Sakura's POV
~| us |~
"Momma!" A pink-haired girl called out. "I'm going to go to school today! Can you help me pick my dress?"
Laughter was heard from the lower part of the house. "Sakura, honey, your dress is already laid out on your bed! Put it on, and I'll do a cute hairstyle for you, okay? You'll impress all the boys at school and become friends with all the girls! So hurry and get ready, Sakura!"
"Okay!" Little Haruno Sakura was starting school today. She was five and ready to take on the world.
She toddled over to her bed and picked up the dress that was laid on the cherry blossom bedspread. It was held up and examined, and she finally decided it was wearable. She quickly pulled off her blue bunny nightgown and slipped on her uniform.
After she finished changing, she walked over to the mirror and twirled around to check her appearance. Once she was satisfied, she smiled and walked downstairs, where her mother was waiting with a bowl of cereal and a comb.
"Momma! I'm ready!" said the pink-haired little girl. Sakura flew down the stairs, her little feet making soft thuds on the wooden floors of their house.
"What kind of hair style do you want me to do for you today? Pigtails? Half up?" Her little girl shook her head.
"I want a red headband!"
Mebuki smiled. "Of course, Sakura-chan. Whatever you want for your first day of school."
Sakura cheekily smiled to her mother, dipping her spoon into her bowl of cereal. Her mother walked back into their bedroom to fetch a red ribbon and soon brought it out to tie her hair with.
After Sakura was done with breakfast (and her mother done with her hair) she walked out and said a quick goodbye, and skipped off to school.
On the way was the flower shop, and little Sakura peeked her head in.
"Ino-chan!" she called. A few moments later, a blonde girl popped her head out from behind the daffodils.
"Sakura, I just took a shower and now I'm blowdrying my hair. Go on without me, I'll catch up later! I'll meet you at Naruto's!"
Sakura sighed. "Okay, I'll see you there then." I'm so jealous of Ino-chan. She's so pretty and perfect and just... Just... She's the best! She's so fashionable and gorgeous, compared to her... I'm just a normal girl.
Sakura exited the flower shop, saying a few hellos here and there. Then she got to a run-down apartment complex, and walked up the stairs to the top-most part.
"Naruto!" She shouted, knocking on one of the doors. A thump was heard, a 'Sakura-chan' was shouted, and the door opened to reveal a tanned blonde boy with a sleeping cap on.
"Sakura-chan? Why're you here so early today? Do you wanna play? Did you miss me?" he said with his signature grin.
Sakura wrinkled her nose, but in an affectionate way. "No, Naruto. Ino was blow drying her hair so I came to pick you up for school today. Aren't you... Ready?" She scanned blonde boy, who seemed to have just remembered that there was school today.
"Oh crap! I forgot! Give me a second, Sakura-chan!" He quickly ran back in his apartment and thumping, pots falling, vases cracking, many 'ows' and everything you could ever think of was heard.
Sakura giggled, and patiently waited outside for Naruto to be finished.
A few moments later, the little boy emerged with his uniform on. It was wrinkled, but everything Naruto owned was wrinkled. Sakura smiled.
"One day, I'm going to do your laundry and clean your house for you, but for now we have to go. We can't be late on our first day!"
Naruto grinned at the girl. "Okay, Sakura-chan."
The two set off to school together, hand in hand.
~| us |~
"Sakura-chan! Will you be my partner for this project?"
"Sakura, us three will be a team, how about it?"
"Sure, Naruto, Ino. I'll be team leader, because we all know how great you two are at organizing."
The two blondes nodded vigorously, and saluted the pinkeye, who giggled. Then she directed her 'team' to a seemingly empty table to work at on their project.
"Okay, Ino-chan. Can you get the scissors? Naruto, can you get the glue? I'll find the colors in this box of markers we need. Meet back here in five minutes."
Both people saluted, and the three dashed off to their assigned missions.
Blue... Orange... Pink... Where are you? Sakura thought furiously. Aha! I found you, blue! She made a grab for it, but the marker was snatched away by another hand.
Sakura scowled and looked up at the perpetrator.
He had navy-blue hair and onyx eyes. His hair was shaped oddly, but overall he was extremely attractive.
Sakura glared.
"Give me my marker!"
"No."
"Give me my marker."
"I said no, woman. Can you not hear?"
Sakura gritted her teeth and prepared herself for a full out blowup, but it was at that moment that Ino and Naruto decided to show up with their supplies.
"Saku- who's that cute guy?" Ino wondered aloud.
"Sakura-chan! Why're you talking to that guy? He's dangerous!" Naruto shouted, waving the glue around.
Sakura turned her glare to her teammates. "He stole our marker!"
"Did not."
"Let him have it Sakura. He's cute."
"Ino," the pinkette scowled. "Just because someone is cute doesn't mean I'm going to give him a marker that I got first."
"But he's cute!!" Ino whined.
The boy in question just stood there, holding the marker in his hand with a smirk on his face.
"Well," he began slowly. "If you don't mind, I'll be taking my marker back now." He started to walk away to an empty table surrounded by girls.
"Hey," Sakura began. "Do you actually have a group?"
The boy shook his head. "I won't let any of those girls be a part of my group because they'll just goggle me and won't do any work, and it seems like everyone here already has their friends. I'm new, so I don't."
Sakura's eyes softened. She understood what it felt like to be lonely at school. Heck, she had been for most of preschool. Until Ino found her, and they became best friends.
"Do you want to work with us?"
The boy stared up at her, and for a second, Sakura knew they could get along.
"No."
Well, Sakura had never been right to begin with.
It was that moment that I foolishly believed what I felt for him was disgust and hate.
~| us |~
Please tell me what you think!! If you'd like to help edit this story, give me a gmail with no personal information (like a gaming email) and I can let you edit excerpts of it. I already have one really great editor already, so all I need are two more! The positions will go to the first two who comment feedback that I think is most useful to this chapter. Those two will help me edit snippets of my story! Thank you for reading, and critique well!
