SAKURA 

I sat down next to my brother at lunch later on. We were sitting with some classmates of ours which we had been making friends with: Shikamaru, Temari, Neji, Tenten, Choji, Ino, Sai, Kiba, Hinata, Lee, and another guy named Sasuke whom I hadn’t spoken to yet. I noticed that every so often, my brother would look over and glare at this guy.

“Hey, Sis,” said Naruto as I sat. “How’s the first day going?”

“Fine, I suppose,” I answered. “A little disorienting.”

“So, Sakura,” said Temari, popping a grape into her mouth. “We’re all going to a festival tonight and then heading over to Shikamaru’s place. You wanna come?”

“Sure, sounds fun,” I said. “What time?”

“Four-thirty,” said Tenten. “It’s gonna be a blast—the whole town goes every year. Of course, we all started hanging out about three, four years ago, so it only became a tradition for the gang a little while ago, but we’ve been going since we were little.”

Neji nodded, then took some of the food off her lunch tray, popping it in his mouth. She rolled her eyes but grinned at him, also snatching a carrot.

“Sakura,” said Ino, leaning forward with her hands on her face, “have you been to literature class yet?”

Instantly, all the girls at our table turned their heads eagerly and the guys, save Naruto, rolled their eyes and sighed.

“Here we go again,” said Shikamaru. “I really don’t get you guys…”

Confused, I shook my head. “No. I have it later…”

The girls all looked at each other and grinned, giggling almost mischievously.

“W-What?” I asked. “What’s so funny?”

“Just you wait until you meet Arisaka-sensei,” sighed Hinata in her quiet voice.

“Yeah, he’s so dreamy,” said Ino, earning a round of guffaws from the other girls.

“Who says dreamy any more?” cried Temari, putting a hand over her eyes and leaning back in her chair. “Gawd, Ino, can you get any dorkier?”

“Arisaka-sensei?” I asked, confused. “Who?”

The girls suddenly jerked their heads toward the door. I heard murmurs all throughout the lunch room.

I turned my head and at the doorway to the cafeteria there was a young man, maybe about twenty-two or twenty-three. He had dark curls of hair that hung down on his face a little, a tall, lean frame, and dark gray eyes. Calming, mysterious, but the gentlest eyes I’d ever seen.

“Like the sea after a storm,” I said thoughtfully.

“What was that?” asked Ino.

I went red. “Oh, I was just thinking that his eyes are like the sea after a storm. After the storm has passed, I mean.”

“That’s so poetic,” said Hinata.

“Ah, it’s not mine, it’s from a movie, I think,” I said hastily. “I wish I was that creative, ha ha ha!”

“Oh look,” said Temari, a half-smirk, half-scowl on her face. “It’s the groupies.”

“Oh, I adore those girls,” sneered Ino. “Honestly…”

“Hmm?” I questioned, turning to look. A group of girls had flocked to Arisaka-sensei. They were so scantily clad that they could’ve made a thug blush.

“Holy crap,” said Naruto, looking them over with a sweep of his clear blue eyes. “Do you have no dress code here? They dress like freaking prostitutes!”

“Ridiculous as it seems, they dress that way to get Sensei’s attention,” said Tenten. Neji had draped his arm around her shoulder and she was leaning into him, relaxing.

“Ah, I see!” I said, snapping. “His fan club!”

“Bingo,” said Kiba.

“Ding ding ding!” said Shikamaru. “Hot for teacher, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, I can tell,” I said, bemused. “What exactly is the, erm, purpose of this fan club?”

Choji told me, “It’s pretty simple: they’re there to make sure no girl gets too close to Sensei.”

“I get it!” I exclaimed. “Wow, that’s ridiculous.”

“They’ve been around since, what, the beginning of this year?” mused Lee. “They’re crazy defensive, too—they torment and ostracize any girl who gets even a little bit of special attention from Sensei.”

My eyes went wide. “Really? That’s awful. And Sensei just puts up with this?”

“He just grins and bears it. Sensei’s a great guy, but he has one weakness: he can’t say no,” explained Temari. “He’s such a pushover. I mean, if someone asked him if he’d marry her, he’d say yes just so he wouldn’t hurt her feelings.”

“Eh?! Then why on earth hasn’t someone taken advantage of this?!” I cried.

Sai was the one who answered bluntly. “Because the Arisaka fan club would make their life a living hell.”

I blinked. “They’re that harsh?” I said, surprised.

Sasuke spoke to me for the first time. “See that girl over there?” he asked, pointing subtly to a rather normal looking girl with long dark hair and glasses, wearing a pink polo and jeans. “That’s Karin. Her family is good friends with Sensei’s family, so she and Sensei got along well. Innocent, friendly relationship.”

At this point, everyone sighed, shaking their heads.

“Poor, poor Karin,” continued Sasuke. “Those girls tore her apart. They bullied her, and bullied everyone else into ignoring Karin. They couldn’t stand that she was treated better than they were. I mean, the two were like siblings, but because of that, the fan club were pure evil to her.”

I shuddered. “Girls can be vicious, can’t we?”

Naruto said dryly, “Yet another reason I will never date a girl…”

“Ha! You and Sasuke both,” said Ino.

“Yeah, the raven can’t stand girls. Other than us, of course—but we’re just his friends,” explained Temari, who was retying a ponytail. “Ain’t that right, Sasuke?”

“Damn straight,” Sasuke answered. He looked at Naruto and smirked. “Kind of surprising, actually. That we have something in common, that is.”

Naruto almost snarled. “And here I thought you were quite the playboy.”

There was practically a crackle of electricity as the two boys glared at each other. I sighed. Trust my brother to start picking fights his first day here.

♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥

By the time seventh period rolled around, I was kind of nervous. The last thing I wanted was to be noticed in any way by this teacher, and naturally as the new student I would receive smiles and get called on more than the other students.

I walked into the classroom almost apprehensively. I looked around to see if I knew anyone.

“Sakura—you’re in my class?” said a surprised voice behind me. I turned around to see Tenten standing there, books in her arms.

I could’ve hugged her. “Thank goodness you’re in my class—I’m so scared of the fan club!”

“You lucked out,” said Tenten. “There aren’t any fan club girls in seventh period, believe it or not. This is the only period, though. The rest have at least one fan clubber in here.”

“Okay, guys, take a seat,” said an old man coming in. He had longish white hair and wore a red argyle sweater vest over a green shirt, khakis, and a pair of loafers.

“Eh? I thought Arisaka-sensei was the literature teacher,” I said.

“Jiraya-sensei is, actually,” explained Tenten. “But Arisaka-sensei is the assistant teacher. He’s only twenty-two.”

“Oh…” I said, “I didn’t realize.”

“Come sit by me,” said Tenten, grabbing my sleeve and pulling me over to the back corner of the room, by the window. “The window seat’s the best—it’s really pretty.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking out at the leafy landscape. “I really like Konoha.”

“Good—Naruto said you’re staying until graduation.”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Okay,” said Jiraya-sensei, “please pull out your Midsummer Night’s Dream copies and open to page 35. I’ll need someone to play Helena, Demitrius, Oberon, and Puck—hold up.”

I looked up from my book to find he was staring at me. “Ah, yes. You must be Sakura Uzumaki, correct?”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s me.”

“Yes, I had your brother last class. Great boy—good actor too. Nice to have you, and welcome to Konoha. Now, why don’t you say the lines of Helena?” the kindly sensei asked, smiling at me.

I just nodded. How could I refuse?

I glanced over Helena’s lines.

I paled.

I whipped my head around to look at Tenten. “I-Is this girl really that desperate?!” I said in a frantic whisper.

Tenten nodded. “That girl has no sense of self-worth.”

“Okay, I need a Puck, an Oberon, and a Demetrius, please! Volunteers or victims, class?” asked Jiraya-sensei. He looked around. Seeing no volunteers, he went with victims.

“Congratulations, Momoshiro, you are now Oberon. Ah, yes, Haku—thank you, you are now Puck. And as for Demetrius—”

“Sorry I’m late,” said a voice, and Arisaka-sensei walked in.

I felt my eyes draw near to him entirely on their own. I could see now why the fan club was so very obsessed with him—even the way he walked reflected a grace and gentle demeanor. He glanced around and gave me a smile, recognizing that I was not a student he knew.

That smile sent shivers up and down my spine for some unknown reason. They weren’t unpleasant, but something about it made me feel angry. It could of very well been because I didn’t want to feel so elated when I saw that smile.

I tried to make it less appealing—it didn’t work. Frustrated with myself for being attracted to that stupid smile, I looked away.  

“Kenshin, why don’t you play Demetrius?” asked Jiraya-sensei. “You do have that nice voice.”

“Are you sure you don’t want a student to?” asked Arisaka-sensei.

“Go right ahead—I rather like hearing you recite. The young lady playing Helena is in the green back there. Sakura Uzumaki is her name, and she is a new student here.”

“Welcome to Konoha,” said Arisaka-sensei, giving me that infuriating smile. I couldn’t stand it! How could that smile send my heart fluttering?! I hated it—feeling so insecure all of the sudden.

“Take it from the top. That’s you, Oberon,” said Jiraya-sensei.

Momoshiro, who was playing Oberon, began to read. “Well, go thy way…”

I read along in the book, stumbling over the Shakespearean English a few times. I liked Shakespeare, but it could get difficult sometimes. I preferred his sonnets to his plays.

Finally, it was Arisaka-sensei’s turn. He began.

 “I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
    Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?
    The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.
    Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;
    And here am I, and wode within this wood,
    Because I cannot meet my Hermia.
    Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.” 

Argh. Shoot. This sucked big time—here came Helena’s lines. Taking a deep breath, I recited the desperate pleas of this girl with the unrequited love: 

“You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;
    But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
    Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
    And I shall have no power to follow you.” 

Ah, I was so glad that the fan club was not there. How horrifying that would be if they caught me professing love to Arisaka-sensei, play or not. 

Tenten was hiding a smirk behind her hand. 

By the time I’d finished reciting the lines of Helena, my face was beet red. I could’ve run out of the classroom right then and there. How many times had I told him that I loved him? I knew it was a play, but I was paranoid. 

I looked up and glared at the Demetrius I’d just told to please ravish me. 

Arisaka-sensei just smiled. 

How I hated that man.