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Chapter Twenty-Seven

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Tick-

-Tock. 

Tick-

-Tock.

Tick-

The ticking sounds of the clock were stuck in the pinkette's head. Her emerald eyes were concentrated on the brunette in front of her.

-Tock.

As much as Sakura disliked it, time was moving too fast for her. Most days, it was slow and unmoving, especially in her classes. Other days, when she was out with her friends, it was nighttime before they knew it.

But today?

She wanted to converse with her roommate so bad, but so many things were happening at once.

With the thought of Sayuri stuck in her head, Sakura ran to her volleyball meeting fifteen minutes late and spent the whole meeting dazed. When Tsunade finally called on her to finish the presentation, she had to hold back an embarrassed blush as everyone snickered at her clueless expression. 

The meeting ended shortly after, and Sakura went back to her room. After taking a shower, she sat on her bed in her pajamas, waiting for Sayuri to come back from her library break.

She didn't.

Frustrated, Sakura decided to change into a shirt and jeans before heading out to the library. On her way, however, she was dropped by her lovely blonde friend.

"Forehead! Where ya headed?" Ino asked, hanging off the pinkette's shoulder. As the two of them walked, Sakura looked beyond irritated.

The pink haired teen sped up her pace to her destination, blatantly ignoring her friend. "To the library. I'm trying to find my roommate." With that, Ino stopped.

"Your roommate? That Sapiri girl? Haven't you heard what they're saying?" That made Sakura stop as well. If I keep standing here, then Sayuri will be gone by the time I make it there.

"Her name is Sayuri. And who is saying what about her?" Sakura demanded, her emerald eyes narrowing. Ino was baffled by the pinkette's expression, but continued on her rant.

"They say that she's the younger sister of one of the new teachers at our school. The hot one." Ino said, looking down at her nails as she caught up to Sakura.

"Who?"

"The hot one! Hatake-san!" Ino received a confused gaze from her friend. In return, the blonde rolled her eyes before a grin spread across her face. "C'mon, don't deny the fact that you think he's hot~!"

Ino only got silence.

"So...its just me that thinks he's hot?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's fine! More of him for me!" Ino said. "Anyways, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, his younger sister. But they don't even look like siblings! She's so much smaller and thinner and...unattractive! I mean, have you seen what she wears--"

"Ino."

"Fine! Anyways, since they think they're siblings, people are saying that Sapiro gets the answers to the tests from her brother! And her brother feels so bad for her, probably because he doesn't want to see her getting so angry and sad and stuff, that he does it for her!"

Sakura stopped in her tracks for the second time. The library was only ten feet away, but she presumed her roommate was long gone.

"I mean, I can see why. The girl has perfect grades! And, she keeps things private, she doesn't even speak!...." As Ino continued her rant, Sakura felt her blood boil.

"Ino," Unlike the many times Sakura used this tone only to be playful, she was serious. "The reason why Sayuri doesn't speak is because she's mute. And just because she's related to Hatake-san does not mean that she's using him as an advantage!"

"But there's proof! Kankuro found the cheat sheet in her folder! He said that she didn't wanna share the grades because she wanted to keep it for herself!"

And before Ino could even blink, the pinkette was gone.

...---...

"Sayuri."

Said girl looked up from her book only to see Sakura. From the looks of it, Sayuri thought. Sakura found out about the rumors.

She hates me. She thinks I'm trash.

But when Sakura sat down across from her, rested her arms on the library table, and stared right at her, Sayuri knew that it was more than just a cheat sheet.

"I wanna talk with you."