Chapter Text
For a fair majority of her childhood, Sakura had a massive, all-consuming crush on Sasuke Uchiha. She woke up every day and wondered what he would wear. She went to bed every night cataloguing his face in her mind and saving it for later. Most, if not all of her thoughts, centred around him; his elusive smile, his dark eyes, his hair. She would call out to him, try to talk to him, encourage him and smile at him. Every single morning before school she would wake up early just so she could be there to call ‘good morning!’ to him.
Meanwhile, he could care less. Without fail, he ignored her every single morning, every single day. For a while, she didn’t mind that he ignored her. In some ways, it made her like him more. She thought it made him cool, mysterious, hard to get - and Sakura was nothing if not determined.
But then it became disheartening, heartbreaking. She became more and more frustrated, which caused her to try harder, call more, cheer louder at all of his games. But it was day after day of heartbreak, and by the time they reached high school, she got tired of trying to get his attention. After a decade of trying and failing, even she had to give up.
So, she stopped. She stopped waiting for him at the gates for a chance to say good morning to him. She stopped going to all his games and events and cheering for him in the sidelines. He probably didn’t notice, which only motivated her more. Maybe then her crush would feel less like love and more like something silly she made up to pass the time.
After all, how could she love a boy she hardly even knew? How could she love a boy who had never looked at her or spoken a single word to her?
And now, halfway through her senior year, she could gladly say she had well and truly accomplished her goal. She no longer waited, cheered, called, or encouraged. She no longer wondered or thought of him before or after she slept. And she hadn’t in years. Her crush was in the past and he was nothing more than a boy she shared a few classes with.
This was, of course, until she was paired to do a group project with him and Naruto Uzumaki.
The moment she heard her name she felt all the blood drain from her body and had to fight the urge to concuss herself on the desk in front of her. Would it be so bad to put herself in a coma until graduation? She felt the stress of the next month fall on her in an instant; no doubt it would be the most infuriating, annoying and excoriating time in her life to date.
She didn't need to turn around to know how her group members felt. Naruto without a doubt would’ve looked a mix between outraged and ecstatic. Sasuke without a doubt would’ve looked to have aged a few hundred years; though this would only be because of Naruto, because Sasuke still had no clue who she was. Sakura felt beyond bitter at this thought, and had to stop herself from grinding her teeth.
The thing about Naruto was that he was loud and annoying. Sakura found him annoying because while she had been trying to get Sasuke’s attention, Naruto had been trying to get hers. He seemed to have calmed down in recent years, but he was still irrevocably loud, hyperactive and unpredictable. She had spoken to him a few times. She liked to think she was kind and polite, so ignoring Naruto was never an option. She had done her fair share of avoidance, however.
But Sasuke… Sakura had barely had a single conversation with Sasuke, despite trying since the pre-school. He was always uninterested in anything but his sports (soccer, basketball and track, all sports he was incredibly good at for no apparent reason) and his phone.
And the two of them together? They’ve always hated each other for some inconceivable reason. Sakura had to guess it was how different they were; in many ways they were polar opposites.
Sakura sighed deeper than she thought her lungs could bare then went to Sasuke’s table. She, unfortunately, still knew him well enough to guess he wouldn’t move. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes when she saw him still firmly seated, eyes glued to his phone.
As soon as she sat down, Naruto was at her side, “how cool is it that we’re in a group together, Sakura!” It was worded like a question but said like a statement. Sakura sighed deeply again.
“Cool,” she said, and put her books on the table. The tables in this room were larger than in others, wide and round. Normally, two or three people could be seated at a single table. Sasuke, however, always sat alone.
“Right!” his voice was so close to her ear that she flinched. “So, I was thinking we should probably exchange num-“
“That won’t be necessary,” Sasuke interrupted, and Sakura closed her eyes so no one could see her rolling them. She supposed that it was still obvious but couldn’t bring herself to care. Sasuke continued, his tone bored, “we’ll meet tomorrow afternoon after school in the library.”
“Why not this afternoon?” Sakura asked. She hated that she knew the answer already.
“I have practice.” For possibly the first time ever, he met her eyes. She forgot how deep and dark they were.
She held them, “well, I can’t tomorrow.”
“What!” Naruto said, impossibly closer to her, “how come?”
“I have practice,” she said, repeating Sasuke’s words. She felt the intensity in her eyes, and did all she could to keep it. He broke eye contact first and she allowed herself a self-satisfied smile.
“What for?” Naruto asked.
“It’s not important.” She said it only to avoid further questions. Maybe she’d tell them another day when she had the energy for it. “How’s Thursday for you?”
She said it to Naruto but Sasuke replied, “Thursdays fine.”
“Naruto?” she asked, mostly out of spite. It was important that Naruto was free, but she wanted to see Sasuke squirm. She saw him readjust in his chair and pressed her lips together, pleased that it had worked.
“Thursday?” Naruto asked. He scrunched his face together and moved his eyes across the roof. He smiled so wide his eyes closed, “that’s all good for me!”
“Great.” Sakura said, just as the bell rang. She was the first up and the first to leave the classroom out of the three of them.
Naruto tried to follow after her, but he got lost in the crowd. She was grateful that they went to a large school. That way she was unlikely to see either of them again until Thursday afternoon after school, or their one shared class.
***
“Sasuke Uchiha,” said Ino.
“Yes,” Sakura replied. Ino had said the name many times now, all in various exaggerations. It had attracted the attention of many other people in the cafeteria.
“Sasu-“
“Ino, for fucks sake, yes!”
Ino tore her eyes away from a point just past Sakura’s head sharply. She looked offended that Sakura had snapped then promptly sighed and raised her eyebrows, lost in thought again.
“So, any idea what you’re going to do?” She asked.
“Well, it’s a presentation so-“
Ino rolled her head back and groaned, interrupting her friend, “not the project, you goose!”
Sakura made a displeased face and poked at her food.
Ino widened her eyes in a way that said, ‘are you serious?’ then rolled her eyes for what felt like the tenth time that minute. “Sakura, this is the guy you had a-“
“Don’t finish that sentence, or I’ll call you a hypocrite,” Sakura interrupted. Like she needed to be reminded. Fuck.
“And, Naruto fucking Uzumaki…” Ino sighed, “this is fucked Saku.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s what I’ve been telling you,” Sakura said, before filling her mouth a spoonful of her strangely soggy salad. How could lettuce be soggy? How?
“At least you know they’ll help you, though, right?’ Ino said. Sakura sensed an incoming rant. “Like, my group? Shikamaru might be the laziest fucking guy I’ve ever met, and Choji isn’t dumb, but he’s not a straight A student, either, you know what I mean? And if I let him handle anything it’ll come back to me covered in crumbs. Which is super gross. Uh, second-hand crumbs, hello?”
Sakura laughed as she listened. She kind of had in in mind that Ino would press more, but she was glad she didn’t. The good thing about their friendship was that they know when to stop annoying each other. They annoy each other a fuck ton, but they recognise the line.
“All I’m asking is that I don’t have to do everything myself. But, I don’t know, we’ll see,’ Ino said, her rant seemingly over.
“Group projects, amiright?” Sakura said, an acknowledgement and an agreement. This was going to be a cluster fuck.