[high school AU]

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Late, late late!

That was the only thought that was running through Sasuke Uchiha's head when he checked the time. He facepalmed mentally. How could he oversleep on a day like this? He had a final in an hour! How come his mother or Itachi didn't wake them up? He knew having an oh-crap-I-didn't-study-and-our-final-is-tomorrow study session with Naruto and Sakura was a bad idea!

He stood up to walk out of the room, only to trip over the sleeping body of his best friend Naruto. He was splattered on the floor, drooling onto his pillow.

Sasuke kicked the sleeping boy. "Get up loser, we're late!"

Naruto sat up sleepily, halfheartedly swiping at Sasuke's legs. "Bastard. Do you have to abuse me all the time?" He checked the clock on the wall. "Oh man, I gotta go wake up Sakura!" He got up quickly, tripping over his blankets and running to the guest room. He could hear Naruto and his twin arguing, before running out of his house and across the street into theirs.

Sasuke sighed. Those would never get ready in time. He hurried back to his room. Quickly, he ran into the bathroom, washed his face and brushed his teeth, before throwing on a pair of jeans and a random sweatshirt he had found.

He checked his phone. Twenty two minutes left. He grabbed his backpack and slipped on a pair of sneakers. He texted Naruto to get his butt outside.

Sakura was outside in her car, waiting. He found it unfair how she was the oldest out of all of them and got to drive.

He sat in the passenger seat. "Morning Saku," He said.

"Heyo, Sauce,"  Sakura smiles at him, looking in the mirror to fix her long pink hair into a ponytail.

"Where's Narutard?" He asked, tying his shoes.

"He's still getting dressed" she replied, taking out her lip gloss and applying it.

She looked at her phone, and honked the horn impatiently. "Dammit Naruto, we have twenty minutes to get to school! Hurry up!"

Naruto came running outside. "It's okay, I gotta go get Hina! I'll meet you at school." He put on his helmet, sat on his motorcycle and sped off to his girlfriends house.

Sakura smiled. "Well, since we have a few minutes to spare, how about we get some food?"

"Are you buying?" Sasuke asked, grinning.

"You know it." She winked at him, and he could feel his heart skip a beat.

Sakura and Sasuke were friends since fifth grade. She was homeschooled as a kid, so when Sasuke came to Konoha Middle School, the kids there were making fun of her hair, her forehead, her bad taste in clothes. She was basically all alone until one day Sasuke came and defended her, saying her pink hair was beautiful, her forehead was just the right size, and that her fashion sense was just like his. Those bullies never bothered her again. They became best friends, and that's about the time he fell in love with her.

By the time they pulled into the school parking, there were seven minutes left before first period. Sakura stepped out of the car, hoisting her bag onto her shoulder.

"I gotta run," She told him. "Ms. Yuhi closes her classroom door early on test days, and I do not want to take a science test after school. See you at lunch?" She asked, walking backwards.

He began to smile, but that turned into a look of alarm. "Watch out!" He yelled out, reaching out as she tripped over nothing and fell.

Sasuke caught her arm before she hit the ground, his other arm wrapped around her waist. Ears beginning to warm, he quickly set her on her feet and walked back to the car, closing the door, not looking at her. "Yeah I'll uh, see you at lunch." He replied distractedly, trying to hide his reddening face.

"Okie, see ya!" She saluted him before and turned to run into the school. He waited for her footsteps to fade, before running a hand over his face in frustration. What was she doing to him?

Naruto and Hinata pulled up next to Sasuke. Hinata hopped off the bike and put her hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Unrequited love is tough, huh?" She asked, patting his arm. "I know how you feel. I was in love with Naruto since third grade."

Sasuke looked at her. "How do I deal with this?" He asked her desperately. "It's driving me crazy. Even her normal actions are throwing me off."

She smiled sadly. "All you can do is tell her how you feel. I've seen how you two act around each other. She likes you too. You will never know how she feels unless you ask. Just tell her how you feel. I did, and look where it got me. I'm dating Naruto." Hinata gave him a half hug. "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get to class. And you should too." Naruto followed her into the school, the two of them chattering indaudibly.

Sasuke sighed, walking in after them. Tell Sakura he loves her? That would completely destroy their friendship. He could never do that. Or, he thought, she might feel the same way. He shook his head. That was silly. Sakura would never like him. Him, with his dark hair and dark eyes? He wasn't even sure what color they were. Black, grey? There were times when his eyes looked red too, according to Naruto and Sakura, but they were professional liars. He sighed. She would never fall for him. He was too angry, too plain, too mean, everything she wasn't.

🌸🌸🌸

Sasuke walked through the school doors with the wave of students rushing out. Someone bumped into him, and he tripped down the steps, taking the person down with him. The students simply walked around them, not bothering to stop and help.

He sat up slowly, rubbing his head. He had hit it pretty hard against the railing. He tried to stand, but noticed the pressure on his legs. Looking down, he saw that Sakura sat on his legs, clutching her leg.

"My knee," she whispered, looking at the cut. "Ah well," she grinned and pulled out some bandaids out of her backpack. "I'll be fine." She finally noticed where she was. "Oh sorry about that Sasuke. You okay?"

Sasuke was flat on his back again, fanning his red face. He couldn't breathe. Sakura was making him more flustered than usual. She didn't even do anything!

"Sasuke! Yo, Sauce!" He opened his eyes to see Sakura's face looming over his. "Are you okay?"

He sat up quickly, smacking his forehead against hers and groaning. "Ouch," he rubbed his forehead. "Why do I keep getting injured?"

Sakura stood up, extending a hand to the boy. "Come on, let's go. Naruto is driving Hinata, so it's just me and you again."

Sasuke's ears began to redden, but he took her hand and stood up. She didn't let go once he stood up, which made his face heat up again. He looked away, not letting her see him embarrassed.

She swung their hands back and forth as they walked to her car, smiling to herself. "Hey Sasuke?" He looked at her, his face back to normal. "You wanna go out with me?"

What? He dropped her hand and froze. His face turned pink, then red, then his legs crumpled from beneath him, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Sakura caught him before he could fall to the ground. "Man, what a wimp." She smiled softly, looking at his sleeping face in her arms. She grunted and carried him over to her car, dropped him in the backseat and drove him home.

She put him in his bed, taking off his shoes and pulling up the covers before writing a note and leaving. In typical Sakura fashion, she taped it to his head and left, giggling at his face.

Sasuke woke up an hour later and looked around. He was in his room, but he didn't know how he got there. The last thing he remembered was Sakura asking him-Wait! He fainted after she asked him out? Why are you so stupid? He yelled at himself. Sakura probably hates you now! He grabbed his hair in frustration, but stopped once he felt paper on top of his head. He pulled it off his head. It was a note.

He could tell from the loopy writing style that it was from Sakura.

Yo Sauce,
So I asked you out and you kinda pulled a Hinata. I took that as a yes, so meet me at the park at four. Unless, of course you're still asleep, in which case get up lazy butt! But you wouldn't know that I told you this so whatever.
~Saku

He smiled a little. Only Sakura would take that as a yes.

He checked the time on his phone. Only twenty minutes left till four! He jumped out of bed, changed his sweatshirt, and ran out the door. He went next door to beg Tenten, Hinata's sister in law, for a bike. She let Sasuke borrow her bikes when Saku couldn't drive him places.

Tenten answered the door. "Hey Sasuke. What brings you here?"

"I need a bike," Sasuke asked her. "I'm on my way to meet Sakura, but I don't have a car, and Naruto is gone."

Tenten smiles knowingly. "Oh, so you finally asked her on a date huh? Well, I'll give you Neji's motorcycle then. It's cooler when you show up with that. It's how I fell for Neji."

She went back into her house, reappearing a few seconds later with the keys. "Here," She said, throwing them at him. "Make sure you tell me how it goes though, okay?"

"Thanks Tenten!" He said, hugging her. "I'll tell you about it tonight. It's pizza night remember?" Tenten, her husband Neji, Hinata, and Sasuke always had a pizza night once a week for as long as he could remember. They would order pizza and stay up all night telling stories and watching movies. It was a tradition.

"Alright see you then!" Tenten closed her door, and Sasuke ran to her garage and hopped on her motorcycle. He had ridden Naruto's a couple times, so he knew what he was doing.

He arrived at the park five minutes later. He looked around. Where was she?

He looked on the swings, the slides, the monkey bars, she wasn't on any of them. Then, it came to him. She was where the first met.

Sasuke stood under the cherry blossom tree. He was playing hide and seek, and Naruto had already found Hinata and Ino. He was the only one left.

"Where are you?" Naruto sang as he ran around the playground.

Once he was out of sight Sasuke laughed. "Loser."

There was a sudden movement from above, and a girl with pink hair came tumbling down from the branches. She hit Sasuke, taking him down with her, and they both started laughing, a jumble of limbs on the ground.

"My name is Sakura!" The girl rolled off of Sasuke. He knew she was Naruto's twin, but most girls were ew, so he never talked to her.

He sat up. "My name is Sasuke. You wanna be friends?"

She smiled. "Sure!"

Naruto came running. "Found you!" He screamed, and they climbed back up the tree, shrieking with laughter.

He smiled softly. Of course she would be there. He walked over to the tree, looking up. There she was, crouching on a branch, her pink hair swinging behind her.

"Come down Sakura," he called out.

"Are you gonna catch me?" She asked him, smiling.

"Of course." Sasuke grinned at her, holding his arms out and she jumped off the branch, falling into his arms and knocking him to the ground. She landed sprawled on top of him.

She pouted. "You said you'd catch me."

"Um, oops?" He grinned sheepishly at her.

Sakura smiled softly, laying her head on his chest. "I guess you couldn't catch me since I already fell for you."

"That's cheesy," he told her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"But you love me anyways," she replied.

He closed his eyes. Yeah, I do.
~~~

Lea_Valdez16