Chapter: prolog

A new morning had dawned. The birds chirped, the sun shone in through my window, straight into my eyes.
“Damn it.” I moaned at the sun and made my way to the bathroom. There I first took a long shower and did what everyone does in the bathroom on a Monday morning.
"Sakura, hurry up! Otherwise you will be late for school!" My mother was again too upset. She should finally start to take it easy on life. Because I had twenty-five minutes until I had to be at school and ... wait a minute! I would be way too late! My hair was still all wet. As fast as I could I got the hairdryer and used it to dry my hair. I put on my things, luckily no school uniform, and ran down the stairs to the kitchen.
“See what did I tell you?” My mother asked me with a grin on her face.
"Yeah. Bye." I said goodbye to her quickly and ran off.
May I introduce? My name is Sakura Haruno, I am 15 years old and from today I will be in the ninth grade of a high school in the city of Konoha Gakure. And what I have just experienced, I see as a bad omen. That can still be cheerful ...
When I got to the school, however, I didn't see anyone. They must all have arrived in their classrooms by now, I thought. Unfortunately, I didn't know where my class was. So I sprinted through the school building until I saw the number 9a in front of a classroom. That was my class. I knocked carefully on the door before it was torn open and a figure ran right into me. We both fell to the floor and I heard the other person wail.
"Sakura, you're late. Do you have an excuse?" I shook my head, embarrassed.
"I overslept, sorry." The teacher, his name was Kakashi Hatake, just sighed.
"And that already on the first day of school. A true masterpiece of yours. Just sit down and we'll forget the whole thing." Fortunately, it was only Kakashi. I should have detained with Anko or Orochimaru for the rest of the school year. I looked around to see if there was still a free space somewhere. Right in the back next to Ino. I sat down there.
“Saku, what was going on?” She immediately riddled me with questions. If there was one thing Ino really hated, it was secrets. Esseiden she was privy to.
“I just overslept, nothing special.” I tried to distract her from the subject. Which apparently worked quite well.
"Hey, can you see the boy on the front left? The one with the short black hair. This is Sai. He's new to this school. Doesn't he really look good?" When I looked in the direction Ino described to me unfortunately my head got in the way.
“And who is that?” Ino looked at me confused.
“Who?” I pointed to the person I was referring to.
"Sasuke Uchiha.Originally he should have gone to the b. But there was one girl who annoyed him all the time and that's why he switched over to us. He is also said to be very good friends with Naruto and the other boys. He doesn't look half as good as Sai, believe me. "Ino raved about Sai for a while. I only listened with half an ear. The school hours passed slowly. I counted several times to a thousand, but the time didn't seem to pass a sheet of paper in front of your nose.
“Cheese box?” She grinned at me and nodded her head.
"Yes, why not? Kakashi doesn't care about the lessons anyway." I just let myself be persuaded much too quickly, that has always been the case.
"I'll start." I said and put the first line on the paper. That way, the lesson went by much faster. We had a double math lesson with Sensei Kakashi, but at least it was fun that way. And as soon as I knew it, the doorbell rang at the break. The students stormed out of their classrooms. Nobody could endure the stifling air for long. It was much more pleasant outside under the cherry trees.
"Come on, hurry up, Sakura." Ino pulled me by one hand out into the school yard. Our friends had already gathered under one of the blooming pink trees, I also saw Sasuke standing with them.
"There you are at last! Where have you been so long?" Naruto complained at us. Before I could answer anything, Ino did it for me.
"Sakura was hanging with her head in the clouds again." Ino said, slapping me on the back with one hand. It should be a nice gesture, but Ino had a lot of strength in her arms. That would surely give a bruise.
"Since you are here now, I would like to introduce you to someone. The one on my left is Sasuke Uchiha. I've been friends with him for as long as I can remember." Tenten looked at Naruto in astonishment.
"Oh my god! You can think, Naruto?" The others burst out laughing. Anyway, all but Naruto, Sasuke and me. Naruto didn't laugh because he was offended, Sasuke just made a serious face and I didn't get the joke. But that doesn't mean I was stupid. I was just thinking of something else.
“Where's Sai anyway?” The others had calmed down in the meantime and Ino looked around searchingly.
"Who is Sai? Oh, yes, the new one." Shikamaru muttered.
"You don't know who Sai is? That's what happens when you always sleep in class. Kakashi introduced him to the class. Idiot." Tenten reprimanded him.
"I think I'll go looking for him. I would like to ask him something." Ino said to me before she left.
“And Saku, how was your vacation?” Tenten asked me. I smiled and fell on the grass next to her.
"Something just happened when I did something with you guys, otherwise my vacation was boring."I told her. She sighed.
"Me too. And how was it with you, Neji." It was no secret that Tenten and Neji were a couple. And that since the fifth grade. They just matched perfectly.
"The usual. Vacation abroad, once again in Croatia. Hinata was there too." Tenten looked surprised.
“That reminds me, where is Hinata anyway?” I saw Naruto hang his head.
"You know. Exchange year at her father's request. I don't know the exact reason, though." The sad part was that Naruto was totally in love with Hinata, which was also mutual. And just before they got together, then that. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone staring at me. I looked that way. It was Sasuke.
“Is something?” I asked him, but he said no. Funny guy, I thought. It's rude to stare at people. His eyes continued to rest on me.
"Well, Jiraiya and I went swimming in the lake almost every day. And then another week in Suna Gakure." Naruto announced proudly. Jiraiya was actually his godfather, but when Naruto's parents were killed in a car accident, he adopted him without further ado.
"Ah, I see. That's why you turned so tan. My parents and I were in Switzerland. Visiting friends of my father's. It was really funny." Said Shikamaru.
"Sasuke, what did you do on vacation?" It took a while before he said something.
“Nothing.” That was all. The guy didn't seem very talkative. I usually didn't get on very well with people like that. On top of that, he was still staring at me. His eyes actually rested on me for the entire twenty minutes of the break!
“What the hell is your problem?” I escaped. It was unintentional, but it really got on my nerves.
“What do you want anyway?” The others were silent. Nobody dared to mediate.
"You stare at me all the time! Why?" I screamed. Some of the students who were nearby eyed the spectacle with smiles.
"I'm just wondering if your hair color is real," he said. What an idiot!
"You could have asked me personally! Yes. She. Is. Real." I emphasized every single word.
"Your hair reminds me of the -" What he said was interrupted by the high-pitched ringing of the school bell. At the time I had no idea what he was going to tell me. And that made me wonder.