Yet again, the window carelessly lay open. From outside, a brisk spring breeze swept in, hitting the bare legs of one of two people in the dorm's bed. It sent her curling up into a ball shortly, before becoming conscious enough to attempt pulling the blankets back down over her legs. This failed, as the person next to her groaned considerably and tugged them back, proceeding to roll over and refuse to give them up. The woken female had to keep herself from laughing at the unconscious selfishness of her bedmate. Probably not going to be able to get back to sleep, she forfeited the idea, instead, reaching over and tugging on a t-shirt that managed its way onto the floor at some point last night. On the other hand, had it been early morning? No matter.

Sakura yawned and glanced over at the alarm beside her bed, taking note of the time. '6:12. That's enough time to get breakfast.' At this point, the campus cafeteria was open to early morning students. Students such like Sakura. This she thought with much pride to herself. A young medical student, retaining nearly straight A's through her courses, Sakura felt she deserved that rewarding feeling of pride for all her hard work. With some luck and patience, it would all have a pleasantly rewarding outcome. She'd work in a nurse's office, hopefully to model after her childhood friend's adopted mother. Doctor Tsunade, a renowned doctor in the local town's hospital, had looked after Naruto since he was young, and Sakura could think of countless times she had gone to visit and been fascinated with the woman's job. It seemed so self-satisfying and furthermore, was important to the community. There may be hardships, but overall, the idea of saving lives easily attracted Sakura.

It was comfortable to lounge in little more than underwear and a shirt. Nevertheless, Sakura figured that while the men of the school would probably not mind, some of the authoritative figures might have something to say about only being half dressed and running around the halls. After a few minutes of digging around the mess that had been made of her dorm, she eventually pulled out a pair of yoga pants from under the bed. After countless times of waking up late, getting dressed quickly was a skill other than grades that she excelled in. Sakura pulled her hair back in a bun. 'I'll wash it after breakfast…Lets see, if it takes ten minutes to walk there and then about half an hour to eat breakfast, a shower that's about fifteen minutes long should leave me with.…'. The pink haired college student began to calculate her morning routine, slipping a pair of tennis shoes on and heading out of the dorm.

Naturally, ten minutes later she arrived at the cafeteria, paid for a coffee, green tea, oatmeal, and a small box of cereal. Her dear bedmate detested coffee with an untainted passion. Attempting to force her to drink it once had ended badly. Sakura ended up holding the female's hair behind her head for her, while she arched over the toilet with a dreadful stomach sickness. They were supposed to be getting sick from drinking and partying, not by trying to stay awake and studying, right? Of course, that was just those two. Ino would probably have a different story with her low grades and how often she was out at just about every single party created by someone on campus. That was a person that Sakura did not feel particularly happy towards nowadays. She pushed out the bitter thoughts of that person by trying to calculate the time based on how long it took her to walk here, and continued to mentally map out her morning. Yet again, her math skills proved no failure as roughly no more than ten more minutes later she arrived back at the dorm. With the food in her hands, she struggled unlocking the door. Right as she began to shift around the food to try to open the door, a door from across the hall opened up. Sakura paused to look behind her, taking note of a familiar blonde-haired person who seemed to stop like a deer in headlights. Sakura arched a brow, turning back to her lock as she grumbled in the early morning presence of the person.

"Naruto, why on earth are in the girls dormi-"

"A-AH, don't get the wrong ide-"

"Naruto calm d-"

"NO REALLY, I swear, nothing was going on!"

Sakura paused for a moment, frowning considerably. There was something flawed with him retreating out of THAT dorm, she realized. "That's Hinata's dorm, why were you in it?" She asked with a demanding tone, piercing green eyes staring down the tense man. Naruto gave an anxious laugh, putting his hands out in front of him and giving an equally uneasy grin.

"I have her spare key, I needed to copy her criminal psychology notes!"

"Uh-huh…Just shut up and help me will you?"

That was strange. Hinata only had two keys to the apartment. She had a copy for herself, and Sakura had the spare, not Naruto. In fact, it was in her hand at that very moment, the key with the white cap on it. Was there was a third spare? Perhaps Hinata had lost her key, made a new one, and Naruto found and kept the lost one? There were a multitude of things that could explain the situation, but it didn't make that curiosity go away. One way or another, that was not unlike Naruto to be always after someone's homework or notes. Especially now that Sasuke had transferred out into military academy, Naruto didn't have his roommate to leech off anymore. After all the drama with that emotionless bastard, Sakura was not going to miss him. Much. However, it did seem to hit Naruto harshly when he left. Since then, the blonde hadn't been nearly as cheerful. Recently, he actually seemed rather recluse and serious. Now thinking about it, Sakura hadn't really seen him for a few days, up until now of course.

Click.

"There ya' go!" Naruto piped, grinning and spinning the keys on his finger. Sakura blinked twice. She must have spaced out while he unlocked her door. After giving Naruto a grateful smile, she took the keys and pushed the door open with her back. Mumbling a "thanks", she shut the door in the bright-eyed male's face. 'What is that dimwit up to?' Sakura pondered, taking her keys in her hand and double-checking. Right there, on her keychain, was the key with the white cap. That was Hinata's. This was bothering her too much; she would ask Hinata about it later. Meanwhile, she made her way to the living area, placing the food down on the small table. She took a moment to spread it out neatly across the table. Still as it was earlier, the apartment was silent. Therefore, after neatening the table, Sakura made her way to the bedroom. A pout formed on her lips when she saw her bedmate was no longer in bed. "HEY, where'd you go? ". There was no response, just her voice echoing throughout the dorm. This morning was already starting strange. In addition, something felt off.

Shaking off the curious feeling, Sakura smiled mischievously as she looked at the closed door to the bathroom. So then, that was how the other person wanted to play it. Biting her lip and undoing her hair bun, Sakura's thoughts wandered back to the time. Maybe if she could just extend the time of her shower just a bit…

Noiselessly, she crept to the bathroom door; a moment of thrill filled her. One hand closed down on the cold knob, twisting it slowly. Sakura's smile widened as she opened it and went to lean against the doorframe in a 'casual' pose…

…instead, she stumbled and almost fell over, the smile disappearing instantaneously as her stomach lurched and twisted, and as her eyes widened. Cold air hit her in the face, just as soon as nausea hit her stomach. Lying on the ground in a horribly gruesome fashion lay a familiar dark haired female, face scarcely recognizable due to the amount of blood smeared across it. Sharp steel of a knife pierced through the figure's chest, and before she could react or call for help, Sakura felt the world become faint, and crumpled to the ground as everything went black. Right before everything disappeared, she heard one last sound, the choking sound of Hinata failing to fight death…

- a year and a half ago -

"C'mon Sasuke, tell meeeee!" Sakura piped, grinning vibrantly as she tugged on the sleeve of the dark haired male's arm. Next to him, their token blonde male bounced up, waving a piece of paper in the air fiercely. The paper had his personal classes listed, as well as a list of the books he needed to buy for them. .

"You're just envious Sakura, you already know Sasuke is going into the same thing I am-" A clenched fist punched Naruto in the arm, Sasuke's livid dark eyes seething at him. Incoherently, Naruto mumbled a hushed "oops", realizing his blaringly evident mistake in revealing the information Sakura wanted. For about half an hour now, she had been pestering the dark haired man to find out what classes he had applied into. When they graduated from high school, he had not told her. When they were applying to the university, he still did not tell her. Mainly to evade the chance of her stalking him around, just as several of the women on campus had already been scheming to do. Plotting women. Sasuke looked away crossly, and Naruto grinned apprehensively towards Sakura as her eyes widened.

"What?! You're going into criminal justice too?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Sakura beamed. That was so fitting for Sasuke, though she wondered if Naruto would have the tolerance and determination for the same thing. Determination, probably. In fact, to be fair, his determination was so strong at times it could become chokingly frustrating. However, patience….that was not exactly a factor of Naruto's personality. Nor was the persistence to get good grades and remain on top of things, which was going to be essential in crime fighting. Still, in a way, it fit both of them. Sasuke, being so somber, intellectual, logical, and having strong self-discipline, fit the ideal and model qualities of someone in the police force. Naruto on the other hand fit more the behavior of the insane crack addict on the street corner in the slums. Perhaps that was being a bit too unsympathetic though. He did have a universal love and care for people, and despised the thought of injury impending on anyone. On top of that, he would be determined to help save lives and put crime doers into jail. Really, it's like a little kid wishing he could be a super hero. Sakura considered, completely negating her own attempts at making Naruto look better. She glanced at him with an exasperated look, causing him to blink at her and look off to the side, vaguely confused. "I think you'll do great Sasuke!" She finally chimed, clasping her hands together and looking up in admiration at the brooding male.

"Mm." Was his mere response, deep eyes looking frontward as he sighed and replaced his fist in his pocket. Naruto rubbed his shoulder, pouting with a wounded look on his face. It disappeared quickly, a haughty grin appearing on his face as he peered over at Sakura.

"Though…you think about it….it's typical of the girl to go into nursing instead of criminal justice." In spite of his teasing tone, Sakura fumed and looked over at the blonde, bearing a murderous expression. Even though he often was only joking, Sakura could not stand sexist jokes, or undermining. Just the idea made her twitch in irritation. Someone actually doing or saying that made her furious. And Naruto knew he was in trouble the moment she shifted her position over to him.

"SEXIST JERK!" Sakura snapped, and before Naruto could even manage to attempt getting away, she grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hurled him to the ground, glaring down at him. Sasuke stopped walking, glancing sideways at the two, with the most unresponsive expression possible. Sakura put a foot on Naruto's chest, piercing her eyes down at him with a clenched fist. "It'll be those same 'typical girls' stitching up your sexist FACE after I'm DONE with you!" Naruto flinched at first, though at this point, he was used to Sakura's threats. Usually, they were empty, though there were occasions where he had come home from school and been asked who was bullying him, only to have to respond with the truth that 'he was mean to Sakura again'. Tsunade cherished Sakura too much to ever be agitated with her; in fact, she would punish Naruto on top of Sakura's wrath. At this point, Naruto stopped cowering and grinned up at Sakura, pushing his luck just a tad further for fun.

"Done with me? I like the sound of that…" He smirked, only to have Sakura flush heatedly and stoop down over him, tugging his shirt up and bringing a fist threateningly close to his face. Naruto just used what had been given, and continued. At this point, he was teetering perilously back and forth on the edge of either losing his face or make Sakura express some rare amusement. "Now you're close to me? I like where this is hea- AAAH!" Sakura accomplished immense restraint from punching him right in the groin, though acted as if she was about to do so. Naruto curled up into a flinched little ball and shook his head fiercely. "OKAY OKAY, I'M SORRRRYYYY, YOU'RE AN AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHO ISN'T BURLY AND MANLY AT ALL-AAAAH" Sakura twitched an eyebrow and tightened her grip on his shirt. "I MEAN…..SASUKE FOR GODS SAKE ARE YOU JUST GOING TO STAND THERE?!" Naruto cried out, looking up pleadingly at the darker haired boy, in grand peril of having the privilege of future children stolen from him.

Sasuke sighed, and shook his head, hoping to high heavens and back that these two idiots would not ruin his future reputation with the professors. Why did they have to overreact? And why on earth did he hang out with them through all of high school? "Sakura, I think it'd probably be more beneficial for Naruto's future if he got to his first class, but in one piece." There. He helped. Now they could leave him alone. For weeks. Forever. Why did he like these people again?

Sakura clenched her teeth, and with great self-control, let go of Naruto, glaring at the back of his head as he got up and straightened himself out. Naruto heaved a profound sigh of relief, and cleared his throat, pretending that none of that just happened.

It was early autumn, the start of the first semester. The town of Konohagakure was not gigantic, though it was not undersized either. For a standard sized town, its inhabitants were some of the most remarkable people one could get to know, these three being no exception. Both Naruto and Sasuke had applied into criminal justice, wanting to transfer into the police academy later on. On the other hand, the medical program had accepted Sakura, who inspired to become a nurse, following after Naruto's adopted mother. Konoha University was renowned across the eastern side of the country for its law, medical, and science programs. Due to this, transfer students were common. Still, the university usually handed the seats in it first to those who attended Konoha Private, the central high school in town. So, it was not unusual for its attendee's to follow each other into the same college. Which explained why Naruto ended up spotting someone he knew and running after them, within in a meager manner of minutes upon reaching the campus. Sasuke wasn't much for conversing, and departed off towards the cafeteria abruptly after Naruto waltzed off. Sakura contemplated going after him, but figured he probably wanted some time alone anyway. Instead of stalking the striking and stoic male, or running off with Naruto and his clowning around, Sakura made the decision to go and attempt finding her dorm. She wanted to unpack as soon as possible. Luckily, here, the dorms were single person. The idea of having to share with someone else revolted her. There was no way she was going to put up with some other woman messing with her things, moving things around, leaving messes all over the place, whining, taking her food, talking to her whilst she studied...etc…

This hallway to the girl's dorms was narrow, probably only about three people could manage walking side by side. Doors sat on either side of the hall, marked with fancy silver numbers, surrounded by a simple, thin red border. On the left side of the hall were the A dorms, whereas on the right were the B dorms. "fifty eight A….fifty eight A….". It took somewhere around five minutes, but she eventually found her dorm, nearly walking right past it. Sakura had received the dorm key in the mail, and was one of four keys on her keychain and marked with a pink cap. She had to jiggle the key a bit, but managed to open up the door. Taking in a deep breath of content, she was greeted pleasantly by the site of her own, spotless, personal dorm. It was fairly vacant and unadorned right now: A small living area with a couch and table, with a very tiny hallway off to the left leading off to a storage closet and bedroom, and cupboards for further storage coating the entire wall to the right. Windows straight ahead exposed the campus field, and on the other side of the field, the male dorms. Whilst simple, it was still snug and tranquil. Sakura would have to call her mom and ask her to deliver the boxes of her belongings she had packed, and would have to go pick up her textbooks herself later today.

But for now….

Sakura dropped the one bag she had with her, and pulled out a blanket, closing the door behind her and dropping her keys on the small counter next to the door. With a huff of air, not realizing how fatigued she actually was, Sakura flopped face first onto the couch, pulling the knit blanket on top of her and dozing off within a matter of minutes…..