Sakura, late again

"YOU'RE LATE AGAIN SAKURA!" Iruka-sensei's yell matched the one he reserved only for Naruto.

"Eep! Sorry Iruka-sensei, I was helping an old lady cross the street and—"

"Get to your seat!" With that, Sakura slumped down onto the only empty seat which was beside that orange idiot.

"Yo!" She saluted sarcastically.

"Heya Sakura-chan! I haven't seen ya for a while and noticed you going to the Uchiha compound everyday and thought to drop by at Sasuke's but didn't see you there-Whoa are those new goggles?! YATTA!" Naruto jumped outta his seat and fistpumped the air, which sucked all the students' attentions from Iruka-sensei.

"NARUTO SIT DOWN!" Sakura and Iruka chorused.

The class returned to their work, seeing nothing of excitement and by now adapted to Naruto's antics.

"I agree that my goggles match yours as far as outfits go—But yours look hella more retarded than mine! And that doesn't mean you get to hang out with me unless you plan to help."

"Help with what?"

"Oh, Hana and the others after school."

"Those old creeps who recoil at the sight of me? HELL NA!" Naruto crossed his arms for emphasis.

"BAKA!" Sakura grabbed Naruto's face, pinching and pulling at his cheeks. "They're actually pretty nice!"

"Nuuu—Dey Gimme Cold Luuks!" Naruto flailed outta her grasp.

"Hmph. In that case don't get in my way." Sakura turned away with her arms crossed stubbornly.

"But Sakura-chan! Wasn't I supposed to help you get um..-Sasuke-teme?"

"Sasuke-" She raised an eyebrow. "-KUN." Sakura stood up. "My gosh! How could I've forgotten about him!?" Sakura's eyes shot towards the cute boy a few rows down at the leftest collumn. He was sitting beside Ino-pig. The pig was making cute expressions at him and every then and now shooting Sakura glares and confused looks at the same time. How dare she!

"SAKURA SIT DOWN!" Iruka shouted and Naruto whispered loudly at the same time.

Sakura sat down, her face red. The class laughed. Dammit, now she was going to get bullied later. She shot a glance at Ami, the lead bully, who was whispering profusely to her girls who glanced at Sakura with mean looks.

Sakura slammed her forehead to the table. Where was karma when she needed it?

春

The bell rung and class had ended unproductively, not that Sakura missed much. She'd read ahead on the lessons anyway.

Naruto had already charged ahead, probably off to play some stupid prank. Good, there's no way she'd embarrass herself in front of that idiot-or worse, have said idiot play the hero and rescue her. She could handle herself!

With that, Sakura pulled her protective orange goggles over her glasses and walked outdoors to face the girls.

Her suspicions were correct, the gang of them were waiting for her.

"Big forehead!"

"Four-eyes!"

"Copying Naruto!"

"Nasty fashion sense!"

"At least that ribbon looked better than trashy goggles!"

"What are you doing, going to Sasuke's place everyday?! I'll make you never want to show your pretty face to him again!" Ami marched up and punched Sakura's face, snapping her out of her daze. (Yes, Sakura wasn't listening, she was lost in thought.)

Being hit, Sakura had had enough! She readied her fist and sent Ami flying to the ground. Then heavy footsteps came.

The girls all started wailing the instant they saw a teacher walk up, Ami being the loudest.

Which meant they were going to get Sakura in trouble!

"Iru-I mean, Mizuki-sensei!"

Mizuki smiled, his eyes darting from the victim of the scene and helping Ami up. He told the girls to take her to the nurse before turning to Sakura, supposedly to reprimand her. "I've noticed you've gotten friendly with the class clown, eh?"

Sakura stammered- "I-I-"

"Heh, not only are you picking up his violent habits, but your grades have been dropping drastically too. No longer are you the top kunoichi of the class. I'm just a little worried, that's all."

Sakura's face went beet red and she looked down, shamed.

"And you've also taken on similar goggles," Mizuki's hand reached down to pull them off, and Sakura cringed. But just before that happened, a darker brown skinned hand grabbed his waist.

"I-Iruka-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Mizuki, school rules state that teachers aren't allowed to touch students."

"Heh, you're right, Iruka, but that wasn't what I was doing. I was just a little worried about Sakura, that's all." Mizuki smiled warmly to said girl. "Sakura-chan, whenever something troubles you, whether it's educational or personal affairs, you know you can always come and talk to me. That's what teachers are for, ne?"

"...Yes, Mizuki-sensei." Sakura nodded, and crossed her arms over each other a little protectively, as she felt Mizuki's cold hands land onto her head and caress her pink locks before he walked off, hands in pockets.

"Sakura," Sakura jumped slightly a bit at Iruka's voice. He's still here? "I was wondering," He scratched his nose. "What is Naruto to you?"

She scowled. "A troublesome idiot, that's what!" She gulped and retracted that. "I-What I meant to say was, he's a little on the naughty side." She looked down. It was obvious that Naruto was Iruka's favorite.

Iruka smiled, "Say, why don't we go for some ramen? My treat. I'd like to talk to you about something."

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