Me: KONNICH-*goes to scream but gets cut off by several noisy trucks going past, therefore blocking out the sound* and that’s about it! ^^

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Naruto? Oh…I do, really? Right…Well I don’t! XD

*~*

“Oi Kaede!” Kaede rolled her eyes and balled her fists as she heard a certain pink-haired kunoichi call her name, she took a deep-breath and put on a look of fake serenity as she turned around.

“What is it Haruno?”

“Make sure you don’t forget about our promise!” Kaede caught the slightest nod of Sakura’s head towards Uchiha Sasuke and nodded.

“Aa, will do…” With that she winked and smirked on the inside, knowing the next day was going to be even more exciting than the present one. The sky tinted slightly orange in the sky in front of her as her hitai-ate caught the light, reflecting the Konoha symbol back to the sky…

*~*

-Beep, beep, beep-

“Ugh!”

-Beep, beep, beep-

“I heard you the first 6 freaking tim-,”

-Beep, beep, be-

“Baka alarm clock!” Kaede fell out of her bed as she reached her arm out to stop the incessant ringing in her ears. She brushed her hands down her green, kimono night-gown briefly as she then quickly slammed her clock on the floor making it split into little pieces, she then stood on it once more and leaned over it with her arms crossed.

“Want a piece of me punk, huh?!” That was when Kaede’s mother came rushing through the door with a worried look on her face.

“Oh Kaede are you okay?! I heard banging and screaming and smashing…and it was just you waking up…Kae’ that’s the eleventh alarm clock you’ve broken this month!” Her mother came in slightly alarmed but as she situation registered and made itself known in her head she grew slightly bored, she just watched as her daughter shrugged her shoulders and put her hands on her hips.

“Then maybe you should start waking me up!”

“What are you serious? And end up on the floor beaten and bruised like that alarm clock? No thank you, hurry and get dressed technically your graduation isn’t complete yet and I want you to make the best impression on your new sensei and team members!”

“I will it’ll be fine…I mean…I think…I had just better shut up and get changed…”

*~*

“Good morning Ino-pig,”

“Good morning Forehead-girl,”

“Sasuke will be sat all on his own today at school, I’m making sure I get there early so I can sit next to him!” Sakura said as she had stopped and banged into Yamanaka Ino on her way to school.

“No I’m going to be the one sitting next to him!”

“No I will!”

“Not if I get there first!” Ino ran off at top speed the rest of the way to her school with Sakura on hot-pursuit not caring if they knocked someone over; and leaving a huge trail of dust behind them.

*~*

“Another entertaining day at school today I think…especially with that stupid bribe I have to do…although it will be hilarious when Sasuke says no or dies from shock ha, ha!” Kaede slid her classroom door open and walked straight past where Naruto would usually sit with her head bowed down ‘Poor Naruto…he didn’t pass’ she thought briefly not even noticing that the boy was actually sitting there, proudly wearing a hitai-ate.

“Morning Kaede,”

“Morning Naruto!” Kaede said like an almost automatic gesture, thinking nothing of it and still half-asleep she carried on walking up to her bench and then took a seat next to Hinata yawning, Kiba whispered to Shikamaru behind her.

“How long do you think it will take for her to notice Naruto is actually here Shikamaru?”

“Not sure, this girl can be a ditz and a genius all in one day it could be in maybe two-,”

“Naruto, why the heck are you here?!” Shikamaru stopped as he was interrupted by Kaede’s scream.

“0 seconds…” Shikamaru finished his sentence not surprised in the least as he watched Kaede run down frantically to Naruto and shake him by his collar several times and rub her eyes.

“Can’t you see this hitai-ate on my fore-head? I graduated!” Naruto said very proudly as he ran his thumb across the metal plate.

“Yosh, that’s awesome Naruto, I’m so proud of you!” Kaede said happily with a smile as she gave Naruto a high-five.

“Kaede, why do you have your hitai-ate on your…leg?”

“Just wanted to be different…you know me he, he!” Kaede stated laughing as she did so, she then went and took her seat back next to Hinata; which was one behind Naruto as everyone heard 2 pairs of running foot-steps, at the exact same time Ino and Sakura entered the class-room door panting and exhausted.

“Sasuke!” They both shouted at the same time as they made there way over to his bench to sit down, they were too busy fighting for one of them to actually sit. Kaede watched with amusement as the two scrapped and how Sasuke didn’t look like he even cared in the slightest, then her face turned to one of shock as every other girl in the room apart from Hinata and herself stood up and started fighting and arguing about who should sit next to Sasuke. She was shocked to see Naruto get up and go and stand on Sasuke’s desk and kneel down right in front of his face.

“Why are you so popular?! I don’t see what makes you better than everyone else! I will beat you!”

“Hn,” Naruto and Sasuke then began glaring at each-other and Kaede couldn’t help but smile at the two; fighting exactly like brothers would.

“Whoops, sorry Naruto,” A boy said who was sat in front of Sasuke and had accidently banged into Naruto pushing him forward. Time seemed to slow, Kaede’s eyes widened bigger than her head as the scene un-folded in front of her, Naruto was pushed forward enough that there wasn’t any time for him to stop himself, he then accidently touched lips with Sasuke; kissing him. ‘Hmm…why does this scene feel familiar to me?’ Kaede thought as she stroked her chin. She then watched as both boys widened there eyes with such facial expressions she wished she had a camera. Kaede watched in utter hysterics as they wiped their mouths, coughing and spitting, all the fan-girls that had stopped and finally gone quiet to watch the scene had now resorted to screaming and shouted.

“How dare you steal Sasuke’s first kiss Naruto that was meant to be me today!” Sakura screamed loud, above the rest.

“Naruto you’re dead!” The girls cries rang-out in the room and they were just about to charge when Kaede jumped over the desks and stood on the same one Naruto was stood on, she stood in front of him with one hand signalling ‘stop’ and one on her hip.

“Excuse me ladies, but what makes you think that was Uchiha’s first kiss?” A chorus of ‘huh?’ and ‘What?’ ran through the room. Kaede looked down to Sasuke who had a shocked face as well, Kaede smirked at him and looked back up.

“Well? If he’s such the ‘hunk’ you make him out to be, surely he’s already been kissed by tonnes of girls? Heck, I bet he’s even got his own calendar at home with every girl in schools face on and he’s ticking them off as he goes along! But you know the one face that will never get ticked? None other than Hyuuga Hinata, because she’s far too mature to have some stupid obsession with a boy…no wait a second…Naruto doesn’t count!”

“Gee thanks Kaede,” Naruto said sarcastically.

“Well what about you then Kaede? I thought you and Sasuke were enemies, are you saying he’d want to kiss someone like you?!” Ino said laughing, because to her that was just too hard to imagine. Kaede was a little hurt by Ino’s laughter and looked down at her feet.

“No I’m not saying that…” ‘If you only knew…I've kissed him, if only you knew...’

“What, then you mean you’ve already kissed him? Don’t be stupid, that only happens in your pathetic little dreams Kaede,” Kaede’s confidence melted away, she had originally come up to insult Sasuke and make fun of him but those taunts were a little too much. Kaede bent her knees and was ready to jump down from her desk and run out from humiliation when three voices were heard above all the rest.

“Back off okay!” Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji shouted loudly, almost growling, they wouldn’t let anyone talk to their friend that way; especially after her speech the day before. Nobody had noticed Uchiha Sasuke’s mouth half open, it would’ve been a strange outburst, what the girls had said to Kaede had angered him too and it had been gradually building up, he meant to keep it to himself but it gradually forced it’s way through his lips, and for some odd reason the fact she denied that she did kiss him the other day was doing him a favour and not doing him a favour at the same time, it was nice of her and a favour because she’d said no, his fan-girls wouldn’t keep asking him about it. In a way it was hurting him because for some very odd reason, deep, deep down inside of him he wanted people to know that she’d taken his first kiss. Yamaguchi Kaede. That girl. He was going to be the one to rescue Kaede from her bullying by telling all the other girls to stop, however her friends, her real friends had stepped in before him, he closed his mouth un-sure of whether to be angry or relieved he didn’t have to say anything. Iruka then walked into the class-room which was when he saw all the girls with particularly angry faces, Kaede looking like she was going to die from humiliation, Naruto looked like he was going to throw-up, Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru with angry, annoyed faces, all the while Sasuke keeping his calm face.

“Now, now class, settle down, girls back in your seats you as well Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru, I don’t know what just happened here but keep it to yourselves or outside of the classroom, ne?” Iruka had come in so suddenly and begun speaking that Naruto and Kaede were both so shocked they fell off the desk they were stood on and into the closest seat; next to Sasuke who was sat by the window. Kaede landed next to him whilst Naruto was next to her, Kaede shoved Naruto so he’d move up and she could wriggle away from being so close to Sasuke; it made her feel uncomfortable and her stomach feel empty in a sickly way, she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on the backs of her hands which were rested on top of her knees. She then turned her attention to the pink-haired kunoichi still standing, all the other girls had taken the seats and the only one left was next to Naruto, Kaede could see she was trying desperately not to sit there and look for somewhere else to sit.

“For crying out loud Haruno, just sit next to Naruto theres nothing wrong with him, look perfectly clean!” Kaede said with a grin as she hit him on the shoulder; then rested one arm on his shoulder and kept it there, Naruto didn’t have any objections and neither did she ‘dang this is comfy…I wonder what Sasuke would do if I did it to hi-.’ She hadn’t realised but as she was thinking it Kaede began to lift her arm towards Sasuke’s shoulder; he had stopped her mid-thought and grabbed her hand placing it back on her knees.

“Don’t even think about it Kaede,” ‘Why did she try to do that? We hate each other, although I…I…probably wouldn’t have minded, if she was just doing it for a joke…’ Sasuke thought as he watched her reply to his statement.

“Ugh whatever Uchiha, you’re more likely the one to have a disease than Naruto anyway!”

“Don’t say that about Sasuke, Kaede!”

“Pfft, what’s wrong with telling the truth? My mom is always telling me to say it like it is!” Kaede argued to Sakura with a smirk, although her attention turned to Iruka who was now stood right in front of her an angry look on his face, Kaede yelped and pulled her arm from Naruto’s shoulder and back on the desk, she also then put her feet down and rested her elbows on the desk, she cupped her face in her hands and smiled sweetly, blinking her eyes vastly.

“Konnichiwa Iruka-sensei, what brings you over here? Come here often?”

“Focus Yamaguchi, I’m just about to announce the teams!”

“Right, fine, go ahead, I know I’m going to be with idiots I don’t even like anyway…because you’ve never liked me Iruka-sensei and it’s your way at getting back at me…” She said in a knowing voice nodding her head as she spoke.

“I won’t like you if you keep talking to me like that, now sit properly and focus!”

“Sure,” Iruka-sensei then walked away from her desk and back to his desk, picking up a sheet of paper and scanning the class, when she was sure her sensei wasn’t looking she sat back and placed her feet on the surface in front of her, she looked at Naruto he giggled at her slightly; doing the same, they then sat there and played thumb wars until their teacher started to talk.

“Okay, due to odd numbers of applicants to the academy this year, there will have to be one team of four, this won’t cause much in-convenience and don’t think that it isn’t fair because one team will be stronger, that is not the case as all of the teams have different abilities which makes them strong in their own ways, team 1 will be made up of…”

“Why did Iruka-sensei look at me when he said about the odd numbers?” Kaede whispered to Naruto behind her hand.

“Maybe because you’re one of the people in the team of four,” He whispered back, as they both watched 3 teams 1 girl and two boys head up to the front and out the room.

“Team four will be made up of…”

“I’m hungry, I want ramen after this!”

“Naruto, I’m sure you’ve only just had breakfast! However I will take you up on that ramen offer, ne?”

“I had ramen and some old milk, fine…you’re paying though I have no money…”

“Pfft, looks like we’ll be asking my mother for some money then because I’m broke at the moment too!” They both sighed at the same time sitting back and crossing their arms pouting.

“You’re both so immature,” Sasuke said under his breath, of course Sakura shortly followed.

“Yeah, grow up!” She said almost un-convincingly as she whispered, as if she was thinking something very different on the inside.

“Why don’t you grow up and make some friends and why don’t you grow up and start thinking and saying things for yourself?!” She hissed as she directed one part of her sentence at the raven-haired boy next to her and the other part at the perky girl on the other side of Naruto.

“Next 7th group, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamaguchi Kaede…” Naruto and Kaede stood up and gave each other high-fives smiling.

“Yosh!” They both said at the same time as Iruka coughed, they sat down quietly and he continued with team 7’s team members.

“Haruno Sakura,” Kaede’s head instantly dropped and depressing auras came off her head, as did Sakura’s, however Naruto had jumped up once again, happy that he had one of his best friends and his crush in the same team as him.

“And the final member of Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke,” This time it was Sakura’s turn to jump for joy, she smiled and jumped in the air glaring at Ino before she sat down, Naruto and Kaede’s heads dropped for the final time today, except this time Kaede’s head actually dropped onto the desk, she then shot up when her head made contact with the hard material.

“Why me what have I done to deserve such cruel punishment, huh?! Naruto, I’m totally fine with, Sakura, I can just about put up with but not Sakura and Uchiha! Iruka-sensei, move me into a team with Hinata or Kiba, one of my friends at least!”

“I’m sorry this is the one team of four and it can’t be changed now, be thankful you have at least one of your friends with you!”

“Fine,” She sighed in defeat crossing her arms and dropping back in her seat, staring at Sasuke as she did.

“Team 8, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino,” Hinata looked disheartened at the fact she wasn’t with Naruto, Kiba smirked as his name was announced and Shino merely nodded in acknowledgement.

“Team 9 will be…” Kaede was deep in thought as she glared at the Uchiha next to her. ‘I knew I’d get put with someone I hate…ugh so annoying, why can’t I be with Hinata and Kiba?!’

“Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji,” Sakura turned around to Ino and stuck her tongue out giving her a peace sign, it was almost as if her inner-self was saying different.

“Ha, because we’re in the same team means I’m just as smart as you Sasuke; I will definitely beat you now!”

“Yeah and because I’m with you Sakura that means I’m just as smart!” Kaede replied, sticking her tongue out at the girl.

“Actually Kaede, Naruto, like I said at the beginning the teams are mixed with strength and intelligence, you two both got the lowest scores on your tests where as Sasuke and Sakura got the highest, however you to are slightly better at the strength side of things therefore you’ve been grouped together,” Naruto and Kaede’s mouths dropped to the floor as there cheeks went slightly red from being embarrassed. The entire class chuckled at their outbursts.

“Make sure you don’t both get in my way, blockheads,”

“Get in your way?! Don’t you mean you should stay out of our way?!” Kaede shouted fists balled.

“What did you say teme, want to fight me?!” Naruto added on to the end.

“I said don’t get in my way blockheads, are you hard of hearing too?” Sasuke replied, mostly to Kaede; with a smirk plastered onto his face.

“Damn you…” Kaede growled under her breath flexing her fists.

“Stop it, Naruto, Kaede!” Sakura scolded the two hyper shinobi.

“Gomenasai…” Naruto said finally giving up and sitting down, but Kaede wouldn’t go down so easily!

“Shut up Sakura, since when have I listened to anything you have to say?!”

“Oh I don’t know…last night maybe?” Sakura said in such a suggestive way that she would shout out to the class that Kaede practically begged for her help.

“Fine, you win this one, I’ll tell him when class is out…” She then slumped her shoulders and pouted next to Naruto, frowning, she thought she saw Sasuke give a soft laugh at her antics and she whacked his arm lightly.

“Who said you could laugh at me Uchiha?! Don’t you think you’ve annoyed me enough today? It’s bad enough we’re on the same team together, I don’t need you constantly bugging me a million times a day!”

“Actually I believe it’s the other way around, you seem to annoy me more,”

“I’m allowed to, I’m a girl, and we do that stuff!” Kaede said smirking and stuck her tongue out at Sasuke; he simply turned his head and looked to the front again.

“That’s all the teams announced for now, you may go to lunch and after you come back it should be about time for your new team leaders to arrive, each wait in one of these classrooms…” Iruka then patted his papers straight on the desk and walked out, smiling as he watched the new ‘Team 7’ fight amongst themselves.

“Kaede you have too tell him now, you promised me,” Sakura pleaded as she glared at Kaede.

“Alright fine, you’ve been bugging me for days about this now, I never give up a promise,” Kaede; who had now climbed out of her seat walked up to Sasuke who was just about ready to leave the door, although he seemed lost in thought at something and was just stopped in the middle of the classroom. In truth he was thinking about Kaede’s very words, he’d heard a moment ago. ‘It’s bad enough we’re on the same team together…’ For some reason it made him flinch a little when he thought about it, possibly because she’d shouted it so loud…or because he was alright with her being on the team; she was one of the two girls that didn’t make a fuss over him so she wouldn’t be that annoying and they got a long in a sort-of ‘hate to love you, love to hate you’ way, arguing was how they communicated. ‘I suppose it’s better than just me, blockhead Naruto and overly-preppy Sakura…’ He was only pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a presence near to him; he re-focused his eyes to spring-green ones in front of his.

“Aa, so you’ve finally decided to come back to the real world!” The owner of the eyes; Kaede said as she stepped back, he noticed she had Sakura stood behind her. ‘Ugh, what the heck now?! It’s not like Kaede to do something like this…then again Sakura won’t stop talking about this ‘promise’, but why would Kaede need something from Sakura…’

“What is it now Kaede?”

“Well uh…I just thought I’d ask you if you would um…k…ki…” Kaede stopped and swallowed almost like it was too hard for her to say and if she did say it she wouldn’t be able to stop laughing, Sasuke noticed her lurch forward and realised Sakura must’ve hit her or nudged her to carry on. ‘Oh, so this whole thing is Sakura’s doing…I see…’

“I thought I’d ask you if you wanted to maybe kiss Sakura, right here, right now?!” Kaede then had to put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing as everyone in the class said the same word.

“What?!”

“Kaede, why did you ask Sasuke if he’d kiss Sakura?”

“Oh just…ha, ha, thought I would he, he!” She laughed and walked away from Sasuke going over to Naruto and biting his sleeve to stop herself from laughing; she watched as Sakura stepped up to Sasuke with a blush on her face and her lips puckered ready. Naruto pulled his sleeve away slightly disgusted and asked Kaede to politely wipe her spit off it and get rid of the teeth marks; whilst she did that Sasuke replied to her question.

“No, I’d rather kiss Akamaru than you…” With that he began to walk out the class-room, the whole class laughing, Sakura dropped her head to the floor and almost fell to her knees. Kaede and Naruto ran forward and helped her up and then Kaede did something nobody expected Kaede, she ran after Sasuke; she wasn’t sure why; she didn’t like Sakura, but there was no need for Sasuke to say that to her, a simple ‘no’ or even ‘no thanks’ would’ve been fine.

“Hey, Uchiha why did you say that to her?!” She said when she finally caught him up just outside the door, he stopped and turned around.

“What? I didn’t want to kiss her and you don’t like her anyway, why should you care?”

“I don’t know…I can’t explain it myself but you didn’t have to go that far, I know what she asked me to do was stupid and I knew you’d probably say no but it was worth a shot…you should have seen the look she gave me when I could tell she was imagining it in her head,”

“Pfft, if you knew I would say no then why did you ask?”

“Because I promised her Sasuke, that’s why,” With that she turned around and made her way back into the class room, everyone looking at her when she came back in. Sasuke was left stood on the other side of it her words circling his head, which they had a tendency to do ‘Because I promised her Sasuke, that’s why…that’s the first time she’s called me by my real name…why did that feel like a kick to the stomach…all she did was say Sasuke’ Her voice said his name again and he became light-headed, he rested one hand on the wall and one on his fore-head, when it passed he stood up again and walked into the fresh-air. ‘Stupid girl making me feel this way…making these things happen to me…’ Although in the back of his head that annoying little voice was there again, telling him that wasn’t the truth.

*~*

“There Sakura, I said it are you happy? I knew you wouldn’t get a good response and tried to do something nice for you by not telling him…” Kaede said putting her hands up in a defensive way

“Yeah…thanks I guess, I won’t bug you about it anymore…” Sakura then stood straight and turned herself round, she wiped her eye so nobody would see and began to walk out.

“Sakura…thanks for uh…helping me…” Sakura turned around and nodded smiling slightly, Kaede smiled slightly back as she turned around to face Naruto, with both her hands on either side of her head.

“Ugh Naruto help me, I think the exams have done something to my brain; confusing it and making me be nice to the people I hate!” She kept hitting her head and Naruto laughed at her.

“Well I’m going to go out and…uh…get some fresh-air,” Naruto said smirking; Kaede recognised the face from herself and knew he was planning something.

“Whatever you’re planning I don’t want to know, if you get any money out of it we’re splitting it 50/50!”

“No way Kaede!” Naruto then ran out the door full speed until he was outside, Kaede looked out the window; realising she was still the only one in the class-room and saw Naruto run up to Sakura. She briefly heard their conversation and laughed.

“Hey Sakura, now we’re in the same team, lets eat lunch together!”

“Why do we have to eat together?” She said in a very annoyed tone, Naruto replied shyly after that.

“Well we’re in the same team so…”

“You’re annoying,” She glared at the boy in front of her leaving him speechless and simply turned around, walking away silently. Until she got half-way down the path and Kaede heard her shout.

“Sasuke, where are you?” Kaede rolled her eyes and made her way out the classroom, to her surprise Naruto was already gone when she’s gotten there. She walked along the stone path bored, listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing through the leaves on the lush, green trees, she stopped when she heard voices and hid behind one of the huge tree trunks, she saw Sakura on a bench with a half-eaten lunch beside her and Sasuke walking over to her.

“You have a charming, wide fore-head,” She saw Sakura sit up with wide-eyes as he said this, she watched with intensity as the conversation continues for her this was just too weird.

“It makes me want to kiss it,” Kaede had to throw both of her hands over mouth and hold her breath to stop herself from having a laughing fit, a tear rolled down her cheek and she stayed like that until Sasuke turned his head back to Sakura.

“Not. Only Naruto would say something like that,” Kaede could then breathe properly and her laughing had ceased so she watched calmly again. ‘Well that’s sort of like Sasuke but it’s still not…right…’ She then watched as Sasuke took a seat next to Sakura, asking her what she thought about Naruto.

“He’s become accustomed to interfering with my love, he’s having fun looking at me having trouble, Naruto knows nothing about me, he’s just annoying, I just want you to accept me Sasuke,” Sakura said with a shadow hiding her eyes.

“Just for me too accept you?” Sasuke replied with a surprised look; that was almost…identical to Naruto’s.

“I’ll do anything…” A large blush appeared on Sakura’s cheeks as she began to lean forward, it looked like she wanted a kiss. Kaede rolled her eyes at the scene ‘she doesn’t learn does she? That’s what I call a major obsession!’

“I’m desperate,” She said with her lips still puckered, Sasuke could only sit there with wide-eyes. ‘I can tell you’re desperate Sakura, you don’t have to tell him!’ Kaede thought, still comfortable in her place behind the tree. She saw a blush on Sasuke’s cheeks and instantly knew something was wrong.

Gomen, only just noticed this is 12 pages long, eek! So yeah I’m sorry the rest of this will be in the next chapter, I know how much I hate reading really long chapters because I’d much rather be doing something else than reading something that goes on and on! ^_^

~Lerryn