid.

"That's Madara-san", the guy stage-whispered back, his tone full of admiration. "He's one of the School's founders".

So he was a founder huh? This guy looked really serious and sort of scary. Looking closer at him, I noticed that his shirt had a small black badge pinned to it with a logo of red clouds. So he was connected to Akatsuki in some way.

Probably noticing my scrutiny, he glanced at me "And you must be Haruno Sakura", he said monotonously.

Though he was polite, he had an eerie air about him. He seemed like one of those creepy strong and silent villains you often read about in shounen mangas.

"Yeah", I nodded, a little startled that he knew my name. "How do you know my name?" I asked suspiciously.

"Sakura, Madara-san here is one of the school's founders", Kakashi explained. "So it's only natural that he knows of you".

"Oh. Well, it's nice to meet you Madara-san", I said, thanking my mangas for my knowledge of Japanese honorifics.

"Likewise, Sakura". The rest of the students stared at him in awe but Madara doesn't seem to notice or he ignored them.

A few feet over, Tobi was still being yelled at by the kids, Akatsuki, maybe.

"I apologize but I must take my leave now", Madara said. "Tobi is in a somewhat problematical situation over there".

"Ah, yes, I'll see you later Madara-san", again Kakashi's tone was polite but something was off about the way he said it. Maybe I was reading into things too much, wouldn't be the first time. Madara nodded at us and continued on his way.

Kakashi lead us to Konoha's dorms. The dorms were connected to one common room, stairways leading off on either side of it to the boys and girls dorms, left and right respectively. Apparently, my room was number seven.

My room had white walls, a blue-carpeted floor with matching white and blue curtains and two beds with pure white bedspreads along with two tall cupboards and a working desk. Also, there was a curtain between the two beds, for privacy, I guess.

My luggage was lying near the bed closest to the windows, which I assumed was mine. Judging from the two beds, I must have a roommate. I wonder who she is. Probably another weirdo judging by the people I've met so far.

I started to unpack my suitcase and sort my stuff into one of the cupboards. Holding up my favorite pair of faded jeans, I glanced at it fondly. At least this school allowed casual dress. That would have been a deal breaker. No casual wear, no Sakura.

Just as I was folding in one of my tank tops, the door burst open so abruptly that I nearly dropped the tank.

A blonde haired girl with cornflower blue eyes walked in followed by a brunette and a dark haired, pale skinned girl. All there had the cloth with the leaf symbol tied onto various parts of their body.

The three of them stopped in their tracks as soon as they noticed me, still holding up the tank.

The blonde was the first to regain her composure. "Hi!" she said brightly. "You must be Sakura. I'm Ino and this is Hinata and Tenten", she gestured to the dark haired girl and the brunette respectively.

"Uh, Hey", I said. "Nice to meet you". Phew, they speak English.

"N-nice to meet you too Sakura-chan", Hinata said softly. I suspected she was pretty shy by the way she was wringing her fingers. She was wearing her, um, badge, for lack of a better word, loosely around neck and she had soft, pale doe eyes.

"Hey, cool tank", Tenten said, eyeing my black and white tank with the slogan "Friends don't let friends drive Chevys" admiringly.

"Thanks", I said with a smile. I liked this girl already.

"So uh, not to be rude, but which one of you is my roommate?" I asked sheepishly and Ino giggled.

"That would be me and Hina and Tenten are just next door". Both Ino and Tenten, like me, had tied their badges onto their wrists.

"Cool", I said and the girls sat down on Ino's bed and we spend the next few hours chatting about clothes and music, leading to Ino and Tenten having a huge argument on which group was better, One Direction (Ino's opinion) or Green Day (Tenten) Personally, I went with Green Day. I was not a fan of boy bands. Actually, I shudder to think about them, no offense to people who like them.

"So how long have you guys been here?" I questioned.

"Well, the three of us are childhood friends and we transferred here together. We got here two years back, when we were fourteen so, we're third years now", Ino answered my question.

I sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. We're all third years then so we must have the same classes", I said, thankful that I would see some familiar faces in class.

"Don't worry, we'll look out for you", Tenten said with a grin and Ino and Hinata nodded, the former enthusiastically and the latter gently.

"And I'll be sure to introduce you to some cute guys", Tenten and Hinata giggled at Ino's statement.

As if Ino's statement triggered something in my brain, my mind drifted to the dark haired boy I had seen on the lawn earlier.

"Speaking of guys, do you know someone with dark hair and like these really intense black eyes?" I asked, curious to find out whether one of my new friends knew about him. I had to know about this guy. He just sort of struck a chord in me. "I saw him in the lawn back when Tsunade was droning but he disappeared suddenly".

Ino, Tenten and Hinata shared knowing glances.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

"Dark hair, striking eyes, mysterious demeanor, you must be talking about Sasuke", Ino said.

"Sasuke? Who's that?" I inquired curiously. Name doesn't really ring a bell though so I guess I was just reading too much with the familiarity thing. Maybe I had seen him somewhere.

"The school heartthrob", Tenten answered lazily, looking up from the magazine she was reading.

School heartthrob? He definitely didn't seem like that. I mean, girls were literally fawning around him but he didn't seem to give a crap about them.

"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking 'he didn't look like a player'", Ino said knowingly, as though she had read my thoughts.

"H-he's not a bad person Sakura-chan", Hinata joined in.

"Actually, he doesn't care about girls at all. The only person he opens up to is Naruto", Ino continued.

"Naruto?" I asked and noticed that Hinata perked up when she heard the name. "Isn't that the name of the school?"

"Yeah, but it's just a coincidence that his name's the same as the school or is that the other way around… Anyway, he's Sasuke's best friend. You'll probably see both of them tomorrow", Tenten responded.

All of a sudden, a voice echoed throughout the room. I jumped but the others remained calm. "It's o-okay Sakura chan. That's just Tsunade sama-through the speaker", Hinata pointed to a white speaker connected to the left corner of the ceiling.

"All students please return to your own rooms immediately. Lights out in 10 minutes", Tsunade's stern voice rang out.

The girls and I sighed. I glanced at my watch. It was still only eight fifty. Surely, she couldn't expect us to turn in that early?

"Well, I guess we should get back, right Hinata?" Tenten said and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"I'll see you guys", Tenten said.

"A-Ah. Good night Sakura-chan, Ino-chan", Hinata smiled softly.

Ino and I bade both of them good night, changed into our pyjamas, and crawled under the sheets.

Ino let out a huge yawn, which set me off too and soon the both of started to feel drowsy.

"Well, good night Ino", I said sleepily.

"Yeah, 'night Saks", Ino responded and turned off the night light.

"I'll introduce you to Sasuke and Naruto tomorrow", she said and with that, the two of us are dead to the world.

"Yo, Sakura, wake up!" was my only warning before a fluffy pillow assaulted my face.

"Huh!" I exclaimed, sitting up in an unfamiliar bed in an equally unfamiliar room, a blonde girl dressed in a bathrobe looking down at me with her hands on her hips.

"Come on or we'll be late for class", she said and threw me a garment of some sort.

Oh, right. I wasn't at home anymore. I was at my new school and the blonde was Ino, my new roommate.

I glanced at the horrible looking piece of fabric in my arms in revulsion. It took a few seconds for me to realize that it was a bathrobe.

Probably noticing my disgusted expression, Ino smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Saks, it's the only spare I have and don't worry, it's clean.

"I guess I don't have any choice", I sighed in resignation. I hadn't thought to bring a bathrobe with me.

Grabbing a towel from my cupboard, I draped myself in the furry orange and black monstrosity and followed Ino, who was heading out of our room, wondering how many animals had to be killed to make this thing.

The hallway that our room was in was deserted. Ino and I were the only ones who were up, it seemed. Thank God for that or I would have become a laughing stock.

"Hey Ino, where are we going?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"We're going to the girl's bathroom. Sorry about the rude awakening but we have to get there early or all the hot water will be gone", Ino explained with an apologetic expression.

"It's fine. I'm used to it", I said with a grin, remembering all the times my brother had to douse me with water to wake me up back at home.

Suddenly a wave of nostalgia hit me. I wonder how my parents are doing. Maybe they had gotten all settled in the new house, my dad was probably heading out to work this minute, and of course, my brother Ichiro would be in college. Hmm... I wonder if mom was feeding Sam, my dog.

Probably noticing my wandering expression, Ino nudged me gently. "You alright?" she asked me concernedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine", I said, snapping out of my thoughts. "Hey, there's Hinata and Tenten", I noticed them waving at us near a large mahogany door marked "Girls Bathroom", Hinata donned in a simple white bathrobe while Tenten wore a black one with silver pattern.

"Whoa Saki, no offense but you look like something out of B rate horror movie", Tenten whistled.

"Tenten chan, t-that's rude", Hinata nudged the brunette's arm.

"Its fine Hinata", I laughed. "I guess I do look like a deranged serial killer with what the pink bed hair and the freaky bathrobe".

"You said it! The only thing that's missing is a chainsaw", Tenten joked as we walked into the washroom.

The girls bathroom was a fairly large place, with several claw footed tubs separated by waist high partitions and with shower curtains for privacy.

"Weird. I thought there would be stalls", I said aloud.

Ino shrugged noncommittally. "That's what we first thought too but I guess the founders wanted an old fashioned feel or whatever".

What's old fashioned about this? I picked a random tub and closed the curtains. The others do the same and within minutes, we're all basking in the glory of warm waters. Ha! That sounded seriously corny.

When we finished washing up and got ready to go back to the dorms, girls came bursting in, chattering loudly. As we exited, we heard a few of them complaining that the hot water was out, causing us to giggle.

Ino and I parted ways with Hinata and Tenten, agreeing to meet after to go to classes and hurried into our room to change.

I pulled the separating curtain across and made sure that the blinds were shut before changing out of the bathrobe and into a loose baby pink tank with a black cut off jacket on top, a black corduroy mini and black converse high tops and pulled up my long pink tresses into a messy ponytail, my bangs covering my forehead. My badge was of course, still on my wrist.

"Hey Ino, you done yet?" I asked from my side of the curtain.

"Yep. All done", she replied brightly and I opened the curtains to see Ino dressed in a white off the shoulder top with a blue sweater over it and a black skirt along with ankle high boots. Her ultra long platinum locks were down and went past her butt.

"Whoa Ino, you look awesome", I said in amazement.

"Thanks Saks. You look great too except, why on earth are you not wearing your smexy hair down?" she asked indignantly.

I giggled. "It gets in the way". We grabbed our book bags and hurried out the door. Hinata and Tenten weren't ready yet so we waited for them outside in the hallway. Ino continued to reprimand me on not wearing my hair down until the girls emerged from their room.

"Ino", Tenten scolded. "No telling off Saki". She sported a white tank with a black motorcycle jacket, black skinny jeans and converse and her hair was in two buns.

Ino pouted. "I was just telling her that she would look better if she put her hair down", she said indignantly. "You've got the looks girl, flaunt them! Boys will be at your feet in no time".

"Well, not all of us wants attract boys, now do we Tenten?" I said, slinging my arm over Tenten's shoulder, wanting to infuriate Ino further.

"Hear, hear", Tenten cheekily agreed.

"You two so deserve each other", Ino said huffily.

"G-guys, please d-don't fight", Hinata, the peacemaker, emerged from the room, pleading.

"Now look what you did Ino", Tenten mock chastised Ino. "You've made the snow maiden upset".

Now that she mentioned it, Hinata really did look like a regular snow maiden with her pale complexion and beautiful dark hair and fragile nature. Even the way she was dressed, in pale, calming colors, made her look like a snow maiden. "If Hinata's the gentle snow maiden, what does that make me?" I pondered out loud, distracting Ino and Tenten from their little bickering session.

"That's easy. You're Saki, the cute cherry blossom", Tenten said with a smile.

"Ha!" I exclaimed. "Wait till you see me on a bad day", I said. These girls didn't know how scary I could get.

"Ooh. Kitty's got claws", Ino teased and Hinata giggled.

"Rawr!" I growled playfully at Tenten, swiping my fingers in front of her face like claws.

"Oi, aren't we going to class?" Tenten intoned suddenly.

"Ah! We're going to be late!" Ino shrieked and dragged all three of us out the dorm and into yet another hallway. This one was filled with students going to classes. We struggled a bit amidst the waves of kids, trying to get to the Math class but somehow, got separated. Not good on a first day. Not good at all.

"Ino, Tenten, Hinata, where are-".

Suddenly, someone from behind knocked into me and I ran face first into a something, a something that was extremely hard.

"Ow", I whined and rubbed my nose. "Watch where you're going", a deep velvety voice said in annoyance.

"Huh?" I glanced up to see that I had knocked into someone, not something. "Oh shit, I'm sorry. Someone pushed me from behind and-", my voice broke when I looked into the guys face.

The guy looked a lot like the one I had seen yesterday, the one with the dark hair and eyes. He had the Konoha badge on his wrist too. So he was in my house, huh.

"You're... from before..." I stuttered, which was highly unlikely of me.

His dark eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about now get out of the way", he said irritably and shoved me out of the way. Granted, it didn't hurt, but still.

"What an asshole", I muttered as he walked past. I guess looks weren't enough.

"Oi Sasuke! That's no way to treat a girl!" a loud voice erupted from behind me and I turned to see a guy with spiky blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He had whisker marks on his cheeks and he was glaring at the back of that cranky guy's shirt. He seemed to be in Konoha too. God, why is everyone I meet today in my house?

"Shut up dobe", Sasuke said simply and stalked off somewhere. So this was Sasuke. He definitely wasn't the guy I had seen from before, though their personalities matched pretty well. I didn't get that spark of recognition I got from the other guy.

"That idiot", the dobe growled. "Hey, are you okay?" it took a while to notice that he was talking to me. "Yeah. Thanks", I grinned.

"That ass didn't hurt you did he?" he asked concernedly, his friendly blue eyes looking over me for injuries.

"No. What's his problem anyway?" I asked, dusting myself. The crowd of kids had dissipated and only a few were remaining. My gang wasn't among any of them.

"His problem is that he has a stick up his ass so large that it would probably show if he opened his mouth to speak properly once in a while", he said and I laughed. I liked this guy.

"By the way, I'm Uzumaki Naruto" he introduced himself with a wide grin. "So you're Naruto! Does that mean you're that Sasuke guy's best friend?" I asked in astonishment. How could someone this nice hang out with a guy like Sasuke?

"Unfortunately, yeah. But he's not so bad, just cranky most of the time", Naruto shrugged. "And you must be...?" he trailed off expectantly.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I'm Haruno Sakura.", I said with a grin. Yes, I finally remembered to say 'Haruno'. Shocker.

"Haruno Sakura huh? I've never heard of you. You must be new here", he ponders.

"Yep. Still a freshie".

"You seem to be well informed for a new kid though", Naruto asked questioningly.

"Ah. Well, Ino saw to that soon enough", I explained. For a second, a light bulb seemed to light up over Naruto's head.

"You're Ino's friend? She told me that one of the new students got lost, didn't realize it was you".

"Oh crap", I said, suddenly remembering that I was late for class. "I'm late for Kakashi's class", I whined.

"No worries. I'm in Kakashi-sensei's class too. Come on, I'll take you there", Naruto said.

Sensei huh? From my severe addiction to animes, I knew that meant teacher. I so have to learn Japanese.

"Here we are!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully, breaking me out of my thoughts as he lead me into a medium sized classroom.

The kids were messing around, some talking and others laughing. A few boys were sending paper planes all over the room. All in all, it was a normal looking class.

"Oh Sakura, you made it!" Ino waved at me from the second row, Hinata and Tenten beside her.

"Hey guys", I grinned. Looked like Kakashi wasn't here yet. After thanking Naruto, I headed to where Ino and the rest were sitting and plopped down on an empty corner seat.

Naruto sat directly behind me and I turned around to notice the wintry features of Sasuke-the-bastard sitting next to him, his fingers crossed over his nose, glaring into empty space. The gas particles in the air were probably offending him or something.

"Oh, Sakura, you wanted to meet Sasuke-kun right?" Ino asked me.

"Ha, no thanks Ino, we already met", I said stonily. Somehow, even though they looked freakishly alike, I didn't think that Sasuke-the-bastard was the guy I had seen earlier. Sasuke seemed capable of pulling off a scowl like the one he'd given me but there was something different about the two of them.

"You met?" Tenten asked from beside Ino.

"Yep", I responded. "I was charmed to say the least", I said, my voice laced with sarcasm, making sure I was loud enough for him to hear.

Sasuke's glare deepened. He opened his mouth to say something and I think I saw the stick Naruto was talking about but before he could say anything, the door opened and Kakashi walked in lazily. The students stopped playing fool and all eyes turned to him.

"Kakashi sensei, you're late!" Naruto yelled obnoxiously.

"Sorry, sorry, you see I was pondering upon the meaning of life and-", He was cut off by Naruto yelling "liar".

The class sighed as if this was a normal occurrence.

"You just need an excuse to read that perverted book of yours", Naruto huffed. He looked pretty cute and childish and I noticed Hinata staring at him with a blush on her face. Looked like Naruto had an admirer. More importantly, it looked like our Math teacher and house master was a pervert.

"Sensei, I didn't know you were a closet pervert", I said, pretending to be scandalized, enjoying Kakashi's reaction.

"W-Well, you s-see, that-I", he trailed off absently. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

The kids laughed out loud and even Sasuke had a small smirk on his face. Looks like I was wrong about him not being able to produce agreeable facial expressions but still, there was something familiar about him and the mystery guy but I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "Turn to page five on your textbooks everyone", with a hint of embarrassment and class went on.

"Hey everyone", Ino called from next to me over the din of the cafeteria. "This is Sakura", she said with a grin. "Sakura, this is the Konoha gang".

The people sitting at the table in the far corner of the cafeteria glanced at me. I recognized Naruto, Sasuke, Tenten and Hinata but the others I didn't know.

"Um, hey", I said with a somewhat sheepish smile. I was a tad awkward around new people and it was a bit surprising that I had already managed to make some friends. But then again, maybe it wasn't so surprising since Naruto, Ino and the rest were so easy to get along with.

"Hey, I'm Inuzuka Kiba", a cute, athletic guy with spiky brown hair and hazel eyes introduced himself with a grin. Something poked its head out from under his hoodie and I realized with a start that it was a puppy and a cute one at that. It whimpered at me softly. "And this is Akamaru".

"He's cute", I said with a smile.

The puppy barked softly, jumped out of his spot in Kiba's hoodie, and latched itself onto me, licking my face. I giggled. "T-That tickles", I said from in between laughs.

Kiba grinned in amusement and took Akamaru back. "I think he likes you".

"I didn't know the school allowed animals", I pondered out loud and took the empty seat next to Kiba, stroking the top of Akamaru's head.

"Tsunade made an exception for Kiba since she used to teach his sister and has a soft spot for her, and besides, Akamaru's so cute and well behaved that even Tsunade's stone heart would melt at the sight of him", Ino explained, making cooing noises at Akamaru, who cocked his ears amusingly.

"Sakura-san, it's good to meet you!" another boy with disturbingly large tennis ball eyes and even larger eyebrows said to me in enthusiasm, cutting short my examination of Akamaru.

"Uh, it's uh, good to meet you too…" I trailed off. The guy was certainly unique.

"That's Lee, Sakura-chan", Naruto introduced. Lee kept staring at me weirdly. What was his problem?

"Ignore him", Ino whispered from next to me. "He's harmless really".

Not really convinced, I tried to ignore those creepy tennis ball eyes and turned my attention to the guy sitting next to creepy-eyebrows Lee. He was good-looking, with longish brown hair and pale eyes like Hinata and he looked really serious and stuff. Probably had a stick up his ass like Sasuke. Why is it always the good-looking guys that were jerks?

"And this bucket of sunshine here is Neji, Hinata's cousin", Tenten said with a grin, slinging an arm over Neji's shoulder cheerfully. The guy glared at her in annoyance but Tenten seemed not to notice him either she ignored him. Bold girl, that. Or extremely stupid for that matter.

Anyway, Neji somehow persuaded Tenten to get off of him and I turned my attention to the last three remainders of the group. One was a chubby kid who was downing a packet of chips. He noticed me and grinned friendlily, introducing himself as 'Akimichi Chouji'. He looked relatively normal. Another was one with spiky hair in a ponytail who looked like he was Kakashi's brother or something with what the lazy demeanor and the last one was just weird.

He had short spiky hair and wore a high collared shirt and dark shades. All in all, he looked like a badly disguised spy.

Turned out that spiky ponytail kid's name was Shikamaru and he was actually a genius with an IQ over two hundred despite the lazy demeanor and that spy guy was Shino, a bug lover (!).

Was it just me, or was nearly everyone in this school weird, with the exceptions of the girls, Naruto, Kiba and possibly Chouji?

Oh well, they were nice and that's what really mattered.

Sasuke, I couldn't say much for considering the whole 'watch where you're going' thing earlier but Lee seemed okay, just a bit overwhelming at first and it wasn't like Shino had done something to me or whatever. And who was I to judge them anyway, since I'd only just met them. Who knows, Sasuke was probably a nice guy underneath the whole ice man exterior. Maybe.

Not.

After having breakfast, the third years, namely the girls, Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke and I dumped our trays in the trash cans and made way to exit the cafeteria. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, instead admiring the cleanliness of the cafeteria, as dorky as that was, and suddenly bumped into someone for the second time that day. Thankfully, this little run-in didn't leave me on the floor, which would have been a major embarrassment.

Instead, I just staggered back a bit and quickly regained my footing, ready to apologize to whoever I had almost run over. I really seemed to have a major klutz syndrome since I kept bumping into people.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going", I started, expecting a response similar to Sasuke's, but trailed off when I had a good look at the person face's.

It was him. The guy from the courtyard, the Sasuke look-alike with the dark hair and eyes and the scowl. He did look a lot like Sasuke except that his hair was black and long whereas Sasuke's was midnight blue and spiked up and he had tear troughs under his eyes, making him look older than he was, which was probably around twenty or something. He was wearing a black hoodie with a red cloud, meaning that he was in Akatsuki. That damn spark hit me again. I didn't know this guy, I was sure of it, but there was something familiar about him…

"You're that guy from yesterday", I accused.

He scowled at me. Oh, he was definitely the guy from yesterday.

"I believe you are mistaken", the resemblance to Sasuke was uncanny, even his voice. What the hell was this guy playing at? Yesterday, he had scowled at me and now he had the audacity to act like he had never even seen me? He must be Sasuke's brother or something, the two so deserved each other.

"I must have gotten the wrong person", I said stonily and walk over to the door of the cafeteria, where the girls were waiting for me, Naruto, Kiba and Sasuke long gone.

The girls looked at me worriedly.

"What just happened there Sakura?" Ino asked me.

"Nothing. Just another jerk", I said. "That's the guy I was talking about yesterday", I explained and the girls looked thoughtful. I didn't tell them that he was a little familiar to me.

"Who did he think he was anyway?" I asked.

"Uchiha Itachi of the Akatsuki, if you are wondering", I jumped as the guy's velvety voice reached my ears. I turned around but he was already walking out the hallway, hands in pockets and students were scurrying out of his way, like he was some sort of royalty.

I turned back to the girls who looked just as baffled as I was. What exactly was that Itachi guy's deal? First pretending that he didn't even know me and then he goes whispering his name in my ear when I hadn't even asked for it. Psycho.

"Is that guy a complete weirdo or what?" I asked Ino but the girl seemed to be preoccupied with something else.

"What?" I asked, puzzled.

"Sakura, do you know who that was?" Ino asked me.

"Uchiha Itachi of Akatsuki, he just said so himself", I said. What was up with Ino all of a sudden?

"Yeah, Saks. Uchiha Itachi of Akatsuki. He just talked to you", Ino continued in a dazed tone while Hinata looked amused and Tenten shook her head.

"Yes, I'm well aware that he spoke to me Ino. Speaking, is how people communicate with each other", I rolled my eyes. And here I thought the phrase dumb blonde was just a fad.

"What she's trying to say, Saki, is that the most popular and hottest guy in school talked to you", Tenten explained in a bored tone.

Huh. So that was the problem. Seriously. I gave Tenten a look and she just shrugged as if to say 'well, what can you do?'

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean Tenten. Uchiha Itachi, the hottest and crankiest guy in the whole school, probably the world, just talked to Sakura", Ino said, frowning at Tenten.

"Come on Ino, I don't get what the big deal is. He just spoke like six words to me", I said, shrugging. We were now heading in the direction of the gym.

"In actuality, he spoke fourteen words Sakura, and it is a big deal because Uchiha Itachi never speaks to anyone except his group of freaky Akatsuki friends and his brother Sasuke", Ino explained.

Ah. So he was Sasuke's brother. Unsurprising, considering the lack of human emotions they both so obviously shared.

"I knew it", I said with a chuckle.

"And what exactly was the deal with Itachi being the most antisocial guy in the school? I thought that title went to Sasuke", I continued as we reached the gym.

"Nah. Itachi wins by far. Sasuke's more like the Emo Prince while Itachi is the reigning Emo King", Tenten said and I let out a laugh. I could so imagine the two of them together in a castle, Itachi sitting on the high throne, face somber and legs crossed at the ankles while Sasuke sat on the considerably smaller throne next to him, not too happy about being just the Prince.

I related this to the others and they too let out giggles but we stopped chatting when we reached the gym because something told us Sasuke would definitely not take kindly to be addressed as the Emo Prince.

The gym was as high class as the rest of the school. Sometimes I wonder how my parents even got me into this place; it was so out of their price range. Maybe they had connections or something.

Anyway, we changed into the P.E. shirt and shorts and waited for the coach, who surprisingly, considering how long we had taken to get to the gym, still hadn't arrived.

Bored, we all sat down on the bleachers and began to chat. Tenten and I were in the middle of a heated discussion on the latest episode of Bleach, when suddenly, an ear-splitting whistle rang out and a woman wearing an entirely too revealing mesh outfit and coat barged into the gym.

We all got off the bleachers and arranged ourselves in lines in the shiny gym floor.

"Is this the gym teacher?" I asked Hinata incredulously, who nodded, looking positively horrified.

I was about to ask what was wrong when the weird-ass coach blew her stupid whistle again, making my ears ring.

"Alright you maggots, get in line!" her voice was gritty and tough, but leaving those for later, was she insane or something? How were you supposed to do anything in gym wearing that stupid mesh outfit? And she looked absurdly mean too. Tenten looked ticked off and Ino and Hinata looked just about ready to cry, Naruto and Kiba were trying and failing to put on brave faces and even Sasuke's eyebrows were twitching. That could not be a good sign.

"Alright, boys on one side, girls on the other", the coach ordered and we reluctantly complied. What on earth was she going to do?

"Two hundred pushups each!" the coach bellowed and my eyebrow twitched. Was this woman out of her frigging mind? That is, if she had a brain in the first place.

I didn't do a thing and just stood there. There was no way in hell I was going to do two hundred freaking pushups! I couldn't even do twenty without collapsing.

I stood my ground as the coach approached me, ignoring the girls who told me to get on with it. Naruto was egging me on under his breath, urging me to 'show that crazy bitch'. He shut up immediately as the coach came within hearing range.

She raised an eyebrow and brought her face close to mine and her dark spiky hair was on my face. I stared into her eyes, determined not to break under the pressure. Teachers hated kids who didn't break. Fortunately, years of practice made sure that the intimidation tactic didn't work on me.

"Well, well, Haruno, not feeling very energetic, I see", she said, peering in even closer. I jerked my head back. Crazy woman.

"Three hundred pushups", she said and I scowled.

"Three hundred or a detention", she said and I didn't budge. I was a person who had faced a lot of detentions before and they didn't faze me anymore. I stood my ground without giving an inch.

"Alright, Haruno. You just earned yourself a detention on your first day. That's going to go on your personal record", she growled and then gestured for a kid to come to her. I watched, bored, as the coach told the kid to get the student council president or someone. The kid skipped out the gym, happy to get out of pushups.

A while later, the kid came back with someone behind him. The ass-coach told me something but I didn't take note of it. I was busy staring at the entrance of the gym, where Itachi stood, his dark eyes amused. He didn't seem much like an Emo kid then. Don't tell me he was the student council president? Just great.

I glared at both him and this stupid coach.

I shot him a look that simply said 'what the hell are you doing here?' as the coach walked over to him, a satisfied grin on her face.

Itachi simply shot me a smirk as he and the coach conversed in low tones. Ino, in the middle of her pushups, asked me what the hell I was doing and to just get on with it and do what the coach said but I ignored her and watched the two ass-hats talk, a scowl on my face.

"Haruno! Get over here!" the coach barked and I walked grudgingly over to where he and Itachi were, my glare intensifying with each step I took.

"You will be escorted by Itachi-kun to your detention. Be here the exact moment class ends", she barked at me. Resisting the urge to plant my foot in her face, I gave a non committal grunt. She dismissed Itachi, who walked off, but not before smirking at me. Arrogant git. He was so not the antisocial emo kid the girls had made him out to be.

The coach turned to me, looking displeased. Knowing full well it was disrespectful; I raised an eyebrow at her. Her nostrils flared.

"Since you seem so insistent on not doing your pushups, just go and sit on the bleachers until class ends", she growled and I walked to the bleachers, happy about not having to perform any pushups.

If I had been at my old school, the teachers would have punished me at once. This school was soft. Ah well, it was cool since it meant that I didn't have to do anything till class ended.

With that, I leant back against my seat and let out a long, content sigh. Might as well get comfortable when I could. Except that I had detention after school with that prick Itachi, life, so far, was good.

Well, there it is! I really hope you enjoyed it. Bear with me about the 'Jap boarding school in Seattle'; it's just one of my crazy things ;) And review please, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Love,

Alistair.