On The Right Track
A SasuSaku AU.
It was a dream come true for Haruno Sakura. Not only was she accepted to her first choice university on a full ride, but the country's best doctor was the leading professor of her intended major, and not to mention, most, if not all of her closest friends were accepted too. Along with one enigma, Uchiha Sasuke.
—
BZZZZZZZZZZ… BZZZZZZZZ…BZZ—
A hand slid out from beneath a billowing white comforter. Blindly, it searched for the source of that offending sound, and finally, fingers curled around a think red cellphone. Pulling back, the hand and phone disappeared once more underneath the blankets. In the darkness the covers created, a thumb pressed a button before moving the device up to an ear.
"Mmmh?"
"SAKURA, HEY!" A woman's voice yelled.
The girl, Sakura, jerked the phone away from her ear. "Oh god, Ino," she groaned, "what is it?"
"What is it? WHAT IS IT? Sakura! You promised to meet me for breakfast before classes today." Ino answered, her voice strained in annoyance.
Sakura thought on that for a moment. Did she promise that? When had she said that? A crease formed between her brows. That's right, at orientation, she remembered now. She had met at the university with her bubbly blonde friend and had gone through all the processes with her until they had gotten separated into different lines and lost track of one another. As they moved further apart, Ino yelled asking about meeting for breakfast, to which Sakura had haphazardly agreed to.
"Ah, what time is it?" She asked, forcing herself upright as she threw off the covers.
"It's almost nine," she replied. Sakura could almost hear the impatient tap of her foot. "Are you even out of bed?"
Sakura looked down at herself, "nope, not even close," she thought, but responded with, "Oh yeah, just gotta, you know, brush my teeth."
"Well good, I'll be there in ten minutes." There was a click before she could respond.
"Oh great." She tossed the phone down on the bed and stood. With a long, deep stretch, Sakura sighed and sauntered across the room. Passing through a door, she found herself in the adjoined restroom. Standing at the sink, she examined herself in the mirror.
Her long pink tresses her only minimally tangled, to which she remedied with a quick once-over of her brush. Around her wrist she secured a hair-tie, she'd need it for practice later that evening, and then she opened up the medicine cabinet. She selected a red headband, and slipped it on, smoothing the long strands out of her face. Quickly, she washed the sleep off of her face, and brushed her teeth, not bothering to fix herself up with any makeup, and then exited back to her bedroom. Throwing a glance at her alarm clock, she saw that it was 9:25 a.m. Ino would probably be there in five minutes; although, Sakura didn't doubt that it would be sooner, knowing the girls dangerous driving habits.
She let out a sigh and pulled a drawer open on her dresser. Pursing her lips she studied what the drawer had to offer. It took a moment, but finally she decided on a red thermal sweater that included a thick white ring on the back. As for her bottoms, she chose a simple dark wash skinny jean. Carrying them over to her bed, she laid the items down, and quickly stripped out of her pjs. She stretched for the second time that morning before hurriedly pulling on her outfit. Sensitive ears picked up the subtle crunch of tires on gravel, and with that Sakura grabbed her phone from the bed. Turning on her heel, she rushed to throw both her gym bag and purse over her shoulder, along with her book-filled backpack. She pulled the bedroom door shut behind her as she left.
As soon as she found her way out the front door of her home, Sakura spotted her best friend's car. It was a sleek, drop-top, silver Mercedes. Perks of her father being the head of some top secret intelligence agency, she supposed.
"Hey! Ino-Pig!" Sakura yelled teasingly as she approached.
The blonde's transparent blue eyes looked her over before she smirked, "Nice forehead, Forehead," she retorted, leaning to pop open the passenger door for her friend.
"Thanks." Sakura rolled her eyes, tossing her bags into the backseat. She climbed in and made herself comfortable, making sure to secure the seatbelt.
"Hope you don't mind," Ino started, "I invited some others to come with."
"Oh?" Sakura mused, rummaging through her purse for her chap-stick. "Like who?"
Ino threw the car into reverse, and sped dangerously backwards out of the driveway. "Oh you know, the usual," she smiled mischievously at her friend in the rearview mirror.
So like her, Sakura thought, always playing up the mystery. "Oo-kay, I don't really know, but whatever you say."
—
In a matter of fifteen minutes, they arrived at the quaint little breakfast joint. There were a few other cars, some were super ritzy and brand new, much like Ino's car, others were a little less than perfect. One in particular caught her eye. It looked freshly waxed, for the blank paint looked glossy and smooth to the touch, not a speck of dirt to be found. Though the windows were darkly tinted, she could faintly see a decoration hanging from the mirror inside. White and red in color; there was no mistaking it for anyone else's car.
Ino pulled into the available spot next to it and turned the car off. She turned the rear-view toward herself and primped for a good two minutes before she finally turned to Sakura saying, "Alright pinky! Let's go!"
Sakura guessed the primping was to impress someone inside; and if she had to guess who that someone was? It was Shikamaru Nara. He wasn't spectacularly handsome, not like some of their other friends, or the more popular people they grew up with, but he was by far the smartest kid anyone would ever meet. And she didn't seem like it upon first glance, but Ino was smart too, and although they weren't explicitly together, something about them just clicked and everyone sort of knew that it's how it was. She smiled, nodding to her friend, and followed her into the building, the alarm of the silver vehicle echoing behind them as it was activated.
She let her friend lead, knowing that Ino would know what to say and who to ask for. Meanwhile, Sakura let her eyes trace around the dining area. It was busy, which was to be expected, college was starting after all, and everyone seemingly wanted a good start. Faintly she heard Ino call her to hurry along, and she snapped her gaze forward and followed. The brunette hostess led them to a sunny circle booth table where a group of kids their age were already seated with drinks and menus. With a smile the hostess left them, and they squeezed themselves in.
To her right was Hinata Hyuuga, a beautiful, yet achingly shy girl, with pale lavender eyes and flowing black hair. They had grown up with her, and considered her one of their best friends. Which led to the person sitting next to Hinata; Naruto Uzumaki. He was a perfectly tanned, sunshine-yellow blonde, cerulean-blue eyed, all-star of the football team. He was incredibly loud, almost to the point of obnoxiousness, but he was kind, and had a great sense of humor; though, he had a thick skull, and didn't seem to realize that, despite how obvious it was, Hinata was head over heels for him. Sakura smiled to herself as she saw him animatedly move his arms as he told some stupid story about the shenanigans he got into over the summer. She saw how when he'd lean into Hinata to pointedly tell her part of the story, she'd get an embarrassed smile and stammer, "oh, haha, I see, Naruto-Kun,".
To her left was where Ino had seated herself, and following her was Shikamaru who had graciously stood to allow them to sit on the bench rather than on of the pulled up stools. His hair, Sakura noticed, was in it's usual ponytail, jutting spikily up in the back. He wore his usual silver studs in each ear lobe, and his face held a borderline irritated look that said "I would definitely rather be sleeping right now." She noticed too however, that his look softened when Ino leaned in close to his ear and whispered a greeting to him, creating a half-smile on his normally scowling lips. She sighed to herself, they were so cute together, they just needed to make it official already.
While she gazed at them, she suddenly felt a set of eyes on her, and she looked up. As soon as she did the feeling faded, and she was left staring questioningly at none other than Sasuke Uchiha. She had known him for a long time; he was after all, her best friend's best friend. He and Naruto went back almost as far and she and Ino did, and for as long as she could remember, he always held some sort of sway on her. Maybe it was his deep onyx eyes, and the way she felt as if she was drowning in them whenever he happened to look her way; Or perhaps his quiet intensity, that made her feel unsure of herself in a way no one else did. He was an enigma. It was hard to tear her eyes away, but when she finally did, it was because the waitress had returned to take their orders.
The waitress made her round of the table, each friend making a decision before Sakura herself did. Hinata was simple, and ordered only a glass of orange juice with a small plate of french toast. Oppositely, Naruto ordered a large milk, with a combination plate of four eggs, hash browns, bacon, and a side of buttered toast. It was really astounding how much he could stuff down, it was as his he had some other entity that needed feeding within it. Inwardly Sakura laughed at the notion, noticing how easily, if spoken out loud, could be taken in the wrong way. Across the table, Sasuke mumbled quietly that he would like a tomato and cheese omelette.
Idly, Sakura wondered if tomatoes were something he was fond of. It was a given that whenever she hung out with Naruto, she hung out with Sasuke too. Although, that being said, she didn't interact with him on the same level as she did with Naruto. No, their relationship seemed more one sided than anything. She felt some sort of.. something for him, but he was stoic in his manner, rarely getting riled up but in football games where the stakes were high, or when he and Naruto horsed around like the dumb 18 year olds they were. She sometimes found him peering at her, though, she didn't try to think of it as anything but that; staring. He looked at a lot of things. Well, now that she thought of it, when he looked at her, there was the most minuscule sense of softness in his eyes. Or did she imagine that?
"Sakura…"
"Ne, Sakura-chan!"
"HEY FOREHEAD!"
Sakura suddenly snapped out of her stupor. "What?"
"Are you ganna order? Or sleep with your eyes open some-more?" Ino asked, looking at her friend with a laughing smile.
"Uh, yeah, I'm so sorry." She laughed and scanned the menu. "I'll just have a waffle stack with strawberries, please." Folding the menu shut, she handed it to the waitress.
"Alright, I'll have this all right up for you guys!" The brunette said. Sakura noticed that she threw a wink and a smile at Sasuke before she departing.
He paid her no mind however, instead, he simply focused his attention elsewhere, specifically to Naruto who was repeatedly annoying him.
"Oi, Teme! Throw up your guns! Have you been practicing during the summer?" Naruto asked him excitedly, he wiggled down the bench toward his friend, reaching to grip his bicep. "Seems flabby!"
Sasuke wrenched his arm away and shoved Naruto back down the bench. "Would you stop it, Dobe? I practiced more than you did."
Naruto laughed, "Ahh, I don't think so!" He spun in his seat to face Sakura, "Ne, Sakura-chan, you were there. Who practiced more?"
It was a trap question, of course he wanted her to tell them all that he had practiced more, she was his best friend meaning she was obligated. But she was not the type to overlook the truth either, because Sasuke had actually practiced more. She knew because when she was out doing her own drills for cross country and track, she would see him; push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, sprints, long distance jogs, drill routines, you name it she had seen him working on it. Naruto on the other hand had horsed around with Kiba Inuzuka and Chouji Akimichi; and on the rare occasion that he did practice he always whined that Sasuke was pushing him too hard.
"Ah, Naruto, I can't recall." She replied after thinking it over. "I was too busy blowing both of you out of the water with practices," leaning back in her seat she smiled smugly at both the boys.
Ino let out a peal of laughter, and was easily joined by Hinata who's laugh was quiet but sincere. "Hah! Good one, Sakura!"
The rest of their meal carried out in a similar pattern, one person making some sly comment, to only be returned with an equally sly retort. Sakura, for the most part, ate her food in thoughtful silence, only giving responses where they were warranted. She glanced up a few times, and noticed that like herself Sasuke was already finished eating. Her eyes trailed up to his face, and suddenly he looked to her from the window he'd been gazing out of.
"Sakura… huh?" He murmured.
"Sasuke-kun?" She responded, a thin brow arching.
"I heard you were supposed to be helping Coach Hatake," Sasuke stated simply.
Sakura processed that for a moment. He was right, about what he had heard. She had applied for the position at the start of the summer, and a week later she found that she had secured it. The rest of her summer from that moment consisted of cross country and track training, as well as taking skill building classes at the hospital in order to learn the best new methods of treatment for sports related injury. "I am," she confirmed finally with a small shrug and a smile.
The hard line of his mouth loosened. "Hn." He averted his gaze back out of the window.
He was so difficult to read. Turning her her eyes down to her lap, she took a look at her phone. It was already 10:50… 10:50…. "10:50?!"
"INO!" She yelled at her friend, who spun around and looked at her dumbly.
"What?"
"It's 10:50." Sakura said evenly.
"So?" Ino cocked a brow, and for a moment she sat there, her face still locked in a dumb state of confusion. "Oh…. OH!"
Ino abruptly stood, her knees smacking the table and causing the whole thing to shake. "We've all gotta go!" she announced, and in a rush produced her wallet. She smacked a few bills onto the table then grabbed Sakura's wrist. "That'll cover everyone, let's go!"
Ino tugged her arm and Sakura stumbled onto her feet. "Ahh, see the rest of you in class!" She yelled back to the other four, who were now scrambling to their feet as well.
—
Sakura and Ino scurried into the room their first class was to be held in. It was close, but they had made it without being late. The pair was forced to separate however, as there were not open seats next to one another. Sakura shot a look over to her friend, who smiled and shrugged at her, as she slipped into the seat next to a handsome guy. She faintly recognized that he was not from the area. From the music note that was embroidered on his letterman jacket, she decided that he must be from Otogakure. Which registered as odd to her, although the Konoha University was an extremely revered school, it was extremely rare for students to come in from that area. A majority of the out-of-country students came from Sunagakure. Dismissing those thoughts, she turned around and examined the rest of her surroundings. In the seat next to her was someone she immediately recognized, Shino Aburame. He was intensely quiet, in fact, she was almost sure she had never heard him speak, but he was nice enough. During high school he would silently offer her a pencil if she didn't seem to have one, or slide class notes to her if she had happened to be sick the previous class.
"Hi, Shino," Sakura smiled at him, and he looked to her from behind the black tinted sunglasses, giving the smallest nod of approval. Her smile stayed as she turned to the front of the classroom.
It wasn't one of her necessary classes, it was a psychology course. She had had room in her schedule for more than one elective, and when she was deciding between things, Ino had practically begged her to take it. Her friend was planning to go into forensic psychology, a field similar to what her own father was in. Ino really honestly was much smarter than she seemed.
The room fell silent suddenly, when the door creaked open. In stepped a tall, rather imposing man. He was lightly tanned, wore almost exclusively dark colors, and on his head was a bandana. He thumped over to the desk at the head of the room, tossing the stack of folders in his hand onto it. His face betrayed no emotions other than a mild aggression that seemed targeted toward everything in general. Dark eyes were narrowed, and looked at everyone very critically, as if daring anyone to question him or create a fuss.
"I'll only say this once, so listen. I'm Ibiki Morino. I'll be your professor for the duration of the school year," his voice was gruff and menacing. "And while I'm a professor, I am also a working psychoanalytic investigator."
Some brave, or very stupid, kid raised his hand.
Ibiki turned to him, with a pointed glare, "Yes?"
"So, in other words, you're an interrogator?" The question hung in the air.
Surprisingly, the professor's hard mouth turned up into a smirk, "One might call it that, yes."
The kid fell silent, seemingly a little shocked at the blatant admittance.
Ibiki walked behind his desk, and pulled open a drawer. From it, he produced a small remote-like device, and aimed it at the projector that hung from the ceiling. "You'll find I'm not the type to waste time in that, 'getting to know you crap' on the first day," he set the remote atop the desk and took a seat in the simple swivel-style chair. "Throughout the duration of this course, I will get to know you, you will get to know your peers, and you will begin to know and understand yourself on a deeper level than you could have imagined. This will be done through the application of the principals, and materials that are involved in psychology," pausing, Ibiki scanned the room. "If you don't think you can handle that, take the opportunity now, to show yourself to the door."
Sakura looked at him, carefully taking note of his subtle actions. His dark eyes slowly swept across the room, looking for the weak students, almost eager to find who the poor soul was that would be the first to leave. She saw a faint glint in his eyes, and she knew he had pinpointed the first ones. Following his gaze, she saw a pair of guys toward the back of the room. They slowly got up from the table, nervously looking at one another. Gathering up their things, they hurried down the stairs to the door; their heads hung low in what seemed to be embarrassment. Five more students left the room after them, gaining the courage to do so only after the first ones had gone. To Sakura's count, that left that class at a staggering 143 students.
Their professor nodded to himself, "Now that that's settled, the first thing we will do today is view a short movie on the history of psychology, and the leading minds behind the biggest movements of it. Make sure to take note, as there will be a short quiz next class on it." Allowing everyone in the room a moment to collect a paper and pen, he then hit play.
—
Almost as one body, the class rose and quickly filed out the door. The room was filled with loud chatter about the material they had been shown. Everyone was eager to learn more.
Sakura finished carefully tucking her notebook and pen back within her backpack, and slung it over her shoulder. She gave Shino a small smile and a wave as she pushed her chair in and headed over to Ino. Glancing down at the table, she saw that Ino's notebook already had the first three pages filled with very carefully organized notes. She stifled a laugh, she would love to see anyone try and say that Ino was stupid.
"Ino, are you ready?" Sakura asked leaning her elbows on the table.
"Ahh, yeah, give me one sec…" The blonde finished scribbling down the last of what she was writing, and flipped the notebook shut. "Yep, let's go!" Packing the last of her things up, Ino stood, leading the way to the door.
Sakura straightened up; everyone was gone now, save for herself. She hurried up to follow her friend from the room. A strange feeling washed over her as she passed through the door way, as if someone was watching her. Throwing a final glance back into the room, she shrugged it off, deciding it was just the after effects of the film.
"Ah, so, Ino, what class do you have next?" Sakura asked as she walked with the blonde.
"I'm off to sociology next, and after that I think I have stupid math, and then practice with you, right?" Ino dug a small agenda out of her huge purse, and flipped through it. "… Yeah." She nodded to herself and snapped the little book back shut. "So I'll be seeing you soon!" Flashing a smile, she turned down a hallway departing from her friend.
The pink haired girl paused, taking just a moment to watch Ino take her leave. Nodding herself, she starting to make her way down the hall once again. Her next class was biochemistry. The thought of the class made the corners of her mouth twitch up into an small, excited smile. It was one of many courses that would put her on the fast track to becoming a doctor. With that, she quickened her pace, practically skipping the whole way there.
Reaching the room, she ducked through the doorway. Her bright eyes eagerly taking everything in. There were all kinds of diagrams of scientific design, splayed on the walls. Along the walls were shelving units that housed all sorts of equipment, like microscopes, test tubes, and just about anything else Sakura could think to use in the experiments she was sure to perform. In the far left corner of the room she spied the teacher sitting comfortably at their desk. It wasn't the professor she was hoping to see, but it was exciting none-the-less. Moving further into the room, she made her way to the first open seat.
Plopping down into the chair, Sakura let out a little excited huff. "Science is so cool," she leaned slightly toward the person seated next to her, "don't ya think?" Turning her head, her eyes settled on the person.
She felt her face heat up in mild embarrassment.
"Oh, it's Sasuke-kun."
"Sakura." The dark haired boy acknowledged, looking in her direction.
"I didn't realize you were taking this course!" Sakura admitted.
"Science is… cool," he replied, his voice held a subtle tone. Whether it was mocking, or playful, Sakura couldn't really discern.
"Ah, haha, yeah. Yeah it is," her hands found their way up to her hair as she stammered out a reply. As she smoothed the long strands into place over once shoulder, she tried to come up with something to say. Despite having known him for so long, he was hard to talk to. "So, um, are you thinking of going into medicine?"
Sasuke leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped behind his head as he stretched out his back. "No."
She watched him. Anyone who said the kid wasn't attractive would have been lying; his black hair was messily spiked in the back while hanging strait around his face in the front. Although he was naturally a slim guy, he was also toned, and quite fit from the amount of sports he participated in. Underneath his dark navy sweater, Sakura could see the soft dips of muscle in his arms, and in his stomach as he leaned back. He was tall too; his long legs stretched out lazily under the table. And as for his face, well, even the most handsome of actors would feel a twinge of jealousy. Although he trained for long hours in the bright Konoha summer, his skin was still smooth and pale, which contrasted with those dark eyes of his stunningly.
Suddenly she realized she was staring. Clearing her throat, she turned away. "Really?" she finally asked of his response, "That's too bad."
"I'm deciding between the chemistry and law programs." Sasuke said simply as he reached into his backpack for a notebook and pen.
She was usually accustomed to small, extremely minimal conversations with him, so it surprised her that he bothered to elaborate. "Ah, I see!" Sakura aimed a smile at him, "You will do well in either program, Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke scribbled his name and the date in the upper right corner of the page in front of him. "Maybe." He fell silent again for a moment, but then, "you have phys ed after this?"
Again she was surprised, "Uh, yeah. Why?"
He gave a half shrug. "I do too," there was a weighty pause, "we'll be warm-up partners."
Sakura's thin brow arched.
Noticing her confusion, Sasuke continued, "The dobe has that class later today."
She considered what he said, normally he and Naruto partnered up for everything, so if Naruto didn't share that class with them, then it meant Sasuke had to find someone else. And being that Sakura was usually with the two when they did practices, it made sense that he'd substitute her in for Naruto; she already knew how Sasuke liked to work. Opening her mouth, she meant to reply, but was cut off by a loud tapping.
Looking up, the professor, a slight woman with shortly cropped black hair stood at the board with a long ruler in hand. She repeatedly tapped it on the board until everyone in the room had their attention directed toward her.
"Good afternoon, students," The woman greeted them once all had settled down. "I'm Professor Shizune! This semester, I'll be teaching you the fundamentals on biochemistry."
The woman, Shizune, set the ruler down in the tray along the bottom of the chalk board. "To get started today, I want to get you all assigned to your lab partners, okay? So just be ready to move tables if you have to." She fetched a clipboard from her desk, and clearly and loudly began to read the pairs off. Given the volume of students in the class, it would take a few minutes.
Sakura reached down, preparing to grab her things incase she needed to move, she stopped however, when she heard her name.
"—- and Sakura Haruno."
Shoot.
Sakura quietly turned to Sasuke, "Hey, did you happen to hear who I'm paired with?" she asked him.
Sasuke was still leaning back in his seat, though, now his eyes were closed. He opened one, and peered over at her. "Aah." His eye shut again, "don't bother moving," was his answer.
Letting go, she let her bags settle back onto the floor. "Okay."
After a few more minutes, Shizune had announced all the pairs, and was preparing for the next portion of her lesson plan. "Now, I'm sure you've already done the same kind of thing in your other classes, if you've had any other classes today, but we're going to watch a short movie, just to get some background information on the subject you'll be learning in here," in her hands she straightened up a thick stack of papers. "I'm going to have you guys pass this around amongst yourselves, and as you watch the video, make sure to fill this out. At the end of the week we'll be having a short test, and you will be able to use this as a 'cheat sheet'. It's to your benefit to get all the information you can."
Shizune handed the stack to a student at the end of the bottom row, and turned to get the movie set up.
Sakura stifled a yawn. Excited as she was about the science, she was ready to be up and moving. Sitting and watching movies for four hours in a row was draining.
As she waited for the stack of study-guides to come around, she idly wondered how it was going to be working with Sasuke so closely for the semester. To say the least, it would certainly prove an interesting challenge, especially if their interactions continued in the way they were.
—
Alright, so, there you have it! The first chapter of On the Right Track. Please share your thoughts and opinions!