Slaying the Dreamer

Ryuu and I both suffer from Neurosis.

Neurosis:
Any of various emotional disturbances, less severe than the psychoses, and usually involving anxiety, depression, and unresolved psychic conflicts.

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Sakura looked over at Naruto. He was staring at her butt. 'Guys...' she groaned, annoyed. She turned and slammed her locker door shut, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and letting it slide down to hide her rear.

There were many things Sakura hated about high school but one of them was not Maito Ryuu; she had yet to catch the brunette looking at her butt. He was, currently, on her to-do list. She made to-do lists for everything. A current example would be as follows:

To-Do:

-English Essay (due Thursday)
-Call Ino about basketball practice
-Have Maito Ryuu fall in love with her
-No more eating ice cream before bed
-Go to bed early (Important Note: good for skin)

Maito Ryuu was her newest addition to her all important list. He had arrived a week ago with his crazy brown hair and sparkling eyes and Sakura had wanted those eyes to only be focused on her. From the beginning, his clever, creative personality intrigued her and she was determined to make Ryuu-kun her friend...and more.

As she accomplished her goals she would go through and cross them out with a big black marker that was permanent and so strong it bled through the paper. She was a procrastinator at heart, so being able to cross out anything was a big accomplishment for her.

Her view of Ryuu-kun's butt, which she had been inconspicuously peering at while pretending to look at one of her homework assignments was blocked by Ino's head.

"Forehead girl!"

Great, just who she needed to see so early in the morning. She looked back down the hallway to find Ryuu gone and with him gone, so was her good mood. Then she remembered her to-do list (which she conveniently made this morning, as she did every morning, before she left for school) and decided she could get one thing over with and crossed out.

"Ino-pig!"

The tall, lanky blonde girl who was graceful despite her height (Sakura didn't even know how she managed it after that kind of growth spurt and was resentful for her ability to be, not only taller but more graceful than she) bounded up to Sakura, a mock frown on her face.

"How many times have I told you NOT to call me Ino-pig!"

Sakura scowled, inwardly smiling at their daily ritual. "And how many times have I told you not to call me Forehead girl?"

Ino tugged on one of Sakura's pink locks, smiling. "Not enough times, my friend. Not enough times."

Sakura freed her hair from Ino's grasp and looked around them suspiciously. "So...what's the latest?"

Ino smirked, produced a pen from her ponytail and took out a notebook. She began to scribble on it, making nothing more than random doodles of teachers and fellow students. One of them featured a boy with spiky hair and goggles looped around his neck. The drawing was holding some type of round object with smoke emitting from it. Sakura held back laughter at the picture; it was suppose to be Naruto. That boy was always wearing things, if it wasn't necklaces it was goggles, if it wasn't goggles it was headbands. She smiled despite herself; Naruto was a good friend, if slightly misguided in his attempts to win her heart.

Ino leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I hear Naruto is going to play a prank today in Kakashi's class. Stink bomb. So if I were you I would ask to go to the bathroom for the first five minutes."

Sakura smiled. She would take Ino's advice even if she did want to watch the prank. Better to miss it than to be smelly the rest of the day.

"Sakura!"

Ino's eyebrows quirked up in amusement at the sudden yell and she turned to look at Sakura with a leer. Sakura sighed, adjusted her book bag and got ready for impact. Students in the hallway turned to look at a boy with messy bowl-cut hair, bushy eyebrows, a bright green t-shirt and loose jeans running down the hallway.

"Sakura!"

Lee stopped in front of her, bending over at the waist and breathing heavily. He looked up at her, clearly winded but flashed a stunningly bright smile anyway. "I thought that I had lost you!" He waved his arms around emphatically, even though he was clearly tired from his run half way across the school. He grabbed her backpack, tugging the straps from her and slinging it over his already backpack-leaded shoulder.

Ino hid a smile at Sakura's annoyed face and hid laughter at Lee's overdramatic personality. He was cute in a weird way. She was glad that she didn't have to deal with him though. She was almost glad that Lee and Sasuke were dating...although, Lee himself was a bisexual and was looking after Sakura as well...the Pimp. ((A/N: Forgive me, I felt tempted! XDD))

"Come on!" He shouted. "I'll walk you to class!"

Sakura gave Ino a tired but amused smile and followed Lee down the hallway, waving farewell to Ino. Only too late did she realize that she had forgotten to ask Ino when the next basketball practice was scheduled.

Lee talked animatedly, pushing students out of the way with a loud sorry and excuse me as he made room for Sakura to walk down the crowded hallway. Sakura followed dutifully behind until, like clockwork, they reached the halfway point to her homeroom.

"Lee! Lee! Stop!"

She grabbed her book bag, a brief tussle as they fought over who would carry it, and Sakura, like always, won. "I don't need some guy getting me through the hallways! I'm perfectly fine on my own, thank you all the same!"

"But Sakura, you shouldn't have to push your way through! The very ground you walk on should be paved and the people should move away like Moses crossing the great river!"

Sakura's eye twitched. "Lee, I'm fine on my own. I can walk to class by myself. I do not need an escort--and the hallway we're our walking on IS paved!"

"But Sa—"

A hand descended on Lee's shoulder, momentarily silencing him.

"Hey, Sakura, is this guy bothering you?"

'Oh no...Why, why, why, did they have to go through this every single day?, Sakura thought with despair.

Naruto leaned over Lee's shoulder to peer up at his face with narrowed eyes, balancing on his tiptoes to reach a similar height. "Are you bothering Sakura bushy-eyebrows?"

Lee glared at Naruto, shoving him off his shoulder and turning around to face him directly. The height difference was staggering, Lee several inches taller than Naruto. But Naruto didn't seem to care or notice...or maybe he was too stupid to do either, because he glared at Lee and stuck his chest out, puffing up like a peacock. Lee was unimpressed. "I am not bothering Sakura! I would never! And if you—"

Sakura, unnoticed, left the scene and headed to her class, weaving through other students until she came to her homeroom door. She slipped in and glanced at the teacher's desk. Kakashi was not there, as expected.

She set her book bag down and began to sort through her books. She dropped her pen just as Ryuu entered the room. Perfect timing because it gave her another excuse to view the brunette's ass from a different perspective and her mother always told her it was good to have different perspectives on life.

Maito Ryuu, in Sakura's opinion, was perfect. She liked watching the brunette drink from the water fountain in the hallway, desperately wishing she could replace the water with her lips. She also noticed that Ryuu was left-handed and she commonly wondered what those pale, slender fingers would feel like running up her sides and down her arms. Ryuu also had a piercing in his lip, which he didn't wear during school (it was against school rules). What a badass thing to wear...Sakura had spied the loop of metal on the side of his lip one time after school was out and had decided that it was a prime reason for wanting to kiss him. She had never kissed anyone with a lip piercing before and it was good to have all types of experiences in life. She wondered if the metal would feel cool on her lip and whether there was a chance of it getting caught or-—ow!

Ino smacked Sakura on the head as she passed and sat behind her, smiling innocently. "Daydreaming again, Forehead girl?"

Sakura scowled and tried to vainly fix her hair. "Shut up, Ino-pig."

Ino leaned over and took Sakura's pen, twirling it around her index finger. She then jabbed the point at Sakura and spoke with raised eyebrows.

"You better get your head out of the clouds girl or someone else is gonna take him. Someone," Ino's smile was positively evil, "like me."

Sakura tugged her pen out of Ino's hands, frowning. "Shut up, Ino."

Ino stopped, mouth opening silently at the use of her name without the added insult and then quickly got up from her seat and sat in the next row. Sakura couldn't help it. She was pissed. Ino always got the guys--and girls! Every time she dared to even like someone, Ino got him instead. She was the perfect, pretty, blonde haired girl with the bubbly personality and toned body (from all the sports she played). Sakura could never compete with that! Her own slender, flat-chested body and short pink hair marking her as someone likeable and friendly but not desirable like Ino and the one time she did like a guy that hadn't even looked at Ino twice, that guy used her like a piece of castoff clothing. Not to mention that he was weird, too. All the guys that liked her were freaks!

She must have a sign on her head that said something to the effect of "desperate and too nice, please use accordingly". She looked down and fiddled with her pen. Ryuu would probably like Ino anyway. Her hand tightened on the pen, but that didn't mean she would give up without a fight! She glared at Ino's back and pulled out her to-do list, making a star by the 'Have Maito Ryuu fall in love with her' line.

The rest of the class filled in, Naruto still fighting with Lee even as they walked in the door. Hinata sat quietly in the front on the far side near the window while both Sakura and Ino were situated in the middle rows. Naruto and Lee both rushed to sit by Sakura, pushing and shoving each other out of the way.

"Sakura! Sakura! Sit by me!" Lee hollered.

Naruto pushed him. "Why would she want to sit by a bushy-eyebrow idiot like you! Sit by me Sakura!"

Sakura huffed and glared at her pen. As if she would sit by either of them. They would come and sit by her and today, she glared at Ino's back; she would have to sit by both of them instead of just one!

"Ow! Dammit! Watc—"

A sudden hush fell on the room and Sakura looked up in surprise. Naruto was standing by his desk, glaring at Ryuu. Ryuu in turn just looked sheepish at both Naruto and Lee. Lee didn't know what the hell was going on. Sakura looked at Ino to see what was going on, but Ino wasn't paying attention, she was holding her hand over her mouth and looked as if she was trying to hold in laughter.

'Damn', Sakura thought angrily, 'I always miss everything.'

Ryuu looked extremely freaked out, a redness illuminating his freckles like stars. "Umm...Yeah. I'm so sorry about that. I am so sorry."

Naruto raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"...Are you--"

"Good morning class!"

Sakura shook her head. Kakashi was late as usual but perfectly on time too.

Naruto stopped talking, mouth opening and closing like a fish before turning back and strolling to his seat. Ryuu promptly sat down, smoothing out his trench coat.

Sakura sighed and listened listlessly as Kakashi began to go over excuses for his tardiness and what the school's new lunch menus were. It seemed the mishap with Ryuu distracted Naruto from pulling his prank.

As she was exiting homeroom Ino grabbed her arm, hulling her out of the classroom. Apparently all insults were forgotten.

"Did you see?!" Ino screeched.

Sakura allowed Ino to drag her down the hallway to her first period class. "See what?"

"Ryuu and Naruto!" Ino burst out laughing, still holding Sakura by the arm. "They! They! Ahahaha!"

Sakura yanked her arm free of Ino's grasp and grabbed her friend by the shoulders, wanting to know anything and everything about what she had missed. "What? What did they do?"

"They kissed!" Ino all but shrieked, causing a few people to turn and look at them strangely.

"They...what?!" Sakura sputtered.

"They kissed!" Ino stated a bit more calmly now that her laughing fit was over. "Naruto got pushed by Lee into Ryuu and he fell on top of her desk and smashed his lips against Ryuu's! It was an accident of course, any idiot could see that but...oh dear, you should have seen their faces! Priceless!"

Sakura made a face and stuck out her tongue. "Gross! Poor Ryuu."

"I know." Ino said with mock solemnity. "Now come on, we're going to be late for class!"

Sakura followed Ino at a trot, dodging students as they hurried to her next class. Geometry. Her math teacher, Iruka, was nice, in a bumbling sort of way and was always enthusiastic but even that could not stop him from being boring.

The class passed slowly with multiplication and graphs and invisible numbers that took five minutes to explain and five hours to understand. Sometimes she was amazed that she was getting such a good grade in this class, but she studied hard so even if she didn't understand everything perfectly the first time around she would get it on the second try. Sakura laid her head down on her books, drifting off without even realizing it. She couldn't wait to get to chemistry, her next class, even if her teacher was a torture maniac. She wondered what class Ryuu was in right now and what he would look like without his shirt on...

"Ah...S-Sakura? Um..."

Something was poking her in the shoulder. Sakura woke up with a start and looked around, finally meeting Hinata's hesitant gaze. "Oh! Oh, shit I must have fallen asleep. Sorry Hinata."

Sakura offered Hinata a small smile. "What's wrong, Hinata-chan?"

"Oh...nothing! Nothing...just um...we're supposed to be partners for the in-class assignment. Y-you don't need to help but I just thought..."

"Ah," Sakura waved off Hinata's trailing sentence, "it's alright. I shouldn't be sleeping in class. Lucky Iruka didn't see me or I would've gotten detention. Thanks for waking me up!" She beamed as Hinata gave her a small smile in return. They both bent over their textbooks and began working on the problems until the bell rang.

The next class Sakura had was Chemistry. Ino didn't have that class with her so she waved a short farewell and hurried to her next period, not wanting to be late for her favorite class (plus, the teacher was such a stickler for things like tardiness).

"Sakura!"

Oh no. Lee.

"Sakura! Wait up!"

Sakura increased her pace and looked behind her fearfully. Lee was catching up and she would—umph!

"Owowowowowow..."

Sakura shot a glance at whom she had ran into and froze. Ryuu's blue eyes were staring at her curiously from underneath a fringe of brown hair. He rushed to pick up the injured party's books. A few words escaped his lips:

"I'm really sorry...It was my fault. Shouldn't've been standing there..."

Sakura soon found those books set in front of her. Ryuu began to pick up her own and then snarled loudly enough for others to hear. "Watch where you're going next time."

He left without a backwards glance or another word. Sakura almost didn't believe this...Did Ryuu just...apologize and then insult her?

"Hey, you freak! Don't you talk to Sakura like that! What the Hell's wrong with you?"

'Oh god', Sakura thought, 'why me?'

Ryuu stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Lee. He stared at him for a moment, glanced at Sakura, of whom was the most confused out of all of them, and then looked back at Lee. His eyes sent the pink-haired girl another apology. And, as if making up his mind, Ryuu turned and left without another word.

Naruto, who had been walking towards Sakura and saw most of what had happened, yelled. "Freak!"

Sakura, face red with embarrassment and hurt, grabbed her books and shoved her way through the hallway, ignoring both Naruto's attempt to stop her and Lee's upset shouts.

'It's okay', Sakura thought, 'Ryuu didn't mean to be a rude, over-apologetic...freak.'

He was new and Sakura had run into him. It was her fault. Besides they didn't know each other so he didn't really mean anything by it. Gathering her courage Sakura, entered her Chemistry class and sat down in her seat, waiting until the rest of the class filled in, and for her teacher to slam the door and begin their lecture.

The rest of the school day passed in a daze, Sakura numbly worrying about her encounter with Ryuu and whether it would ruin her chances with the odd brunette or not. She figured in the long run it wouldn't matter and brightened up by the end of the day, to both Lee and Naruto's pleasure–though she steadily tried to ignore them for the rest of the afternoon as well, to their displeasure.

Ino waved goodbye, calling something about basketball practice that Sakura didn't hear (she would have to call Ino later on after all) and Sakura hopped on the bus for her ride home. She jerked forward in surprise as the bus took off with a rumbling start and grabbed the handrail to steady herself. She looked up and gasped in surprise. Ryuu was sitting right there in front of her!

She had never seen him take the bus home before but maybe his ride wasn't coming to pick him up today.

'Lucky!'

Her inner voice chimed. This was the perfect chance to introduce herself without Ino hanging around. Plus, she could even have an excuse to sit by him!

Steadying herself on the rail she swung forward, lurching a bit as the bus came to an abrupt stop. Her bag spilled its contents onto Ryuu's seat and she quickly apologized while gathering her belongings and slipping into the seat.

"I'm so sorry! Shit. School has been hell. Sorry!" She hastily shoved her books into her bag.

Sakura smiled and with nerves of steel she didn't have, opened her mouth to introduce herself. Ryuu's head was lowered and earphones were in his ears, bursting with whatever loud rock he was listening to. He spoke.

"Ummm...It's okay; you don't have to sit with me."

Good lord--not *this* again...Still, Sakura would rather face Ryuu's apologies than his verbal barbs. Maybe he just didn't have very many friends. It had to be awkward, moving to a new place and he must be very uncomfortable. The least she could do was try to be nice, especially if Ryuu was being apologetic. He would probably relax once he got to know her.

"Well, I just figured since you're new, you might like to meet someone." She held out her hand. "I'm Sakura."

She watched in anticipation as Ryuu stared at her hand nervously before shaking it in a firm grip. His voice was quiet but amiable when he replied. A shy smile graced his lips.

"They call me Ryuu."

Sakura smiled in triumph. "It's nice to meet you."

Ryuu nodded kindly. "Mm-hm."

'This', Sakura thought, 'is the beginning of a wonderful relationship.'

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