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"Here she comes again..." Sasuke mutters to himself, spying the ever persistent pink-haired girl approaching him out of the corner of his eye.
This particular girl has been interrupting his peaceful lunch alone for the past week to attempt to sit and chat with him. She seems to have the notion that he's lonely and would appreciate the company, even though he CLEARLY sits alone by choice. He thought it would be obvious by now, considering he was the new kid two months ago and would have made friends long since if he wanted to.
He had hoped that if he spoke to her as little as possible, she would have gotten the message by now. Apparently, it hasn't been enough. Maybe if he tried a new approach, he could get rid of her. He could behave as obnoxiously as that blond idiot in his math class, wasn't Naruto his name? Yeah, a name as idiotic as that could only belong to someone like him. That guy has such an obvious crush on her, it's embarrassing. Yet, he's completely oblivious to the fact that she practically hates him.
Sasuke could almost feel sorry for him... at least if he cared enough to acknowledge any of the losers in this school, he would. Anyway, what does that guy see in such an annoying girl? Then again, they're both such annoying people that if you'd put them together they'd be a match made in heaven. Or... they'd annoy each other so much that one of them would end up killing the other... most likely the girl being responsible for the latter; he could definitely see the girl going psycho like that.
"Hey, are you even listening to me?"
Oh, right. The girl had been talking her head off the entire time while he was busy immersed in his own thoughts.
"Hnn." He responds.
And she continues her yammering.
---
The next day, Sasuke expects the girl to sit next to him as always at the usual time, but she has yet to arrive. Sasuke should be relieved by this, but can't help the inkling of worry that he begins to feel.
'Ignore it, she's probably finally gotten the message that I don't want any company and is respecting that.' He tries to tell himself.
Yet, he doesn't think she could have been deterred that easily. Something must be wrong, he did get a glimpse of her in the hallway earlier today, so it's not an absence.
Why is he so concerned? It shouldn't matter that much to him.
A few more minutes pass and he's finished with his lunch, he decides to take a little walk around the school. There's still about ten minutes left for lunch to be over, he could kill some time...
He's walked around the whole first floor of the school and has found nothing of interest. Well, his next class is on the second floor, maybe he should take the steps just to have an early start to his class.
As he takes a few steps onto the stairs, he hears what appears to be someone sobbing from behind them.
Curiosity gets the better of him and he decides to take a quick look.
There, crouched behind the stairs, was the girl he had regretfully been searching for. Her face covered by her hands as she quietly sobbed.
Sasuke is left peering over her, considering whether to further approach her or to leave unnoticed.
"Uh... What's wrong with you?"
Hey, he's not just going to leave her there like that. He's not completely heartless.
She's startled by his voice and quickly wipes any stray tears off her face before looking up at him, her eyes widening even more when she realizes who exactly had spoken to her.
"S-Sasuke? I... What are you doing here?"
"I was just taking a walk and saw you here, that's all."
"O-oh."
"Are you going to tell me what's the matter with you?" Sasuke says, seeming just a tad impatient.
"Nothing, please, don't worry about me."
"I'm not leaving until you tell me."
"O-okay, some girls were being bullies... I know I shouldn't listen to them, b-but it's kind of hard not to when they're always hounding me... I needed time for myself right now."
"What do they say?"
"... They almost always go for my forehead, telling me how huge it is with names like "billboard brow" and stuff like that."
Sasuke crouches down to her level and examines her forehead for a moment.
"I don't see the big deal. Are they blind, or something? If anything, it looks like you have more brain than them, at least."
The girl giggles a bit, "I-I didn't think about it like that..."
"Well, think of it like that next time. And try to stand up for yourself, they're not better than you. I know they aren't if they have to gang up on one girl to give them more esteem of themselves."
"Maybe you're right."
"Of course I'm right."
"Heh, right." She looks down at her drawn up knees with a small smile.
"What's your name again? I don't seem to remember."
"Oh, Sakura, Sakura Haruno is my name."
"Alright, Sakura. Take my advice, and I better see an improvement on Monday at lunch when I ask you about it."
Sasuke gets back on his feet and heads for the stairs again, the bell rings just as he leaves. A satisfied smirk playing on his lips until he reaches his next class.
'Maybe she's not so bad, after all.'